Hello
,
Do you ever envy other peoples website names?
It's about time to find yourself a Killer Domain Name for less than $10.
The more I found myself walking people through the process of
choosing and buying their first domain name, (also called a Universal Resources
Locator or URL) the more I saw the value of my thinking process I put clients through.
I realize there must be hundreds of articles on choosing a
domain name (I even pulled from some of them to write this article) but none of them
quite cover it the way I do. So here goes...
I have been collecting domain names long enough I can pretty much
tell you if something is going to be available or not. When I say available I mean
to buy for the first time for under $10 at godaddy.com. We are not talking about
buying from a high priced reseller.
First things first, what domains are not available:
- About 99.9% of any 4 letter combination of the alphabet is gone.
- Any single word in the English dictionary is gone.
- All common English Phrases are gone.
- All common objects are gone. (example Tree.com, Kite.com
CowboyBoot.com, gone)
- Any single word + an animal 85% gone
- Any single word + a color 95% gone (now I challenge you to find
an animal color combination, good luck)
Now the Rules to think about: (and yes rules can be broken)
- Easy to spell, we are talking for your
average poor spelling 5th grader like myself.
- The shorter the better
- Never more than 5 syllables (This is the sequence of speech
sounds, just clap your hands as you say the words. http://yourdomain.com
your - do - main - name = 4 syllables.)
- If possible use
key
word search terms that describes your purpose.
- Only use .com unless you have found a brilliant use of .net or .info.
A good example is the use of .us by del.icio.us, the social bookmarking site.
- Leave out the dashes and meaningless numbers. I own Time2Advertise.com.
Every time give someone my web address I have to say, "Time the number 2 advertise .com
that is t-i-m-e the number 2 a-d-e-r-v-i-s-e .com." It is a pain. The only time I would
say go with your number and dashes is if you can buy it both ways, with the dash and without.
- If given the choice go for edgy and memorable. People are often exposed
to domain addresses when they don't have the time or opportunity to commit the information
to paper. Which would you remember - OyesUcan.com or PinkFrog.com?
- Domain names aren’t case sensitive in front of the .com so look at
what capital letter will do for your business card.
- Always look at your name choice on paper. Legitimate sites for Speed of
Art, Pen Island, Therapist Finder, can become a real joke when run together. speedofart.com
penisland.com therapistfinder.com isn’t exactly what you set out to sell.
7 things to think about while picking your domain name.
1) Look for names in strange
places. Now you're not going to get threelittlepigs.com but I did have a
marketer that tells his story of being a cab driver and how money is made in the
meter drop. His philosophy that money is made by repetition lead me to buy NickelDrop.com.
2) The good news is owning
domain names is like having money in the bank. I was at the New York
toy show talking to a toy store owner. He was headed out to be wined and dined not by
the toy manufactures but by someone wanting to buy his domain names. He had the foresight
to grab up names like ChildrensSock.com and BoysPants.com.
3) Take a look at the search
terms. Every month thousands of kids put in their Google search bar, Free
Skateboard sticker, So my son bought FreeSkateBoardSticker.com. Does it mean he will
come up first in the search engines? No, but it sure gives him a fighting chance.
4) Think twice about
personalization. What is you ultimate goal. I was working with a nurse to set
up her Legal Nurse Consulting site. We really looked at putting her name Joy into the
URL. But the truth is she hopes to bring other nurses to work within her website and
would like to have a business to sell some day. LNCaccess.com is a site you can sell.
JoysLNC.com is not.
5) When you find a possible domain name
always pop the name into a Google search. See what comes up in relation to your
website name. When looking for a domain for a company that makes tabletop
puppet theaters. I quickly learned any combination of the words, Puppet Master, was not
a good name to associate a child's toy site with. Even though Master of Puppets gets
thousands of searches a month, I don't think Metallica Fans will be buying The Three
Bears puppets any time soon.
6) Be careful working around any
other companies name or product. True story I joined a network marketing company
(that's not the shocking part) and like others ran to build a website around the company.
Within a year the company desperate to survive reinvented itself with a new name. So yes,
you guessed it; my website domain name became worthless overnight. One of my up-line had
invested about $8,000 in website development only to have his website and domain rendered
useless.
7) The best advice I can give you is to have
some fun. Domain names are cheep, under $10 for a year. So relax, you don't need one name
to say it all. As a matter of a fact I would consider buying two or three names and
really starting something big. |
