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Looking at the posts I have written so far, I realized that I haven’t done anything that caters to “make money online” beginners. I want DerekBeau.com to appeal to (and help out) a broad range of people with all different skill levels, so I am going also try to write articles that beginners can benefit from as well. I hope that in doing so, even those of you who are more advanced at making money online can still get something out of the posts.

Now, onto the topic: how important is it to have your own, dedicated domain name, and how do you decide on a good domain name? I know this topic has been covered many times in the past…

…but it can’t hurt to give my own point of view.

First of all, it is very important to have your own domain name. This is a no-brainer for most people that have been online more than a week. I am not going to spend much time trying to convince you why you need your own domain name because you probably already know, but here are two obvious reasons:

  • Without it, you give up absolute control of your work. If you are using a domain such as “accountname.blogspot.com” or anything similar, it most likely means you do not have your own hosting either. What happens if BlogSpot decides to delete your account? Your domain is gone and your incoming links are useless.
  • It makes your website appear more professional. It will be a lot harder to build credibility for a website that doesn’t have its own domain name. Other webmasters will be hesitant to link to you and you will probably have a hard time trying to sell anything.

OK, now that we got that out of the way we can start on the more interesting topic of choosing a great domain name. When I am looking to register a domain name, I always prefer to go for one that is catchy and memorable rather than one filled with keywords. I feel that the branding of a domain name is much more valuable than the slight SEO benefits of having keywords in your domain name. In my opinion, 99% of the value in most domain names is a direct result of marketing efforts. Aside from that, here is a quick list of 9 things I keep in mind when registering a new domain name:

  1. Keep it as short as possible. This helps it to look good in print and as a logo. It also minimizes the chances that someone will misspell it.
  2. Make sure it is easy to speak and spell. You want people to be able to communicate what your domain name is without any problems.
  3. If possible, avoid double letters. This is just a personal preference, but I try to find alternatives for domains like “wooddecks.com” - I don’t like the unnecessary repetition of letters.
  4. Avoid hyphens and numbers. They do absolutely nothing but dilute the branding power and add confusion to the mix. “Was that six spelled out or 6 the number?” “Was it white-mice.com or whitemice.com”?
  5. Please don’t buy a domain that starts with THE. Remember when it was “thefacebook.com”? It just looks tacky and amateurish. Don’t try to add this word to get a “consolation” domain name.
  6. Almost always register the dot Com. Unless you have a real reason to get another TLD, register the name as a dot Com or don’t register it at all. Again, this adds to the confusion and you will almost certainly send some of your traffic to the real dot Com.
  7. Come up with a unique name. You can get unique ideas from a completely unrelated niche, but you don’t want to be accused of copying another website in your niche. Get something unique rather than generic or an imitation and you will be glad you did.
  8. Don’t try to stuff keywords. Although it can help your search engine rankings, you should be more considered with the long tail anyways. The branding and promotional benefits of a catchy and memorable domain name will far outweigh those of a keyword domain (unless, of course, you get a premium domain that is brandable AND has keywords).
  9. When your mind fails, use a thesaurus. This is a great way to come up with words that form a catchy domain name. Just make sure you don’t pick words that no one will know the meanings of.

So there you have it, my personal advice for choosing a good domain name. If you are still sitting on the fence, go out right now and get yourself a shiny, new, brandable domain name.

Again, I know posts on this topic have been done before, but I would still like to know if it helped anyone out. If so, please just leave a simple comment or send me an email. I would also like to know what else you look for when registering a domain name, I’m sure I forgot to mention one thing or another.

If you hated this post, I would still like to hear your comments and suggestions :cool: