• Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

  • Home
  • About
  • Services
  • Portfolio
  • Testimonials
  • Blog
  • Contact

In Search of the Perfect Domain Name

By Nathaniel Richman

I’ve got clients who, literally, spend weeks or months trying to come up with the perfect domain name for their new website. They probably lose sleep over it. I always say, yes, try to come up with a good (or great) domain name, but don’t stress yourself out over it!

Occasionally, I’ll help a client come up with a name. One of the best, in my opinion, was www.locktheknee.com. That was for a yoga studio, in which the owner/teacher would, during a particular pose, always say, “Lock the knee!” So, I thought, what a great name for her website. And she and all her students loved it! Very catchy and memorable. Of course, it doesn’t mean much to non-students of that studio, so we also came up with a second name, which made sense for others and got automatically forwarded to the site.

Keywords

Does including keywords in your domain name help with its Google rankings? Some Google experts have suggested it is a “very small ranking factor.” In my own – nonscientific – tests, I haven’t seen much, if any, evidence. For example, when I do a Google search, here in Victoria, for “website design”, of the top 20 results (nrichmedia included), only two had one of those keywords in the domain name. That’s 10%. Not exactly overwhelming support.

All of this is not to say that your domain shouldn’t include keywords. It certainly can’t hurt. But I wouldn’t make much of a fuss over it.

Tips for coming up with a good domain name:

  1. The shorter the better. Try to keep it to a maximum of four (preferably short) words.
  2. Make sure people can spell it easily, otherwise they might end up at your competition’s website. If your name is difficult to spell or there are multiple spellings (e.g., Brian/Bryan) use something else.
  3. If it works, go for a name about the business you’re in, in general. For example, if you’re a plumber, rather than mcneilsplumbingservices.com, how about something like thedependableplumber.com?
  4. Better yet, if you can come up with something cute and catchy, people will remember it – e.g., nomoredrips.com.
  5. Remember, you can always get a second domain name (cheap!) and have it forward (or mask) to your original name.
  6. Stay away from hyphens if possible. People want easy!
  7. At the same time, be careful stringing words together with no spaces between them. You never know where people are going to split the words in their mind. “Bob’s Hit Records” may not look as intented as a domain name! 😉
  8. If at all possible, get a .com, rather than .ca, .net, .biz, etc. After all these years I still find that people think .com no matter what you tell them your domain name is. Having said that though, if you’ve got a great name and it’s not available as a .com, you might consider one of the alternative extensions.

As with many things, coming up with a good/great domain name is a balancing act between thinking up something unique and memorable and one that is easy for people to spell. Use your imagination and inspiration and you’re bound to come up with a good one. But don’t lose sleep agonizing over it!

This article has been updated since its original publication.

Share with your friends... Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on Pinterest

Filed Under: Marketing, SEO Tagged With: domains, url

Related Posts

  • How to Write Killer Description TagsHow to Write Killer Description Tags
  • Why blogs are so good for SEOWhy blogs are so good for SEO
  • 7 Questions to Ask When Hiring a Web Designer7 Questions to Ask When Hiring a Web Designer
Nathaniel Richman

About Nathaniel Richman

Nathaniel founded nrichmedia in 2000. Nathaniel graduated from the Vancouver Film School with a Certificate of Recommendation in Multimedia Studies in 1997 and has been working in the web design and new media industry ever since. In a previous life, he received a Bachelor of Mathematics degree (Honours Actuarial Science) from the University of Waterloo and worked in the pension consulting field. Aside from honing his problem-solving and programming skills, working in the consulting industry provided Nathaniel with valuable experience in how to build strong and lasting client relationships — an area in which he excelled. Nathaniel lives in Victoria, BC and is the lead designer, sometimes programmer, and overseer of all things good at nrichmedia.

Footer

Quote

Find out how we can make your website amazing

get your quote now!

Newsletter

12 Essential Steps for Setting Up Your Website

Join more than 500 newsletter subscribers and receive this FREE guide to getting the online results you're looking for!

nrichmedia guarantees that we will never share your email address with anyone. Ever.

All content copyright © 2021 nrichmedia, Victoria, BC Twitter Instagram Facebook