One of the most important decisions you will make when creating a website is the domain name, which is possibly even more important than the niche you choose.
Why the domain is important
Every top website on the blog receives a large portion of their visitors from direct traffic, aka type-in traffic. This is when the user types in the domain (URL) within their address bar and presses enter (or the go button). This is due to the domain being easy to remember.
Photo by moriza
A real-life example:
Everyone who has ever searched the web for more than a day has heard of Google. But did you know how the Google name was chosen? Google was chosen due to a misspelling of the word googol, defined as 10 raised to the 100th power. The boys realized their mistake, but the name was available, easy to say, easy to remember and had meaning. It was perfect.
How does this relate to you?
The domain name is important, but just how important you’ll soon find out.
URIs are used as keywords by search engines. When you search for this very domain [impnerd] on Google you’ll see the domain is highlighted, which specifies the keywords used by the search.
If search engines didn’t exist and you heard the name impNERD spoken between two friends, you would remember it. This is why domain names are important. The number one rule of a domain name is ‘easy to remember’. If it isn’t easy to remember, you can kiss any thoughts of becoming famous from the site goodbye.
The question isn’t always whether or not to use keywords in your domain or use something easy to remember, they can just as easily be together. A great example of this is ProBlogger–easy to remember, yet has a keyword within the title, whether it be blog or blogger.
A non-Internet example:
Jenna Marie Massoli chose the name Jenna Jameson to start her modeling and later porn career. She originally chose the name “Jennasis”, but it didn’t quite work for modeling. For stripping, she needed a name that was short, yet exotic. For modeling she needed much more. She needed something easy to remember, sexy, and most important, matched her first name.
Choosing a domain that is right for you
Now that we’ve established the importance of keywords within the domain and the ever more significance of recognition, we can start choosing a name.
We want something to remind people about our site, so when they hear the domain name they know exactly what it is about. It must be easy to type-in, so no exonopyrophysicist domains. If you are opening a site about you, your domain should be your actual name or something resembling it.
Jeremy Schoemaker chose Shoemoney because that’s his nickname and tons of people misspell Schoemaker. The site is about making money online, so it fits perfectly.
Choose a name that defines your site. If it is about cats, LOLcats is taken so think again. If it is about Sunflowers, what is a name that defines sunflowers but is unique enough to not only remember, but can define the site? Remember, this name will stick with the site for as long as it exists.
It is a tough decision, and the only way you can choose a domain name is through tough consideration, time, and a ton of effort.
Written: Feb 27, 2008
Jon Henshaw
February 28, 2008 @ 12:51 am
More than ever, Google is showing preference to domains that have the main keywords in it. It’s quite bizarre, but it seems to be the case with sites I’ve been launching the past several months and also just an observation of the sites that come up for any particular search that I do.
Marcus Hochstadt
February 29, 2008 @ 9:10 pm
Hmm, interesting that I had a similar idea and wrote an article on this matter…
I agree, choosing a good domain name can be a tough decision for many. It’s like a marriage, sort of.