The domain industry is gigantic and massively lucrative, with ultra-relevant domains seemingly always bringing in hundreds of thousands of dollars for their owners.
From ultra-memorable short domain names to incredibly targeted shopping terms, the value of a good domain is well established, and any smart online marketer knows how important it is to find a domain name that sells your business for you.
For bloggers, things can be a little more complicated. Picking a name for your blog is often less about driving direct ‘buyer’ traffic and much more about summing up and explaining your content.
For some bloggers, personal branding comes into play too.
From self-named domain names to semi-random number and letter combinations, blog names can be incredibly varied.
These tips should help you pick a domain name for your blog. Whenever you build a blog, give some thought to your domain name, for it’s essentially your online calling card.
Check out these tips, get on the registrar, and get ready to pick a great domain name.
1: Your blog’s name should be content-relevant
If your blog is about tree frogs, let people know in the domain name. If your blog is about generating income, make it clear in the domain. If your blog is about anything and everything, pick a domain name that doesn’t make it seem uber-specific.
Focus on something that brands your blog effectively.
2: If you’re going to build a blog for personal branding, use your own name
If you perform a Google search for your name, what comes up? For most people it’s a few irrelevant results, possibly an old Friendster account, and a Facebook page.
Your blog is your online calling card, and without a great domain name it’s going to be hard for people to find you, at least in the early stages.
If you’re making a personal blog, use your own full name as the domain name. While it will cut down on direct SEO benefits for your content, it’ll work wonders for your own personal branding.
After all, what’s better than having your own website appear when a potential employer or client searches for your name? Believe me, they’ll be searching for you, so invest in a domain that shows off what you can offer.
3: Cheap top-tier names can save you time and money
Is the .com taken? Get the .net or the .org. Top-tier domains are all virtually the same for SEO benefits, so unless your website is going to be directly entered into the search bar often, it’s best to just go for the next best top-tier domain name. If you’re stuck between picking a $10.00 .net domain and a $2,000.00 .com, go for the .net every time.
#4: Always invest in “whois” protection, unless you’re planning to sell.
When you build a blog, you’re putting yourself at risk of copycat bloggers popping up straight away. Protect yourself from fraud and spam by hiding your domain registry details. Of course, if you’re planning on selling your domain name eventually, keeping your “whois” data on the domain itself is incredibly useful for finding buyers.
Getting the domain is a crucial first step.
For more info on picking the best domain names you can check out my video:
How did you choose your domain name?
Please share your tips in the comments below. Thanks.
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Thanks nice post. I think keyword domain works well for me. I choose keyword domain for my blog. Thanks
Very interesting points here, Andrew.
I’ve never given “whois” protection much thought, but definitely see your point.
I do agree on .net and .org domains.
From my experience, here are the guidelines I use to pick the best domains:
1. Dead-on Keyword.com
2. Dead-on Keyword.net or .org
3. Hyphened: Key-word.com
4. Suffixed: KeywordTips.com
5. Prefixed: MyKeyword.com
Thanks for your insights!
Ana Hoffman
PS How do you like Subscribers Magnet so far?
Ana,
I love your guidelines for picking a domain – spot on…thanks for sharing.
Re: Subscribers Magnet
It’s been really good. I don’t use the pop-up functionality as I know that annoys so many people.
I love people to opt-in, of course, but pop-ups to me are like begging!
I feel the other options for people to opt-in are much less intrusive.
Andrew
I go back and forth on pop-up issue. Glad to see you’ve taken a stand on that one.
Thanks for the feedback!
~Ana
Just a quick question Andrew, is .net better than .org? Well, I just thought that .org are mostly favored by search engines, or am I wrong with this idea. Anyway, cool tips, I learned something important here, well, I actually haven’t protected my whois details. I never thought that it was that important. Thanks.
Regards,
Jason
Jason,
Re: .net vs. .org
Ask 50 people and you’ll get a 50/50 split or close to it I would imagine.
Thing is, no-one really knows other than Mr. Google.
Personally, I be surprized if Google makes one better that the other. It comes down to how the site is set-up and what you add afterwards.
