How do you Choose a Good Domain Name?

What’s in a name and how important is it to choose a good Domain Name?

Searching for something in Google is like looking in a shop window. You’re walking down the High St or Main St and something catches your eye in a shop. You look in the window or if you’re in Google you enter it into the address bar and lo and behold you get a list of things that could meet your requirements.

You enter the shop and look through the shelves for that something that caught your eye. That thing won’t have the same name as the shop. Likewise, that list that Google or Bing, Yahoo or Duck, Duck Go throws up won’t have the same name as the shop either.

There is a piece of content that has been registered by the search engines that is now sitting in its Google shelf waiting for you the customer to click on it. When you do you are opening the door to the store and walking in. Perhaps when you click through you even be greeted by their Domain Name.

Home Page

A Home Page will usually have the Domain Name emblazoned across it with perhaps a tagline giving a little more about what you may find in store. Is it a product? Is it a service? Whatever it is your Domain Name will become your Brand so you need to be happy with it. You’ll want to internalize it to make it not only about your product or service but also an extension of you. An extension that can grow with you. That will scale as your brand grows and evolves.

A good Domain name will hint at your vision, give a clue to your mission or perhaps it won’t. But it will get a prospective customer interested enough to set whatever they’re doing aside and enter your space.

A good domain name lays a foundation for the client’s first impression of your business. When you choose a good domain name you’re rolling out a red carpet to the customer and saying welcome to the premiere. It’s the start of your relationship.

I purchased this domain name Living Horizontally because of what it meant to me. Some of my colleagues and acquaintances would say if I was anymore laid back I’d be horizontal. A lot of the time I don’t necessarily feel that way on the inside but I obviously cultivate that sort of demeanour around work. It seems to put people at ease.

With Living Horizontally, I not only wanted to share the ideas that led to this calm personality but I also wanted to create an actual business that I could work in from the comfort of a hammock. How good would that be? That’s my vision depicted on my home page. And also alongside that to give others the tools with which to create a business that could have them living their vision.

Should the Domain be Niche Specific?

Should the domain be niche specific? You’ll find out more about niches HERE. When I purchased the domain LivingHorizontally.com I wasn’t sure how I would use it. But it evoked a feeling that I wanted to experience more of.

It seemed like a good idea at the time. I’d come across tools in the path I seemed to be cutting through life. Sometimes it felt like I was in dense bush or wading in deep mud as I traveled from one landmark to the next. Perhaps it was having to walk that path that led to the laid back attitude. And if I want to be able to run a business from a hammock what were the options?

Probably internet based. I was already involved in affiliate marketing through Wealthy Affiliate and making money online through disciplined and consistent action can lead to that kind of lifestyle. I thought it would be good to share some of those tools but I wasn’t sure how that would work.

So your domain doesn’t necessarily have to be niche specific. It will help if it is. But as I said by being disciplined and consistent creating content will bring you authority in your chosen niche. Building your authority leads to increased traffic to your domain. And as this grows your domain will become your brand.

Your Domain is Your Brand

They may forget what you said – but they will never forget how you made them feel.

Carl W. Buehner

How could I build a brand from LivingHorizontally? When you’re doing something you love, it shows in what you produce. I love writing and creating. To make money from any niche you’re going to be creative whether that means writing, photography, creating info graphics, or producing a video to bring people to your product or service.

When your creations are being shared they are producing back links to your domain and creating traction for your brand. Word of mouth is great for your domain. It means people are sharing what they find at your virtual address. Organic traffic walking into your store.

So I had to think about what I stood for? What was the meaning I was going to create not only for myself but for others? Meaning creates feeling. The feeling was one of freedom. Freedom to create your future from a place of peace and calm by doing something you love and enjoy. And as Zig Ziglar said, “People don’t buy for logical reasons. They buy for emotional reasons.”

They’re buying from your brand because you’ve created a feeling or the anticipation of a feeling. Your brand through your domain has solved a problem for them. It has provided them with a passage out of their pain if you’re solving a problem for them or you have increased their pleasure if they’re reasonably content but think there must be more to life.

Foundation

So the feeling you want to evoke from your domain becomes the foundation on which you’re going to build your content. You want your domain to be your rock. Then as you build out your content it will become evident that some articles are stronger than others when it comes to putting your niche on the map. They are what’s called pillar content. They provide the strength of your building.

So where do you start laying your foundation?

Domain Registrars

Luckily most hosting operators are also domain registrars. They provide a one stop shop – domain registration, hosting, website builders, WordPress installations, website security. All the usual suspects when it comes to opening up a virtual storefront.

Here are a few as rated in TrustPilot. The links will take you to their Trustpilot reviews. There is a link in the review to each individual website. Hope this helps you in your choice of provider.

NAMECHEAP – Rating 4.4

MAILCHIMP – Rating 1.6

GODADDY – Rating 4.0

HOSTGATOR – Rating 3.5

HOSTINGER – Rating 4.3

SITEGROUND – Rating 4.7

BLUEHOST – Rating 3.2

NAMEHERO – Rating 4.8

A2HOSTING – Rating 4.2

WEALTHY AFFILIATE – Rating 4.8

I have had personal experience with 5 of the companies mentioned and most of my experiences with their support teams have been productive on 95% of occasions.

All the best and happy hunting.

Feel free to comment below on any experiences you may have had with any of these providers. Thanks.