A good domain name can be the corner stone of a blog or website’s success. A
good domain is more appealing and it can reach the readers more easily than an
odd domain. But, what are the characteristics of a good domain name? There are
several of them and the most important ones
are:
1. Good domain names are short
In case of domain names the shorter the better. One or two word domains are the best. Three word domains are also good. Too long domain names are of no use as these are really hard for people to remember. Try to keep your domain name within 10 characters and never exceed 20. Too long domain names with five or six words are the worst ones.
Example: Problogger.net, CreativeBlogger.com etc. are the best domain names, while DailyMeaningfulAndCreativeBloggingTips.com is the worst one.
2. Good domain names are easy to remember
Many people just memorize the domains of their favorite websites and type them whenever they wan to visit one. If your domain name is a complex one then it would be hard for many people to remember and you might lose some visitors in the process. Get simple domain names so that people can remember the name easily and you don’t lose your valuable visitors.
Example: Brcwr.com is a short domain name, but is not easy to remember. So it would be a bad idea to use it for your website.
3. Good domain names are easy to spell
Many of your visitors will type the domain name in their address bar and they need to spell it correctly. No one wants their visitors misspell their domain and end up somewhere else. Avoid unusual words or words that have a very complex pronunciation. Strange combinations of letters are the worst thing for a domain name. Always stick to simple and easy to spell domain names.
Example: CappuccinoBar.com might lead to misspelling because of the doubles as also can Wqxp.com because of the strange combination.
4. Good domain names have a popular extension
What are the popular domain extensions? .com, .org, .net, right? Grab one of them. Companies targeting very specific geographical regions might want to register a local domain (e.g. .bd, .in, .cn and so on). Apart from these cases, however, a .com/.org/.net domain is always the best way to go. These extensions are the most popular around the world. And a .com extension is always the best of the bests.
Example: Look around and you will see almost all popular blogs or websites have one of these three extensions and most of them have a .com one.
5. Good domain names are descriptive
Descriptive domain names are the best. They can give the visitors an idea of what the blog or website is about even before the visitors actually entering into the site. Many visitors will come to your site through the search engines and via direct links on other websites. In such cases your domain name will appear to them and they will come to your site if the domain is appealing to them. Having related keywords present in the domain name might also help your search engine rankings.
Example: It would be easier for you to guess what TelevisionGuides.com is about even before you really visit it.
6. Good domain names are brand-able
Some non-descriptive domain names consisting of nice pronunciation and an interesting combination of letters can be effective. They can catch the eye of people because of an appealing visual effect. Brand-able domains will make your visitors associate the name with your blog or website and its content.
Example: ChrisBrogan.com is one of the most popular marketing blogs on the Internet even though it’s not quite descriptive.
7. Good domain names contain only letters
The best domain names contain only letters; no numbers and no hyphens. People often forget to add the hyphen when they write the domain name in the address bar. And numbers are really hard to remember. Search engines also like domain names containing no hyphens or numbers.
In some cases you might need to add a hyphen but never use more than one. The same thing applies to numbers too.
Example: TechWorld.com is much better than Tech-World.com or Tech5.com. There is hardly any chance of misspelling.
These are just factors that you should consider when evaluating domain names. You don’t need to be discouraged if your domain doesn’t have all these characteristics. This is really hard to get a domain name with all the characteristics. Just make sure that your domain has most of the characteristics and you should be fine.
