Choosing a Domain Name

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Go Daddy In hindsight, I would have spent more time thinking about the name to call my first website. Then, I was very excited at the prospect of establishing a web presence but was armed with little knowledge about how to go about it. It was more like a trial and error thing. fumbling codes here and there and visualising the result was enough fun for me then. I did not have anything to promote or sell, so probably that approach was fine as there was nothing at stake. But today, for each site you design,some thought be given to choosing a name for the website. Just as parents choose names for their children, you will need to choose a name to call your web site. This is referred to as your domain name. For instance couponhives.com is the domain name for a discount and coupon website. It’s important you select the name wisely.


Though a child can decide to change his or her name when they are older, you cannot change your domain name once it has been registered. If you want a different name, you have to register a new one. Unlike humans, that can have the same names, your domain name must be unique. Just imagine if there were 2 websites with the domain name voucherhive.co.uk, how confused do you think the web would be?

Arriving at a suitable name would be easy once you have decided the purpose of the website: Identify the main product or service your want to sell and the related keywords, your domain name reflect these. It does not always have to, but it would certainly have a positive impact in search engine optimisation.

Search engines maintain a database (collection of information in an ordered manner) of websites using programs / software that are written with the sole purpose of visiting sites and taking note of their content so that when you use websites like Google to search for an item, you can easily find it. These programs are often referred to as spiders or robots and are said to crawl a site when they visit that website. By noting the contents of the pages, the search engine is said to index that page ranking them in order of relevance. The higher a website is ranked for particular search terms, the more likely the website would be displayed in Search results.

Below are some of the things your may consider when choosing a name. You don’t necessarily have to adhere strictly to them.

  • RelevanceThe name should in some way reflect the product or service you are offering, if possible the brand of the product.
  • Simplicity It should be simple so it can be easily remembered, avoid using underscores. Your visitors may not remember to include them and it is much easier to type when you don’t have to use the shift key.
  • ConciseThe name should not be lengthy, you have up to 67 characters though. Something simple, but concise would go a long way. Imagine having to type in affiliate-marketing-platform.com compared to one.com.  Domain names are not case-sensitive: hostpapa.com is the same as HOSTPAPA.COM
  • Right Suffix What suffix to choose e.g. (.com,.org, .net etc) depends on the purpose and your planned reach. If your business is country specific, it would be more appropriate for a company doing business mainly in the UK as to have a .co.uk suffix rather than yourbiz.com. However, most people would append .com to a web name, so it would not be out-of-place to use a .com site for that reason. There is also no harm is registering more than one name for the same website.
  • Suggestions from othersAsk friends and family members what they think about the name. You may as well find out from others because they would be your potential clients.
  • Act quicklyOnce you have settled on a suitable name, register it as soon as possible, someone somewhere may register that name before you and you’ll have to start all over again.

These are just a few of the things your might consider before choosing that name that would stick in the minds of your clients. So that without even thinking about it, they can remember your website and stop by at anytime. Hope this has been helpful. Check back for more tips as we embark on this journey to our wealthy place, the place or more than enough and early retirement.

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About Author

Pele began his education in Nigeria before moving to the UK for a masters degree and subsequently a PhD in computer science. The sharp contrast in life and morals in the UK motivated him to start his blog, a website dedicated to sharing candid and virtuous views to enable individuals and families maximize their potentials in life, relationships and finances.

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