How to Pick a Domain Name

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Okay, so you’re finally going to stop procrastinating and start building your website, yay!! But all the good website names are already taken, boo! Or are they? There are plenty of good domain names out there, you just might have to get creative or be flexible with your idea.

>How to pick a domain name: use your name.

This usually works, unless you have a super common name. Even then, you can use variations on your name, including your middle name or initial or not. However, just using your name alone won’t really help with seo, and your domain name is a key factor in that. But, you can add descriptors like ‘writer’ or ‘web developer’ to the end of your name to help you be more specific and give you a little boost in SEO.

>Let go of .com as an ending

I know, I know. If you were around in the early 2000s, that can be a difficult thing to let go of. But just like the .com crash back then, that bubble has already burst. Try .me or .blog for something that’s still easy to remember. My teaching blog uses .blog – TeachThinkElementary.blog – and the popular travel points website Point Me has incorporated the .me into their name – Point.Me. Get creative here and think about what endings you might incorporate into your website name.

>Make sure to look at your domain name all together.

We’ve all seen the fails on social media. Make sure to look at the domain as one whole word. And I recommend asking some Gen Z’ers for their opinions as well. Sometimes words have different meanings to younger generations, and you don’t want to end up with a vulgur or accidentally hilarious domain name!

>You can buy more than one domain and redirect one to the other.

If you really can’t decide or you’re not sure what direction your website might take, you can always get more than one domain. It’s very simple to redirect the extras to the main site, even later on. Lots of nomads that I know are secretly holding on to domains that they’re not even sure what they might do with in the future!

>Get creative and think of something memorable.

If you’re really stuck and nothing is working for you, you just might have to get creative. Just try to stay away from spellings that are too weird or things you’re going to have to explain. You still need something that will be easy enough to share in both print and audio.

>Watch out for spelling variations or things people might make mistakes on.

Try to avoid commonly mispelled words (like my last name, lol). People will inevitably make a mistake spelling it and will be unable to find you. If you’re going to risk it, I recommend buying the domains with the mispellings as well and redirecting them to the correct domain, just in case.

>Use your keywords and make sure your domain is relevant to your topic.

Your domain is a big part of your seo. I know, I know, says the person who used just their name as their domain. When I started out, this website was just a portfolio for me to help me get clients on Upwork, so it didn’t matter as much. If I had to pick again now, I might go with something like ‘divi developer’ or ‘chris cadalzo wordpress.’ Try to include at least your main keywords in your domain if you can!

I hope this helps you get started on how to pick a domain name! If you’re using SiteGround for hosting, you should be able to get a free domain name.

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