Okay…

If you do any internet marketing at all, there is a good chance that you have had to build a website. When you decide to build a website, there are a lot of things that you will have to research and consider before you even get started.

You have to decide what your site is going to be about. You will have to decided where you will host your site. You will have to decide whether you are going to build a blog or if you are going to go for a more traditional style website. And most importantly, you will have to choose a domain name.

There are some things that you should try to accomplish with your domain name, but there are also some things that you should try to avoid when creating said domain.

I usually start with a little keyword research. I try to find keywords that are getting searched a lot that do not have millions of competitors. I usually like to start out with about ten strong keywords. From here, I usually go to namecheap.com to see if any of these keywords are available with a dot com. Most of the time, you will have to get a little creative, but this is usually pretty fun for me!

Here are some things that I like to try to accomplish:
1. My domain had to do with what the site is about.
2. I try to make it as short as possible while still making sense.
3. I want the domain name to be easy to remember.
4. If a dot com is not available, I move on.

Here are some things that I try to avoid:
1. I avoid hyphens and numbers. If I tell someone my website and then I have to explain that there are hyphens or that it is the word two and not the number two then I will avoid it!
2. I avoid using hard to spell words.
3. Make sure to avoid copyright infringement.

I know that there is a lot more to look for and to avoid. This is just a quick listing to get you started on the right track.

What methods do you use to come up with a domain name? How much research do you put into this process? Let me know because I am curious to know what methods other are using!

I look forward to hearing what you have to say. Please feel free to comment or re-tweet this to any of your friends that might be having trouble coming up with a new domain name!

Go Hard or Go Home!

Chris Jensen