Domain Name Selection and Keywords Selection

The most exciting part of building a self-hosted blog for me is choosing the perfect domain name for it. It is, after all, the face that you will present to people. Your blog’s domain name will be the digital imprint or signature that you will leave on other people’s blogs when you comment. Some people won’t even remember what your real name is, but they will remember which blog you are associated with. As you continue blogging, you will realize that you answer to your blog’s domain name in the same manner as you answer to your given name. The domain name will become a part of you so choose well.

Choosing Domains With Your Niche in Mind

You can begin your search by first identifying the keywords associated with your blog.
Note most “real words” are already taken and so you will have to make do with a domain with several real words in it. Alternatively, you can invent a word that “sounds” like it could be good for your niche.

Your domain name must be short, with very few syllables. However, there is another technique related with domain ownership that teaches us about using long tailed keywords as domain names. These keywords are the exact ones that people type in the search bar to look for something online (e.g. whatisablog). The likelihood that you could grab their attention faster is high if your domain name reflects the things they went online for.

Brandability

When I encounter quite a few domain names that are similar in quality and worth, the thing to consider would have to be the brandability of the name. Will it look good on a business card? Is it sticky (will it stay with the passers by?).

Aim for the dot com

It’s extremely difficult to compete with a site bearing the dot com version of your dot net domain name because a lot of direct browser searches will go to the dot com version by default. When searching for available domain names for your blog, always check the dot com extensions first, but also be on the lookout for worthy dot net names. If you find a short ‘real word’ domain name but it is only available as a dot net, it is advisable to get it. Investing on a very good dot com domain name could also mean buying it directly from the current owner. You should do this only when you are completely sure your investment will pay off.

Lists of Expiring Domains

There are hundreds of thousands of domain names that expire daily. When you find one you like on a list, the first step you should take is to research the history of the domain name. Was the previous owner careful with it (i.e. did he use it ethically)? The domain names in the expiring or expired lists may have an existing traffic source and even google page rank. Use the search engines to find out what types of articles were previously published on the domain, as these articles could still be included in the cache.