How to choose the right domain name?

Every website starts with a domain name, or the website address or the URL, that we type in the web browser (Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Opera Safari, etc).

Domain names are the brand and the identity of websites on the Internet. One can reach a website easily only because of a human readable website address that is also easy to memorize.

One must register a domain name with a domain registrar such as GoDaddy.com.

You can register global domain names such as .com, .org and .net. Alternatively, you can opt for country-specific domain types such as .in, .us and .de.

Always try to register a domain name with .com version if targeting a global audience. .com domains are the most popular and easy to memorize domain names. If you are targeting a country-specific audience, you can opt for the country domain if .com  is not available.

Imagine if you are asked to type 74.125.224.72 instead of Google.com? Here the domain name is Google.com, whereas the number is the IP address or the machine readable address of the website. You domain registrar maintains the record of the domain name and the corresponding server IP address. This allows your website visitors to reach your website with an easy address rather than having to type the cumbersome IP address.

How to choose the right domain name?

Good domain names must have the following attributes:

• Short, easy to spell and remember
• Must be .com or the country domain
• No hyphens, dashes or numbers in domains
• No copyright or trademark in domain names
• Try to have the domain that is related to your website

Check the history of the domain

Finding the right domain name is not just about finding an available domain name. You also need to check that the domain that you want to register did not have a shady past.

Domain name that you want to register should:

• Not have been used for spam or phishing
• No use as drugs or gambling website
• Not have spammy backlinks from drugs/virus sites
• No backlinks with bad anchor text keywords (eg: drugs, viagra, gambling, etc)

You can check the past of the domain using the following tools.

• Past content using Internet Archive: https://archive.org/web/
• Backlinks using Open Site Explorer : https://moz.com/researchtools/ose/
• Backlinks using Majestic: http://majestic.com
• Backlinks using Ahrefs: http://ahrefs.com