In this article professional blogger Pete Harris looks at why blog domain names are so important. Your domain name is crucial as it is your businesses identity.

So, what is a domain name? You probably have a reasonable idea but quite simply it is your address on the virtual high street, aka the internet. With that being said though it is more than that. It is yours or your businesses identity, something that your tribe will become familiar with, like and trust due to the service that you provide.

Let’s look at how you come to decide on your blog domain names. If you are the business then it may be as simple as selecting a domain like this for example, (http://yourname.com). A live example of this is my blog. I provide information on how people can create businesses from home so I am the face of that business so my domain is http://pete-harris.com.

If on the other hand your business was about lawn care you would want to choose a name that is congruent with the business. So, you could choose http://grasscutting.com, see what I mean?

Blog Domain Names – Use The Google Keyword Planner For Inspiration

Another way of choosing a domain name is basing it on a search term that is very popular in the search engines. To find this out I use the Google Keyword Planner. You need a Google account to access the information, but it is free to use.

Once logged into the Keyword Planner you will see there is two options to choose from. Click the first option “Find new keywords”. Enter a term that is relevant to your business in the search box and click enter. A list of keywords will be generated, and you will see a projection of how many times that keyword is searched for.

You can download the list into a C.S.V file to your computer. My next step is to go over to a website called https://domaintyper.com/ to see which domain names are available and for what extension.

It is a general rule of thumb that the best option is to get the dot com (.com) extension for your domain name. This is what I usually do but sometimes it is just not possible. With my own blog I had to put the hyphen in the middle to get the dot com extension which is ok but was not my first choice.

So, when you get to https://domaintyper.com/ you enter the keyword and it will automatically generate what extensions are available. If they come up red, then they have been taken but if they appear green you are good to go and purchase that domain.

Blog Domain Names – My Recommended Registrar Is GoDaddy

What I like about Domain Typer is that if the domain is available, they give you places where you can purchase it from. My preferred domain registrar is GoDaddy because they make it easy to purchase and set up your domain. As I say it is just my preference because the interface is easy to navigate, and they also have great support if you need them.

So, if your domain is available then go to the GoDaddy website. If you don’t have an account, then it is easy to set one up and you can then purchase your domain. Once you have done this your domain will be listed under the “My Products” tab.

You now have your domain, so this is starting to become real for you. The next thing you need is a hosting provider that offers something called cPanel. Now don’t get worried about this techno babble because you don’t need to know how website hosting works, leave that to the experts. I will talk more about website hosting in tomorrow’s post.

As you can see there is a lot to think about when choosing blog domain names. Take some time to get the right one that identifies your business perfectly. This is what your customers are going to bookmark in their favourites so make sure it makes some impact.

As always I wish you every success.

 

Pete Harris

Professional Blogger & Information Publisher