Do You Want a Good Domain Name for Your Blog or Website?

You may be asking what a domain name is. A domain name is a "www" address that you use to visit websites on the Internet. A good example would be if you wanted to visit Google, you would type in www.google.com in your web browser. Google.com is Google's domain name. A domain name tells the world who you are on the Internet. Nobody else can use your domain name.

There are many vendors where you can register a domain name. The prices are fairly consistent and can cost anywhere from $5 - $15 for year. They need to be registered each year, but you can usually pay for several years at a time and get a discount.

In order to get a good idea for a domain name for your business or just for personal reasons, open up a word processing program on your computer and list 10 key words that would be related to the content of your website or blog. For example, if you want to site to be health oriented, list health, herbal, healthy, remedy, cure ... Or let's say you have a house cleaning service, list cleaning, home, vacuum, maid service, ...

One you have your list, get a domain name with at least one of the keywords in the title. You need to do this so that the search engines will find your site. Try to keep the domain name as short as possible. Short and easy to remember is better than long and forgetful. Also, go with the '".com" extension. Most people online expect the website they are visiting to be ".com" so go with the most popular extension.

Take your keyword list and visit "000domains.com". You may not want to register your domain here as there are cheaper alternatives. However, they have a great search domain feature anyone can use. It's on the first page on the site so you can't miss it. Type in one of your keywords and make sure the ".com" extension is checked and hit the search button. You will be given several possibilities for what's available. If you don't see one you like, add short words like "the" or "a" to the keyword. If you still have no luck, click the "more" link to find alternate domain names with your basic keyword included. If you still cannot find one you like, type in your second keyword and continue as before.

If you have a business, you probably want to brand your business name. Examples of brand names are Google and Yahoo. Both of these names are probably made up and don't really need a keyword list. Therefore, if you want to brand, you may not need the keyword list. Instead, you would use your business name. For example, if your business is Empire Lawn Service, type that in the search box to see if it's available. If not, add your small words like "the" and "a" and search. As a last resort, go with the alternate domain names search.
There is nothing preventing you from registering more than one domain name. You could register your business name and several key word domain names. At about $10 a name, it's a good investment