Andrew
That’s a good point about using your name for a personal blog. In most cases, it’s not great for SEO, however it does certainly get you known if you keep at it and add a lot of quality content.
Also, it can be good for SEO if you share your name with someone famous. I’m lucky in that regard. I have the exact same name as a famous Aussie ex-cricketer, so my personal blog gets a steady stream of traffic from searches for it. (I don’t pretend to be him, of course. But people still click on my URL in the results because they’re curious.)
Matt,
Having the name of someone famous does have it’s advantages, then?
Andrew
Good tips Andrew. I am a big fan of reaching for the .org or .net, you just have to be careful not to infringe on anybody’s business or trademarks when doing so.. I’ve had some clients that had some fun with that 🙂
Aaron,
Good point – the big names will soon stop you using it!
Andrew
Yes it is right, if someone want to brand their name then using their name on domain is good. Again private registration is also good for make our domain registar information being public.
I’m the first to admit that the domain I use for my MMO blog is not a good one, it is actually more suited to a certain adult niche!
I’ve had it for almost three years now and don’t think I could ever get rid of it. 🙂
Dean,
I find it hard to let go of some of my domains as well. One day I should try and sell them.
Andrew
I’m not sure how the famous name would be an advantage; it’s dead traffic unless you’re in the same business. Stats might look good but deceiving.
.org was originally only allowed for non-profit organizations. Even though they have since opened them to the public, my personal opinion is, that doesn’t make it a smart choice.
As many that know me can vouch, I have registered and refunded MANY domains in the past year or so. So far 44 have stuck and only a small handful (less then 5) are slated to be sold, the rest will be built upon eventually.
I have DennisEdell.com net and org, just so no one messes with me. 😉
The rest are either keyworded exact or well enough for relevance sake…..keywording for SEO purposes is not the end-all be-all; still no one has proven to my satisfactory that it even helps much anyway.
That said, I’m sure I could sell quite a few of mine nicely if I wanted too. 😉
Dennis,
I have a .org – it does ok; page 1 for certain keywords.
There is another andrew rondeau out there and he has the .com
Andrew
I didn’t say it wouldn’t rank, it’s just my personal opinion that it isn’t right.
May I ask why not the .net?
Dennis,
No reason other than my mentor at the time said get the .org
Andrew
Is this the same mentor that cost you the copyright cash?
Just curious…
errrr…yeah!
LOL
Andrew
I’m not sure why the whois protection. I can see the need for privacy when it’s your real name up there, but why would it help against fraud and spam? Or is it just a matter of keeping your email from being harvested?
Anne,
If you have a big following then some of those will be watching your every move.
You set up a new blog…others will follow…same niche…scrape your content…just copy you.
Andrew
Lovely post. Domain name should be related to the blog subject matter. Very true. When buying for my domain name I fought a lot and so depressed to see all the suitable names are already taken. When nothing acceptable found, rested in current domain name. Now because the domain name is SEO I need to write about search engine optimization, isn’t it? Ahh! I’d rather prefer writing about blogging. What a pity.
I remember Shakespeare say
“Would rose smell as sweet as if it was not called a rose?”
I wonder if my blog smells a rose or nor 😉
Is that necessaries that domain name need to get Whois ID Protection?
i know it will protect your privacy ,
prevent to get spam by other with your name.
But is that blogger need that much for a domain name?
Thanks Andrew,
As usual, you come up with pointers that I never placed any attention to.
A case in point is “whois”, just recently I didn’t renew it om my domains cause I didn’t see the need for it. I’ll be doing it from now on. Cheers.
Thanks, Tony…I’m pleased the post made you take some positive action!
Andrew
I tried to read your post – but right in the middle of the page is this damn share strip that won’t go away. Really irritating. Is that on purpose? OK now i see the purpose. Encourage people to make more comments and share. OK so a cool marketing App but right in the middle of the page and it won;t go away! A little crass i think. Like a salesman following you around a store and getting right in your face. But guess it worked. I shared Facebook Twitter and Google+!
Dave,
Apologies for that. I’ve mmoved the ‘social strip’ over to the left more but I think it could mess things us when viewing on a small screen or laptop.
Thanks for sharing!!!!
Andrew