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What makes a good domain name?
- Good extension - If a person is surfing around looking for
a site, and they know its name, most people will try .com.
So, for the web site owner who wants their site to be found,
the rule is: if at all possible, get a .com name.
- Short - Less than 7 characters, ideally. A simple name
will roll off the tongue more easily in conversation,
look more
professional, and have less chance of being mis-typed.
- Easy to spell -
Make sure it passes the phone test: if you were to
say the domain name of your website to a
friend over
the phone, would your friend be able to spell it correctly
the first time without your having to spell it for them?
If not, you’ve failed the phone test and should likely
try a different domain name. Also, be careful about double
letters. Take CyberRodeo, for example. Their domain uses
a double R, as you might expect, but there is an uncertainty
there. The two R’s together look a bit strange
if written without capitalization, and a good name will
not
force the
user to assume anything about the name. If you must have
a double letter, the best solution is to buy both versions
of the domain. Avoid using dashes in your domain name.
- Descriptive -
A good site or business name will describe exactly
what the site is about. In most cases it's important
for a person to be able to get some sort of sense what
the website is about just by reading the domain name.
Of course
that logic doesn’t work for sites like ebay, amazon,
ivillage, etc, but then again you likely don’t
have a multi-million dollar budget to help you brand
your name
and teach people what it means.
- Keywords – Include
descriptive keywords that describe your business, product
or mission in your domain name.
This will play a very small part, in some cases, in increasing
your search engine ranking for search phrases that include
the keywords used in your domain name.
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