Choosing a Domain Name

Your domain name is the name of your website. Choosing the correct domain for your website can make a huge difference in your search engine ranking.

Your domain name is one of the most important aspects of your website in regards to online marketing. The name of your website tells people and search engines what type of content to expect on your website. For example, WebsiteHelium.com must have something to do with websites, and helium rises, so it may be related to rising websites. Another, better example is HotelsonSouthPadreIsland.com. As you can imagine, this website features hotels on South Padre Island.

Keyword Related Domain Names are Best

While all of this makes sense, you might be tempted to name a website by a name that isn't obvious at all. Your last name might seem like a great name to use for your new business, such as Smith Enterprises, but smithenterprises.* isn't going to tell people or, more importantly, search engines anything about what type of content to expect on your website. If you are Smith Enterprises and you sell running shoes, you should consider buying a domain name that reflects your product. Your main product should be your primary keyword as well, and all of the content and the theme of your website should revolve around your primary product.

Top Level Domains

As a side note, .com "domain names" are always better than .net, .org, or .anything-else because they are "top level" domains. This means they are ranked higher than the others. If you can buy a .com or a .net of the exact same domain, buy the .com. Better yet, buy the .com for your primary website and use the .net for your blog. People will remember a .com domain name easier than any other type of domain name, and search engines will likely rank it higher as well.

Finding Available Quality Domain Names

The problem that business owners run into when choosing a domain name is that most "good" domain names are already taken. At least, that's the way it first appears. Going back to the shoes example, shoes.com is undoubtedly taken. Shoes.net, .org, and .anything-else is probably taken as well. However, there are a couple of tools on the internet you can use to find a top level domain that emphasizes your primary keyword.

At Website Helium, we choose domains using the tools at Cheap-DomainNames.com. Take a look:

As you can imagine, LosAngelesSurgeon.com is taken. However, this tool shows that .net, .org, and several other similar domains are available.

You could buy the .net or .org domain names, but it's really best to buy a .com domain name. On this same website are a couple more tools to help you with your search.

This domain search tool, located just under the first tool on the same web page, provides you with ideas of other domain names you could purchase. If you're going after LosAngelesSurgeon.com, then you want to have all three of those words in your domain name, with as few other letters as possible. From this list, either MyLosAngelesSurgeon.com or TheLosAngelesSurgeon.com would be the best choice.

Before making your purchase, check out one more tool. Click on the "Smart Search" tab and you see this:

This domain search tool provides even more domains for you to choose from, and they're all top level.

Second to LosAngelesSurgeon.com would be a very similar top level domain name with hyphens. Hyphens are very effective when naming web pages and top level domains with hyphens are better than domains that are not top level. For example:

Synonyms & Domain Names

A little known search engine secret is that search engines, especially Google, are getting smarter all the time as programmers work to make them "think" more like actual internet surfers. Synonyms are now recognized by search engines. This means two things: Use synonyms when writing your website content as a way to get more keyword usage in without making the content overstuffed with keywords, and it also means that you can use synonyms in your domain name.

Professional Domain & Keyword Research

For professional keyword research to determine which domain will deliver the most targeted traffic to your website, contact Website Helium at (800) 511-9645 today.