Before you get this far, you should have chosen a topic for your site. As you’ll see in this lesson, choosing a domain name before you choose a topic isn’t wise. You need to know what keyword traffic you’re going to go after before you can choose a domain name that will work well for you.
Learning how to choose a domain name for your website is quite simple, especially if you’re setting up a simple niche site.
People tend to get really confused when it comes to choosing a domain because of all of the conflicting strategies and advice that is out there. In order to make this as effective as possible, let’s define two totally different types of sites:
- Niche informational sites – This series is designed to teach you how to create these. Niche informational websites are probably the most effective types of sites for individuals to make. They are generally somewhat small but still provide solid information, albeit about a small topic.
- Flagship sites – These sites generally have hundreds of pages and are designed to obtain readers and repeat visitors. These are great selling tools for advanced internet marketers but can be a lot to manage.
How To Choose A Domain Name For A Niche Informational Site
Please keep in mind that this lesson is addressing only how to select domains for a niche informational site. Here is my preferred order that I always follow when choosing domains for my niche sites:
- The .com version of the main keyword of your niche site – placeyourkeywordhere.com. If it’s available, register it and your search is over. An example of this would be trying to register cheapcellphoneplans.com if your keyword was ‘cheap cell phone plans’.
- The .net version of your keyword – placeyourkeywordhere.net. Obviously you’re going to go with the .com if it’s available and if it’s not, try the .net. An example of this would be trying to register cheapcellphoneplans.net if your keyword was ‘cheap cell phone plans’.
- The .com version of your keyword with an additional word at the beginning or the end. For example, placeyourkeywordhereguru.com. There are plenty of words you can add to your keyword to make this work including site, shop, info, guide, guru, gurus, best, and online. Find one that works for you and register it.
The bottom line for a niche website is to get your keyword in your domain, and to use a .com or a .net.
We use Proud Domains to register our domains. They have 24/7 phone support, are very reliable, and cost less than GoDaddy and Register.com.
Update: Here’s an auxiliary lesson on this topic: Should I Use Dashes Or No Dashes In My Domains?
I realized the power of keyword domains when I created a website on tropical islands and ranks really high because of the keywords in the domain name. I was sold then.
Ha, Matt reads this blog too? That’s funny.
How would you rank Subdomains on that list? #4? Such as creating a flagship site, and spawning loosely related niche sites off it with a different subdomain?
Yeah Manzanillo that could fit in at #4 – I prefer not to use that option but if I couldn’t buy a domain I guess I would.
I just barley started a review site. I have the keyword in the name of the domain with an added word at the end. I’m still trying to figure out all the monetization part, I’m using wordpress and adsense, now it’s link building time.
Hey Mark, I have achieved position no 1 for many keywords just by using the domain name , being the domain name the exact keyword. It usually works much better for niches in different languages, spanish, french, italian, and local niches like .com.au, .ca, or even co.uk
I’ll always look for a used domain name with the keyword in it before anything else. It’s nice to have an aged domain that you don’t have to have sit in the sandbox.
Now, the question that sparks a lot of debate… to hyphenate or not to hyphenate? That is the question.
How hard would it be to do this. Say my keyword is “pool shock” and I wanted to buy a domain like “shockparty.com” There is still one part of that keyword in there. Do you think this would be too hard, or am I just spinning my wheels trying to make good with a keyword?
The greatest asset of my domain is that my “brand” includes my keyword and is my exact domain and email address. I am constantly able to grab links for “SEO Zombie” instead of my name, which has done wonders for my rankings. And people don’t seem to mind me leaving a comment as SEO Zombie (even on dofollow blogs)
So a yourkeyword.net is always preferred over a your-keyword.com?
Do most people feel .net is more acceptable than dashes?
A couple other people have asked this already, but I’m really curious too…
To dash or not to dash?
Sonia asked it precisely:
your-keyword.com vs. yourkeyword.net? Which do I pick?
How about yourkeyword-phrase.com vs. yourkeywordphrase.net?
What about a name that is a step above the intended target?
For example, you get shoes.com even though you intend to target “blue shoes”.
The information here is like pure GOLD! I wish you guys had been doing this blog two years ago when I was learning all these lessons “the hard way”.
I had a client who “accidentally” registered a domain name which happened to be a keyword combination with a nice, high KEI. She posted erratically and without using that magical keyword combination – yet somehow she was getting TRAFFIC and nice traffic at that on her blog. Turns out it was the domain name that “did it” for her.
That’s when I learned the power of choosing the “right” domain name for a blog!
Prouddomains.com looks like a GoDaddy reseller to me.
Thanks, there is more reason to comment than ever before!
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I have 100 domains on Godaddy and i can say that this company is very reputable.:;:
Thanks – I was just wondering, can I use this content on my page, if I provide a backlink to your site?
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By the way this is off topic but I really like your sites layout.
What company is the best Domain Registrar? i’ve heard that Godaddy and Moniker are the best.’*:
Namecheap.com is also good
I have found immense value in aged domains, from a traffic and keyword perspective
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