| E-Commerce Newbie |
| Page: Domain Name |
You may already have an idea for a domain name.
Before you rush over to GoDaddy & register it there are a several things to consider.
Brick & Mortar Businesses
If you have a brick & mortar business you already have brand name recognition so its important to include your stores name.
i.e. www.shopname.com
If that domain is taken then consider how people will search for your site. Most people will google something like (shop name) + (city) so why not name it www.shopnamecity.com or www.shopname-city.com these domain names will almost certainly be available.
You may find that .net .us .org domain extensions are available beware of these extensions as people type .com automatically. You may wish to purchase these domains & forward to your main site.
Online Businesses
Very Important - Do people want what your selling?
Before you rush ahead & spend hours developing a site with no value think of 6 or more words that best describe your idea.
Go to Wordtracker (Its Free) & see how many people are searching those exact words. List the words according to the # of searches.
Now you now know 2 things;
Obviously if very few people are searching for your main keywords then this idea is not worth pursuing as an e-commerce business. Save your money & register for a free blog at www.blogger.com if you are really dedicated to the idea.
If some of your words returned good search volume you are ready for the next step.
Don't worry about competition at this stage I will cover search engine optimization in competitive markets later, it is more important that there are allot of searches.
Armed with your keywords you are now ready to find the perfect domain name for your new business.
Write down some options using the most popular keyword or a mixture of your keywords. It is important to have a domain name that describes what the visitor will find.
A person searching the internet for E-Commerce will click www.E-CommerceNewbie.com before www.mywebsite.com
TIP - Hyphens as in E-Commerce are not generally a good idea however using Wordtracker you will find that more people search for E-Commerce than eCommerce. To avoid people typing in the wrong domain name we own both www.ecommercenewbies.com redirects to this site.
Bookmark this site now using the link at the bottom of the page. After choosing a domain name you can come back to review your hosting options.
Armed with your list of popular keywords & potential domain names you are almost
ready chose a Premium Domain Name. We strongly recommend GoDaddy for domain name research as they will offer a number of alternatives if the
domain is not available.
Important Note: Also check the Auctions at GoDaddy there may be a
similar domain name expiring soon that already has traffic & backlinks.
You may find that .net .us .org domain extensions are available beware of these extensions as people type .com automatically. You may wish to purchase these domains & forward to your main site.
There are only three exceptions to this rule;
Good luck finding Premiun domain names for your sites.