One of the key routes potential customers can take to find your business web site and ultimately your ebook(s) is via the search engines and an effective domain name can play a large part in convincing them to click on the search results that lead to your site.
A domain is your web site’s address on the Internet. Imagine the confusion if all the major high street stores didn’t have names or addresses, how would you find them or know what they sold for that matter. Just like a bricks and mortar store, your web site needs a name or a brand, a domain name that allows people to identify what you do and makes it easy for them to remember where to go next time they want to visit.
In addition to these important factors a relevant domain name can also lend credibility to your business and this in turn may eventually be enough to convince a customer to buy from you.
A good domain name is important, if not essential, take business.com or sex.com, these domain names have changed hands for millions of dollars over the years because they clearly identify the subject of the web site to potential visitors and they are easy to remember. You must try to achieve the same effect but there is a potential problem that stands in your way.
Availability. It’s a difficulty that confronts all Internet start ups these days because the majority of relevant, short and memorable domain names have already been snapped up. To overcome this you’ll need to get creative.
To help, here are the four key factors to consider when choosing your domain name…
Key Factors
1. Shorter the better: Try to keep your domain name short as possible. People hate typing long domain names and are more likely to make mistakes when they do.
2. Make it easy to remember: If you want people to visit again try and make your domain name easy for them to remember. If possible avoid hyphenated words or underscores(_), and steer clear of words that are commonly misspelled.
3. Make it professional: If you can use .COM, .NET, or (in the UK) .CO.UK domain names. Remember unless it’s a comedy or adults only site related web site to avoid humour, slang or profanity as this may deter some potential customers.
4. Include your keywords: To possibly improve your search engine rankings try to include your best keyword(s) somewhere in your domain name. I.E. improved-fishing.com.
MORE KEY FACTORS BEFORE YOU DECIDE
1. Know the domain name format: Domains can be between 2 and 67 characters long (including the extension), and contain the characters a-z, 0-9 and ‘-‘ (hyphen). Domain names cannot start or end with ‘-‘ (hyphen).
2. Know your target audience: Select domain names appropriate for them. Who will you target your products at? Choose names that sound sincere, current, active, and professional to best suit your audience.
3. Keep domain names short and simple: Generally, the shorter the domain name the easier it is to remember or write down, and the less chance of users noting or remembering it incorrectly.
4. Use words that can be visualized: Use words that involve several of the 5 senses. This usually involves choosing more common nouns (names or objects), verbs (actions), and adjectives (descriptions).
5. Plan ahead: If you are planning on releasing other information products from this domain name in the future then don’t limit the relevance to your initial product or service.
Want to get started with a domain name? I suggest you go with Godaddy and get domains buy them. Some prefer NameCheap, however, I have not been a fan of them since they charge a lot more for the price per domain and seem to be not as popular..