» Tips for Registering a Good Domain Name

by: Joaquin de la Sierra


People often ask me this question, "how can I choose a good domain name?" - for this reason, I have come up with 10 basic tips that you should follow in order to have that domain name of your dreams.

1) Decide specifically what you want. If you are not sure, don't register anything until you are!

2) Keyword domains are out - name recognition is in. Make something that your audience will remember. For example, think - would Yahoo have had been the same if it was named "The-Best-Online-Directory.com"? I don't think so.

3) ASAP - As short as possible! The shorter your domain is, the better. Nevertheless, never make it something without a meaning. An example of this is when I registered imagity.com as a free image hoster - people remember it!

4) Legal - Never ever make your domain name have a trademark violation with ANY company. Never register disneysucks.com or ebayperfumes.com or anything similar. Make your own names and if you are not sure whether it exists or not - Google it!

5) 3-letter .com's are out. Your time is better spent looking for other keywords. Remember this!

6. If you are out of ideas, try looking at a free expired domain list - you will be surprised about the ideas that will flow through your head.

7) Combinations - Recently while I was looking for a good domain name, I thought - "well I can combine two words and make them a domain, right?" so I have come up with my own technique for generating domain-name ideas. I call it the domainametor.

First of all, think about your topic as mentioned in step #1. Now think about as many related SINGLE keywords as you can - if you want to make a websites based around gardens, you might start your list like:

-Flowers
-Flower
-Nature
-Green
-Garden
-Water
-Fertilizer
...

Then you take two keywords - for example "Nature" and "Gardens" and you creatively combine them.

NaturalGardens.com
GardensofNature.com
NatuGardens.com
ANaturalGarden.com
...

as you can see the two words don't have to be complete, and as a matter of fact, it doesn't really matter as search engines don't look at the domain name as frequently as they used to. Try this technique many times and you will come up with something really good.

8) Acronyms are good if they are available. If your organization is called "Moms Against Registering Domain Names" - then call it MARDN.com - if it's not available look for something else.

9) Always go for the appropiate extension. .COM is the most valuable ALWAYS. Here is how they are frequently appreciated: (note that this may vary for individuals, but it's my blog so shut up)

-.COM
-.NET
-.ORG
-.BIZ
-.INFO
-.US
-.CC
-.WS
(everything else)

I did not include extensions from specific countries such as co.uk, but of course they are more valuable if you are from that country so keep that in mind.


10) It's time for you to choose a registrar - try something big and good. Godaddy has been great for me - on a side note, Godaddy's hosting sucks, so just register it there and then point it elsewhere.


About the Author
Joaquin de la Sierra is a successful business man who focuses on helping people achieve their goals.