Today I would like us to discuss domains and how to choose the best domain for your blog. When it comes to blogging, one of the most important decisions you will have to make is what you want your brand to be. And that means choosing a domain name for your blog is super important.

Because when you are building a website, you are actually creating a brand, so if you make the wrong move with your domain name, then your brand will probably not perform so well.

Now I know that some people say that your domain name is not a deciding factor on how your blog will perform but in this article, I will show you just how important it is to choose the right domain name for blog. I will also share with you how just recently I had to change my domain after having it for more than a year.

 Alright, Let’s Get Started On How To Choose A Domain  Name For Your Blog

Obviously the first thing you need to do is to be sure of the niche you want to venture into, once you are sure, then its time to start the search for the perfect domain for your blog.

Ideally, you want a .com domain because that is the domain that is most popular and easy for people to remember, Plus its actually the cheapest.

A .com domain will cost you about $14 to register for a year, when the .net, and .org will cost you $16 per year. Of course, hosting companies like BlueHost, and Host Gator will include the domain with your hosting package for the first year but after the year is over you will have to pay for the domain each year, but as you can see its not a whole lot of money.

Things To Look For When Choosing A Domain Name

Do you want your domain name to contain some keywords? For example, if you are running a baby clothes blog, do you want baby clothes to be included in the domain? Including keywords in your domain could be a good idea if you don’t intend to branch into other things.

The only problem of including keywords in your domain name is that you are limiting yourself, for example, let’s say we create a blog in the baby clothes niche, should we call it babyclothesdotcom or would it be better to call it trendybaby.com

See with babyclothes.com, we can only talk about baby clothes, but with trendybaby, we can talk about clothes, shoes, accessories, and even venture into other things like baby bottles, baby skincare,  strollers, etc.

 How To Choose Domain Name For Blog, Never Purchase A domain That Has Dashes I Learned The Hard Way

OK so let’s say you want to purchase the trendybaby.com domain, and then you find it’s not available but trendy-baby.com is available. That is what happened to me, the domain I liked was not available so I took the one with dashes, it actually had two dashes, big mistake.

See when you find that the domain you want is not available, it means someone has already registered that domain and has probably built a website on it. This means if you buy the version that has dashes, you are putting yourself in a very bad position.

You Don’t Want Your Audience Landing On Your Competitor’s Website

Let’s say you buy baby-trends.com, if your audience forgets to put the dash, do you know where they will land? You guessed it, they will land on your competition’s website which is babytrends.

Going back to my website, I actually hated started hating the domain the more I learned about choosing domains, but the breaking point came when a friend of mine asked me if I had changed my website because she said when she visited my website she found different content and the website was totally different.

I told her that I had not changed my website and I sent her my URL, then that’s when she replied to me saying that she had forgotten to put the dashes. And if I can be totally honest here, I have missed the dashes a few times when creating pins for my Pinterest.

The Search Engines See Hyphens As A Sign Of Spam

Then I read an article that said if your domain has dashes, the search engines see it as a spam website. When I saw that I knew for sure it was time to change my domain, luckily since I am a member of Wealthy Affiliate, I asked the support team to transfer my website to the new domain and it was done in seconds and all my content and links are still intact and the old site is redirecting to the new site.

I think it’s also very important that your Webhosting company has a very strong and efficient support team, to help you with issues on your website.

So, are you still in doubt about how to choose a domain name for blog?  no dashes on your domain, and unless you really want to venture into a very targeted niche, there is no need to add keywords to your domain, because a domain that contains keywords, its usually contains many words, for example, if you want to create a website about giving tips about making money online for stay at home moms.

Putting those keywords, your domain will be something like this makemoneyonlinetipsforstayathomemoms or howtomakemoneyonlinewithmomblog or even stayathomemomblog which is shorter but does not contain the make money online part.

Try To Make Your Domain Name Short, Simple, And Memorable

OK, let’s take a look at the big and the most successful websites out there, They either contain just one word or two words, I am talking about the super big brands like Google, Apple, Amazon, Twitter, eBay, Etsy. Quora, and Yahoo

The others are Facebook Instagram, Pinterest(not sure if that’s one or two words what do you think?) The shorte your domain is, the more powerful and valuable it is if you decide to sell the domain in the future. Now I know that my domain on this website is not so short but that is because I really have no intention of selling this domain.

I Wanted A Domain Name That States What My Blog Is About

And I wanted it to be clear what my website is about, let’s work in PJs has a nice ring to it lol. But if you can make your domain a one word or two words, then you will be in the right direction in terms of domain value, also your audience will be able to remember your website and they probably won’t make mistakes when typing it on the search bar.

So that’s another thing to consider, do you want your audience to know exactly what your website is about just by reading your domain name? If that is the case, then maybe you might have to go up to 2 or 4 words. that means you will have to find creative ways to include your keywords into your domain without making it too long.

By choosing a short domain name for your blog, will reduce the chances of your audience landing on your competitor’s website.

But How Do You Find A Good Domain For Your Blog?

Well, there are ways to find domains, you can use websites like squadhelp.com that is where you submit your assignment for people to come up with business name ideas as well as domain names, you can tell them what your business is about and then you tell them you want a one word or two word domain.

Then you will get the suggestions, and then the name you choose, you will have to pay the squad member who came up with it.

Of course, you can also do the same on Fivver.com too and its cheaper there. But if you would rather do the research yourself, then I suggest businessnamegenerator.com that is the place you can just type different version of the name you are considering for your business/blog and see the domain names that are available.

Other websites that could help you find the perfect domain are codename.com And freedomaingenerator.com

This method is really fun, especially if you have time to spend on the name generator, you will see ideas that you never even thought of.

Conclusion

Having your own domain and hosting for your blog is vital if you want to make money online with your blog, as I have mentioned many times in my previous article having your blog on free blogging platforms like blogger and others are not the way to do blogging.

If you want to be in control of your online business, then you need your own domain and hosting, and thats why you need to know how to choose a domain name for blog. Now when it comes to choosing a domain, you need to take your time and make sure that you have selected a domain name that you are happy with. And a domain name that you are able to build a brand on.

Speak Your Domain Name Out Loud

You should speak your domain name out loud and see how it sounds, also get your friends to say it and also ask them what it sounds like and if it’s easy to remember.

Well, I hope you have my article helpful and I hope you will choose a great domain name for your website so you don’t have to go what I went through, having to change the domain name so late in the game.

Please leave me a comment, do you have a blog? if so how did you choose your domain name? are you considering starting a blog, do you have a domain name in mind that you would like us to vote for? Please leave all those comments below.

Thank you for your time

Rose