What Is A Domain Name?
I’m pretty certain that most people are familiar with domain names, but I will quickly mention it for those who might not know. To put it bluntly you cannot have a website without a domain name. Your domain name is the key part to your website address. That’s what people use to find you easily in the search engines.
Your domain name is unique only to you and it is your online business identity! Once you registar your name nobody else can use it. It is yours for life as you continue to renew it. A domain name is really the name of your business and it can also be your brand when choosing a domain name for your business.
My goal is to help you understand the basics of domain names and why it is so important to choose the proper name for your niche website. Because if you choose a name that has nothing to do with your niche website, then you are headed for failure.
Keyword Rich Or Brandable Domain Name?
Everybody has a difficult time when choosing a domain name. But did you know you can choose a keyword rich domain name or a brandable domain name? I wasn’t aware that there were 2 to choose from.
First, I will give you an example of a keyword rich domain name: fourpawsandatailrescue.com
This is telling me this niche is about animal rescue. I also thought it was for cats and dogs because of the description. I went to the site and it is only about cats. So the keywords to me are a bit misleading.
Now here’s an example of a brandable domain name using the same example above: Mikespetrescue.com or Mikescatrescue.com
The person’s name is Mike so he is branding himself as an authority in his niche on pet rescue or he is just into cat rescue.
Now that you understand what a keyword rich and brandable domain name is I have to point out the keyword rich name comes across as a bit awkward and might be hard to remember the name. The brandable name is short and really easy to remember.
What Does Google Say?
Google, nor the other search engines don’t really pay much attention to either one. It will be your content that is getting ranked and you don’t need a keyword in your name to get high rankings. A brandable domain can work just as well and sometimes because it is short and memorable it might be better.
But really who knows? Between the 2 it has been an arguement as to which one is best. In the end it is your choice to pick whichever one you want to go with as long as it’s relevant to your niche. Myself I took a long time to choose but in the end I went with a keyword rich domain name.
How Do You Choose A Name That Describes Your Business?
What people fail to understand is that you have to do some reasearch on what name best fits your business. If you don’t do research and pick something that does not match your niche then you are headed for disaster before you even start writing content.
In the following example, I will be sharing with you the steps that I take to successfully buy domain names that describes what my website is all about plus this also allows me to build my own brand.
So for example, perhaps you want a website that focuses on green tea, which is going to be your niche, so obviously you must have the keywords green tea in your domain name. This is what I do first.
Step 1. You have to do proper research in order to find your targeted audience. I use Google trends when searching for a new niche so I can get a basic idea of how many people are searching this topic. This also tells me if the niche is going to be worth my time to build a website around it.
Here’s the screenshot from Google trends:
As you can see over the last year green tea has be very consistent and lots of people are actively searching for it.
Step 2. We know people are interested in this topic but we need to find out some search terms that people are using. To do this I like to use Google instant. As you type your search words into the search bar the menu drops down revealing search terms.
To help you understand what I am talking about check out the Google instant capture screen below:
By doing this simple search I have been able to determine a few more things, actually 6, that people are searching for in the green tea niche. The search has also revealed the top 10 best green tea brands that I would have no problem writing reviews and content on, once I buy my domain name.
Step 3- Now we know what people are searching for it’s time to search some of these keywords using a keyword tool to see how many monthly searches they’re getting. My personal choice is Jaaxy, however, you’re free to use any keyword tool you like.
In the screenshot below, look at the suggestions that Jaaxy found after I plugged in the search term from step 2.
In the partial list above are 5 good keywords that I could use for a great domain name because it describes what kind of website I want to build. The one that really stands out to me is: top 10 green tea brands. I put a check mark beside it so you can see it. I could discuss the 10 top brands of green tea that are available on the market today. Also I could recommend the best place to purchase them online, or discuss the benefits for women or men, loose leaf or tea bags, all within this domain name.
Which Domain Level Is Best?
TLD’s is short for top level domains (extensions) available when you buy a domain name. The one TLD that will get you the highest rankings in Google and the other search engines is: .com. This is Google’s favourite one over any other TLD out there today.
At times the .com extension is not always available but you could use these 2 TLD’s: .org and .net when purchasing your first website domain.
I highly recommend you choose from these 3 only because Google doesn’t seem to rank any other domain extensions as well.
Let’s Look At Some Awesome Benefits To Owning Your Own Domain Name!
- You are the owner. Nobody else can or shares with you.
- You control what you do with your website. There a no limitations from content to everything associated with your site.
- They tend to have better rank especially if you have a .com or .org or .net domain.
- This is an assest and will grow in value. The longer you own it the more valueable it becomes.
- You are creating your own brand. You can become an expert in your field and grow your authority.
These are pretty significant advantages when you own your domain name!
The Best and Cheapest Place To Buy A Domain Name!
I honestly wasn’t aware that GoDaddy, Namecheap and Name are not the cheapest place to buy your domain name. I am only using these 3 as comparison but all sites work the same. Sure there’s a lot of media advertising, especially for GoDaddy, and because of this you are easily drawn in and lead to believe they are the best.
I didn’t know too much about these companies per say, but I did go and buy my domain name from GoDaddy because I thought it was the best and cheaper place to buy from for what I needed. Big mistake, I was wrong!
It wasn’t until Wealthy Affiliate started offering domain names earlier this year, that I realized 4 huge discrepencies between the other companies and WA.
In the chart below you will see that all 4 companies offer hosting, privacy and email accounts. Plus ONLY WA offers a guarantee. What about the upsells? The other companies charge for their upsells plus they charge for privacy protection and email accounts. All this cost is passed on to you the customer because they are not included with your purchase.
The only 2 concerns and requirements you need is your domain name and privacy protection. With the privacy feature your website and all the information about you is blocked. Period. No one can look up the Whois, these other 3 companies you can, and check out your information.
My information is private and I am uncomfortable knowing the whole web world can check out me out. In my opinion you should not have to pay for it either and am very happy WA offers it for free.
Comparing the price to other domain registars, you can see the money you can save by purchasing your domains at WA!
Click To Purchase Your Domain Name Here!
I hope I have been able to pass on some useful information about the domain name process and show you how important it is to have a domain name that best describes your online business.
If you have any further questions or comments or if I can help you out in any way, I would love to hear about it in the comments below. I will get back to you as soon as I can!
Take Care
~Barb~