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Your Guide to Choosing the Right Domain Name

Choosing the right domain name is very important. Unfortunately, it usually isn’t given enough thought. Because they are readily available, webmasters buy them without much consideration. Certain elements have to be assessed beforehand though, such as the following:


1. Use Keywords and Branding Properly
Chances are the name you want may be registered already. If that’s the case, just add a keyword to the name. If “NameCab.com” is taken, try “TopNameCab.com” or “BestNameCab.com”. However, the name should still be identifiable with your product or brand. The name must also conform to whatever strategy your service is employing. In fact, it is more important to have a name that relates to your product or service than one that sounds “cool”.

2. Avoid Punctuations
Users are not likely to remember your name if it has underscores or hyphens. They will just type the name straight. They will end up getting an error message or worse, land in a competitor site.

3. Check for Availability
There are websites that let you check if a name is available or not. Some premium registered names are also being sold in the market for a certain price so if you must have it, check how much it costs.  When choosing the right domain name, the price is always a consideration.

4. Notes on Extensions
Whenever possible, use .com as the extension. It is more widely known than .net or .org. If your extension is not well known, a user could end up in another site. If you are running a business, getting the .com extension is a must. If this just isn’t possible, use .org or .net but only as a last resort. The .net is the second best followed by .org.

You might have seen websites with .info or .cc extensions. These are not suitable for business sites. Blog owners and private websites can use whatever extension they want as it usually doesn’t affect them in any way. For business sites though, it has to be .com.

5. Domain Name Lengths
Companies spend countless hours thinking of just the right name for their website. Here’s a tip: web users do not like to type long and unusual names. Your website’s name has to be descriptive, but don’t make it a chore to type. If the name has to be lengthy, use an acronym or a dash. As much as possible though, keep the name simple and short.

6. How to Choose the Proper Name
Think of what your business is offering. You can use the service you provide as a basis for the name. If the business is about fixing computers, consider names like “fixPC”, repaircomputer”, “fixtech” and so on.

At the same time, you should avoid sounding generic. After all, your brand must stand out. Don’t use names that confine you to a specific location, as it will become useless in case you move. Of course, this won’t be an issue if your business is intended for local clients.

When choosing the right domain name, remember these things. Your domain name will represent you and by selecting the proper name, traffic to your site will certainly get a boost.

7. Using domain coupon codes when buying
When buying a domain name at registrars, it's great if you use the coupon code. When using it, you will save a lot of money, up to 90%, even $0.99 per domain per year. So do try to find some code somewhere on the internet, using Google with keywords phrase like "GoDaddy coupon codes" or "Namecheap coupon codes" or something like this.

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