Domain name can be considered as the basic and most important factor for your success as well as your failure. Most of the bloggers with little to no experience get in touch with those who are already on the path of failure. What happens then? They are fed with wrong information.
They are suggested to choose a domain name based on the number of backlinks pointing to it. Or, they are recommended to go with .com or .in because they will fail with other extensions.
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How I chose my domain name
When I started my blogging career in 2014, I wanted to go with free domain name as I did not like to pay for it. Hence I came across freenom service and registered .tk domain. My first domain was theenglish.tk.
Now the problem was hosting. So, I learnt about blogspot and pointed the domain to my blogspot. Luckily, I got adsense approval as well. Soon, I found that I won’t be able to grow.
So, I started thinking about standard domain extensions. With no idea, what I am supposed to do, I registered howtodothis.in and put all type of content on it.
After working some months, I found this domain meaningless as well. So, I registered articlesjar.com. On articlesjar.com, I reached 100k page views a month. However a friend suggested me to use a domain which related to my niche (English Literature). And finally I went for my main domain (I can’t disclose). After a year, I purchased englishnotes.com from a Domain Reseller who had kept it for selling since 2004.
Just imagine, how much time did it take to find the right path!
In this article, I will share my experience which will be surely helpful for you.
One of the first things which you MUST do, is to find your niche because your success depends on your knowledge about your niche. After you find your niche and exact idea which you want to work on, its time to find a good domain name. So, the question it,
What domain name should I choose for my site?
Well, I strongly recommend you to go for a name which strictly relates to your idea. NEVER, EVER, EVER go for a general domain name. Because a domain which does not represent your niche or idea can never become a brand.
e.g. if you are in health line, your domain name should have keywords which relate to health. Similarly if you are in educational field, then your domain name should be related to your subject. My domain name is englishnotes.com. My friend’s domain names are commercenotes.org, urdunotes.com etc. All these domains are subject specific.
If you want to work on a language, you should include the name of that language in the name. e.g. a friend of mine runs bengaliforum.com. This site grew drastically because my friend worked on a niche and remained around it only. Look at the 6 month graph below (it shows the clicks of the site).
Domain name length best practices
The domain name should ideally not exceed 15 characters. A domain name with characters more than 15 cannot become a brand. Its the hard reality. Can you tell me a single big brand which has more than 15 characters? Except for a few, you won’t find any.
Use of Numbers of Special Characters
Well, I think that, the domain name should be easy enough for a 5th standard student to memorise. Its better to avoid the use of hyphen (-) in the domain. It is difficult to memorise such domain names and also hard to put the address.
You may use numbers in your domain only if they make it easy for the users to memorise the domain name. e.g. news24online.com. However I think, you should avoid the use of numbers as well.
What domain name extensions should I use?
Well, first you check if .com, .net, .org, .in extensions are available. If not, then you can go with any extension which makes your domain name meaningful.
e.g. we have vdo.ai, with.in, real.discount, keyword.guru etc.
You can use namemesh.com for domain name ideas. The tool shows you data of all the available extensions on internet. Its FREE and does not require any sign up.
And yes, you can find good expired domains on expireddomains.net and premium domains on sedo.com. Take at least a week and decide which domain you should choose.
Domain Name FAQs
Here I have listed some FAQs
What domain name extensions are available?
You can find all the available domain extension here.
Can domain name be changed?
NO, but you can purchase a new domain name if you ever need. But do learn how to move your sight to the new domain without affecting it.
Can domain name have special characters?
You can use hyphen (-). However it is recommended to avoid hyphens.
Can domain name be trademarked?
Yes, domain names can be trademarked. e.g. you cannot use any domain name which has whatsapp in it.
Can domain name have numbers?
Yes, a domain name can contain numbers.
Can domain name start with number?
Yes, they can. e.g. 99acres.com
Do domain name start with www
Yes, they do. However these days, there is no need for www.
Can domain name have underscore?
No, they can’t. Only hyphens (-) are allowed)
Which domain name is best for SEO
They is nothing like “best for SEO”. A domain name should be related to your niche. It should be easy, memorable and short.
Is domain name case sensitive?
No, its not. You can put in upper case or lower case.
Will changing domain name affect SEO?
If done properly, it will not. Hence you must learn to do that properly.
Hope you like the article!
