Domains are the true estate of the Web. Just as a great location is significant for a bricks and mortar business, a great domain name shall be the corner stone of your website’s success. But discover them? Below you can find the 7 characteristics of fine domains.
1. They’re short
Good domains are short. It will not be a coincidence that each one the three-letter and four-letter .com domains are already gone, and that the five-letter ones are going fast as well.
There isn’t a definite variety of characters that you need to aim for, just do not forget that the shorter the higher. If you happen to really want some guidance, attempt to go below 10 characters, and never exceed 20.
As for the variety of words, one-word domains are gold, two-word ones are good, three-word domains are average, and above that it is normally a nasty idea.
Example: Quotes.com is an outstanding domain and possibly price tens of millions of dollars. ProQuotes.com is a great two-word domain price 1000’s of dollars. ProQuotesNow.com is a median domain and could possibly be used for an internet site. YourProQuotesNow.com is apparent worthless.
2. They’re easy to recollect
Many Web users don’t use bookmarks. They simply memorize the domains of their favorite web sites and sort them each time they wan to go to one. Guess what, in case your domain is complex and tough to recollect you’ll lose these visitors along the best way.
Example: Brcwr.com is a brief domain name, but will not be easy to recollect in any respect, so it will be a nasty idea to make use of it in your website (unless the initials represent the name of the web site or a memorable message).
3. They’re easy to spell
The very last thing you would like is visitors misspelling your domain and ending up some place else.
Avoid unusual foreign words, words which have complex pronunciation, strange mixtures of letters and the rest which may cause someone to misspell your address.
Example: CappuccinoBar.com is likely to be problematic for English speaking visitors. Cappuccino is an Italian word, and never everyone seems to be aware where the doubles are placed.
4. They’ve a .com extension
Organizations might prefer to register a .org domain, and firms targeting very specific nation-states might wish to register a neighborhood domain (e.g. .it, .co.uk, .cn and so forth). Other than these cases, nevertheless, a .com domain is all the time the perfect method to go. This extension is the most well-liked across the around, and it’s already stuck in people’s mind.
Visitors coming to your site via serps or organic links will concentrate mostly to the name and never to the URL. The following time they wish to visit your site it is vitally likely that they’ll just type its name followed by a .com. Guess what, should you usually are not there after they hit enter they’ll just go some place else.
Example: Darren Rowse created his popular blog on Problogger.net. Despite having a robust brand, some visitors were still going to Problogger.com. After a few years Darren decided to purchase the .com version for $5,000 and redirect it to his site, in order that no more visitors would leak.
5. They’re descriptive
Many visitors will come to your site through the serps and via direct links on other web sites. That’s, they’ll come if the domain that they’ll see shall be appealing.
Having a descriptive domain name will give visitors an idea of what your site is about even before they enter it. If related keywords are present within the domain it may also help your search engine rankings.
Example: You’d find a way to guess what TelevisionGuides.com is about even before visiting it right?
Put it in one other way. Suppose you might be looking for a movie review. You make a fast search in Google. The primary result comes from MikesLair.com. The second result comes from MoviesCentral.com. Which one would you quite click?
6. Or brandable
A brandable domain can have a pleasant pronunciation, an interesting combination of letters or just an appealing visual effect. Sometimes they’ll not be descriptive, but they will be equally efficient.
Brandable domains will make your visitors associate the name along with your website and its content. (Notice that brandable domains will be descriptive at the identical time, but that will not be all the time the case.)
Example: Kotaku.com is one of the crucial popular gaming blogs on the Web. The domain will not be descriptive in any respect, however the brand is so strong that gamers immediately recognize it across the online.
7. They don’t contain hyphens or numbers
Domains containing hyphens and numbers are cheaper for a reason. They suffer the identical problem of domains not using a .com extension or with complex spelling.
Consider Tech-World.com. The names that may stick in people’s mind are “tech” and “world.” Many visitors will just forget the hyphen along the best way. Eventually they’ll attempt to access your site by typing TechWorld.com, in vain.
Numbers, then again, will confuse individuals with the spelling. Suppose you registered Tech5.com. Visitors might mix it with TechFive.com, in the event that they manage to recollect the number in the primary place!
Example: Coolest-Gadgets.com is a particularly popular gadget blog, with over 70,000 RSS subscribers. With such an enormous readership you get people often typing the domain directly on the address bar. Useless to say that lots of them would just forget so as to add the hyphen. The owner of the location bought CoolestGadgets.com afterwards to repair the issue.
Final remark
Don’t get discouraged in case your current domain doesn’t have all these characteristics; or should you can’t find one which does. These are only aspects that you need to consider when evaluating domains.
There are many examples of popular web sites with domains that lack in a single or two points covered on the list. Just ensure that your domain has many of the characteristics and try to be high-quality.
Update: If you happen to are on the lookout for a website names ebook, try “Killer Domains.” It has all of the tools and techniques that I take advantage of to search out great and available domains.
