How To Pick A Domain Name

When you start to consider blogging and you want to use WordPress for your blogging system, one of the first things you think about is what should I call my blog and what domain name should I use?

Even before that, some folks might not know what a domain name is.

So what is a domain name? A domain name is the address of your blog or a website. The address is also known as a URL or Uniform Resource Locator. A URL is also known as the less popular URI, which stands for Uniform Resource Identifier. The URL, URI and the domain name of this blog is www.thespinningdonut.com.

Tip: If you’re using the ever-popular Firefox Internet browser, press Ctrl-L and your cursor will jump into the address bar where the URL lives. Ctrl-L also works in Opera. I like keyboard shortcuts a lot since I like keeping my hands at the keyboard and don’t like moving between the keyboard and mouse all the time. In Internet Explorer, press Alt-D and your cursor will jump to the address bar.

If you’ve been hanging out for sometime on the Internet and you’ve been typing in addresses in your browser’s address bar, you’ve been typing in the URL as well as a domain name. There all the same, pretty much. You can break the domain down into the domain name which is www.thespinningdonut.com and then break it down some more to what’s called the registered domain name which is thespinningdonut.com for this blog. And that’s all the technical I’m going to get on the domain name because for the purpose of this article you’ll need to pick a domain name and register it. If you can even register it. We’ll get to that shortly.

Picking A Domain Name

You can certainly pick a domain name and register it so you can start blogging, but I recommend you think about it and possibly come up with a domain that reflects what you are blogging about and what your users will use your blog for. Here are some good tips to use when thinking about what domain you want. I’ll use the topic of napkins for my examples. I don’t know if there are any red hot blogs out there talking about napkins. 🙂

But for this example let’s use napkins as if they were all the rage and something that you’d love to write about for a very long time for free, providing extreme value to your million blog readers who can’t wait to come to your blog and read about all the insightful napkin information that you’ll be espousing to them every single day of their lives.

Use a short meaningful domain name like:

www.dailynapkintips.com – tells your readers that you’ll provide daily napkin tips, driving them back to your blog every day.

www.viralnapkins.com – a very strong name for napkins and the value your blog will provide napkin lovers world wide.

www.napkinmarketing.com – tells your readers they’ll get great marketing advice on napkins by reading your blog.

www.napkinpro.com – tells your readers that the information you provide at your napkin blog is of professional grade napkin knowledge.

www.napkintreprenuer.com – tells your readers you are the napkin entrepreneur.

www.pronapkinblogger.com – tells your readers you are the napkin pro and you are providing the level of napkin expertise that is unparalleled.

www.napkinsnow.com – tells your readers that you’re blogging about napkins and snow. No, no, no. It’s napkins-now, providing up-to-the minute napkin news.

www.readwritenapkins.com – tells your readers you provide news, reviews and analysis about all things napkins.

www.smashingnapkins.com – tells your readers that you’ll provide concise information about napkins and filter out the other napkin noise.

www.napkinsmakingmoney.com – tells your readers how they’ll make money with napkins.

Ok, all the above is tongue-in-cheek, but don’t miss the point. Something that identifies your domain immediately to your readers and what they’ll expect when they visit your napkin blog. The name of your blog might even rank you higher in a Google, Yahoo or MSN search. There is a whole topic on Search Engine Optimization that I won’t expound on here but the domain name of your blog might help you rank higher in the big three search engines and other more niche search engines. But don’t feel overwhelmed picking a domain name. Don’t feel like you have to pick the best name or wait forever and do research forever before you pick a name.

Another domain name you might want to consider is your own name or totally meaningless name like www.thespinningdonut.com. Although it doesn’t tell you anything there is a story behind it that people might remember. If you have a unique name and you expect to be the authority figure for what you are going to blog about, you can certainly use your name – www.YourNameGoesHere.com is totaly acceptable. But think about it and make sure that is what you want people to know your blog for – your name and the power it carries or will carry. Another domain name could be a nickname or pen name you’d like to use. Skellie has a blog called Skelliewag. I absolutely love the name – very distinct and memorable.

A domain name is just like your address where you live. It tells people how to find you and your blog. So keep it memorable and short if you can. Sometimes unique aspects of a domain name are memorable. Yaro Starak’s www.Entrepreneurs-Journey.com is unique to me because it has the hyphen in it, which is questionable by some but it allows you to remember it by saying to yourself, “Hey, I know that guys domain name had a hyphen in it. I know it was about Entrepreneurs (which by the way you learn to spell really good over time) and you know he’s providing guidance to your Journey of becoming an Entrepreneur. Now, Yaro has a very distinct name and could have certainly used that since he has become an authority figure.

I’m Excited!! How Do I Register My Domain Name?

There are websites called domain registration websites. One that I have used forever, because it was extremely popular at the time is GoDaddy.com. Another domain registration site that a lot of folks seem to talk about and use is ProudDomains. And yet another domain registration website is namecheap. Either way, pick one or do a Google search and find a domain registration site. This is where you can look up your favorite domain names that you decide on and see if they are available.

Below is a screenshot of GoDaddy’s homepage. This is an extremely busy page but apparently this type of page works for them because they haven’t changed it too much in years.

When I first went to GoDaddy I had a hell of time figuring it all out. It’s so busy that you can pick services that you might not want but end up paying for. So make sure you just register your domain. In the image below, I’ve highlighted the domain search box that you can use to find out if the domain name you want is available.

I would also recommend going for the .com extension of your domain name. They will suggest to you to buy the .com, .net, .info, .biz and on and on but don’t do it. Stay focused on your domain ending in .com. If you can’t find a .com you really want, I would start looking at the .net version.

Again, don’t get to caught up in the domain name that it stops you from going forward.

[techtags: Domain Name, Domain Registration]