Written By: Owain

Before you start out on your online money making adventure you need to have the right name for your site. Deciding on a domain name will though take time and research. But doing so will save you a lot of headaches for you further down the line. In this post, I will show you how to pick the perfect domain name and what you will need to consider.

What Is Your Niche Website?

By this stage, you have probably figured out what your niche is. If you haven’t then I would suggest to you that you choose something that you are a passionate about.

The main reason for this is that when times get tough, (and they will, trust me), you want to have the determination to carry on. You won’t feel the same way if you have chosen something that you couldn’t care less about but are only in it for the money.

That is why I decided to create a blog about my passion for researching family history. After spending many years looking into my own ancestry I wanted to give back to the genealogy world. I wanted to share with people the tips, strategies and techniques that I had learned along the way while building my own family tree.

But I knew that I needed a domain name that was right for my site and reflected the message that I was conveying. So what is in a domain name?

Well, here I will cover the 5 main points that led me to come up with the domain name for my site, and that is thegenealogyguide.com.

1. Easy To Type and Remember

Your domain name needs to be easy for someone to type into their Internet browser. There is no point adding hyphens, numbers, slang words or abbreviations. Doing so will complicate your domain name and so will not be memorable for your visitors.

Your first-time visitors will arrive at your site by going through a search engine. When they return they may decide to enter your domain name into the address bar. You are more likely to gain return visitors if your domain name is memorable.

Using common English words will make your domain name easy to remember. You don’t want to be registering a site such as dagenealogyguy.com. It is hardly memorable as thegenealogyguide.com.

2. Keep It Short and Simple

You do not want to select a name that is long winded. How would anyone remember the name of my site if I decided on something like  thegenealogymanwhogivesadvice.com?

How is anyone going to remember that? No one probably. So keep your name short but still clarify what your site is about.

This is again tied in with making a site easy to remember. It uses simple enough words that you will remember and short enough that it will stick in your mind.

You don’t want to complicate the name. People will either mistype or misspell the domain name and so you will lose visitors.

3. Put Keywords Into The Name

A word or phrase that is put into a search engine is referred to as either a keyword or keywords. When choosing your domain name you want to select something that a lot of people are searching for.

Domain names that are rich in keywords will rank higher in search engines. And so with a high profile then you will experience a high number of visitors to your site.

4. Choose The Right Extension

For me, I wanted to use the .com extension. This is the most common, or rather popular, extension on the Internet. For this reason, it is also the most trusted and most valuable of all the extensions that you can choose from.

However, as this the first choice for anyone registering a domain name there is a chance that the name that you want will be taken. If you’re lucky enough that it isn’t you probably will be paying a little more for this extension than .info, .biz or a .me extension.

I do suggest though that if your first choice is available then you should purchase it. As I have already mentioned it is popular and so is memorable for visitors to your site. They will remember the extension and return to your site, (that is if it is interesting enough for them).

You may want to purchase more than one extension for your site. This will help protect your brand from anyone trying to cash in on your success. So for me I could also purchase thegenealogyguide.co.uk.

5. Give It Room To Grow

Now I am not talking about the size of your web hosting and increasing it when the need arises. I am talking about whether the name will still reflect any additional topics for your site.

For example, with my Genealogy Guide website, I provide guides and tips. I also give reviews for resources and tools. These two sub niches are the key to my website.

But I have recently decided to add a new section to my site which will explore gifts and supplies that are suitable to the genealogist. So as you can see the new sub niche added to the site will reflect the domain name.

Final Thoughts

If you want to make money online then you need to treat your website like a business. When you start this new venture you are setting down the foundations for your business. And all this starts with the choice of domain name that you decide on.

Following the key points, I have discussed above will put you in good stead. These points will help you to build and grow a thriving site.

You may have a quality looking site containing posts with quality information. But what use is it if the domain name is neither memorable or easy to type?

Believe it or not but your domain name will become a factor in the success of your website. Not only does it help with your site’s search engine optimisation, but also it gives people a first impression and defines your brand.

As I pointed out at the start of this post researching a suitable domain name for your site and business now will help you in the future. Your site may look professional enough but with a lacklustre domain name will hurt your expected number of visitors.

You will, therefore, have to spend even more time and energy to register a new name and rebrand yourself. Going back to square one will definitely not be something that you will want to do, but you may have to if you do not get it right the first time.