How to Select a Domain Name

What's in a domain name? Well, everything. It is the guide to your website and the major constituent of your URL- Uniform Resource Locator. That is www.yourdomainname.com. A domain name is like a photograph. That is how people find you. So, how should you select a "good" domain name? I will outline five important points to consider in your selection. They are: Length, Appearance, Accessibility, Relevance and Appeal.
Length is of vital importance in selecting a domain name. Very long winding names are difficult to remember and unattractive to those who view them. For example, if your site deals with dog food products, you would not want to have a domain name like: Mr Brown's best dog food site for all those who are tired of poor dog food.com. You would like instead to include something unique about your site, but short and to the point. for example, Thebestdogfood.com, or Justplaindogfood.com, or getbestdogfood.com. Length is important also because if someone needs to place your link in their browser, they do not want to be typing all this long winded information.


Appearance is very vital to the selection of a domain name. While there are now new endings like .org, .net, .ws and so on, the original .com remains the best choice for a professional looking URL.
Appearance is also important in terms of aesthetics. Unattractive domain names may turn off potential visitors to your site. Try for example: cheapdogfoodfortherichandfamous.net. Definitely unattractive and controversial. Why would the rich and famous worry about price? They would probably worry more about quality. More like it would be: pricedqualitydogfood.com. this would definitely appear more attractive to the rich and famous.
Accessibility is related to length but there is also the wording factor. When certain letters are juxtaposed they create confusion to the eye. If you have to type the URL in your browser, very often you could miss some of the letters and fail to access the site. For example: loadsoffoodsfordogs.com. the closeness and repetitiveness of the 'f's' 'd's' and 'o's' makes it more difficult to type the correct information in a browser when this becomes necessary.
Relevance is perhaps the most important of all the points to consider. This means how related to your site material and function is your URL. For example, how could johnbrownsales.com give any indication as to the specifics of a dog food sales site? Better would be: choicedmealfordogs.com. or buydogfood.com.
Finally I come to appeal. This means emotional and psychological appeal to your target buyers. Here you need to put yourself in the place of someone looking for dog food on the net. A good guide here is to include keywords in your title. Keywords refer to words that someone would type in doing a Google or other search engine search for dog food. In this case if they are looking for dog food to buy, using the word buy spend or purchase might appeal to your direct buyers more. For example: purchasethebestdogfood.com or even slightly comical but emotionally appealing: buydogtreatmeal.com.
Based on the above suggestions you will realize that selecting a domain name is not as simple as it may appears. Perfecting your domain name requires time mental effort ,testing and re-testing. Remember, a well chosen domain name could make the difference between high or low traffic to your site.

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