Because I’m letting my old Blogging with Cents blog go, I’ll be republishing some of the articles here every Thursday.   It was a hard decision to let it go because I still get comments, questions, and requests to start that blog back up.  Unfortunately, I just don’t have the time to invest in it so I figured I could just share blogging tips here on this blog.  And with that……

It’s really hard to find a good domain name these days because everything is taken so when you find one you better snatch it up fast, right?  Well, yes you want to try to be speedy about it but in this haste you could be making a mistake.

Example: A long time ago, I was looking for a new domain name for a girly blog I had mind.  After finally thinking of a title “A Chick’s Place” for the blog and matching it with the domain name (achicksplace.com), I quickly purchased it.  Then, I went to type the url in after my purchase just to see what the page displayed.  My reaction was complete shock when I was directed to a porn site!  Why was I directed there?  Because I left off the “a” in achicksplace.com.  BAD NEWS!  What if my mom was going to my site and left out the “a” by accident?…I can only imagine her face when she would see what’s coming next.

In a nutshell, you really should make sure that common variations of the domain name don’t lead to bad sites.  It’s also a good rule of thumb to purchase a domain name that is so similar that if someone typed it in slightly different, it would still lead to you.

Example: I own www.acowboyswife.com but some people tend to leave the “a” off so I also purchased www.cowboyswife.com.  I was lucky it was available.  I’m sure I have lost potential readers because that one little letter was left off.

Some simple rules to remember when purchasing a domain name:

• Keep it simple.
• Keep it short.
• Avoid excessive dashes or other symbols within your main domain name.
• Choose a “.com” domain name if possible if you plan to operate an online business. Or, choose “.org” for an organization, “.edu” for an educational site, and so on.

You should also consider a few things before buying your domain name:

• Your company name if you have one.
• Products or services you will promote.
• Target audience.  What kind of readers are you looking to gain.
• Are you planning to do heavy advertising and branding for your domain name or small-business marketing?

If you are looking at your domain name from an SEO perspective, you would want to use keywords.

Example:  My friend Jill has a blog  called Simple Daily Recipes with the domain name of www.simpledailyrecipes.com.  This is great because when someone does a search for “simple recipes”, her chances increase of getting her blog seen faster.

If you are looking for a domain name for a personal blog, you want to consider your title.  The earlier you show up in the alphabet scale, the earlier you’ll show up in listings and blogrolls.

Example:  With my old blog,  I wanted my title to match the domain name AND I wanted it to start with an “a”.  Why?  Because when you submit your site to directories, obviously “A” comes first making it seen before the others.  Get it?  So I chose “All Chick Stuff” as the title of my blog with the domain of www.allchickstuff.com.  ( I don’t blog here anymore. Just one of those “in the moment” things).

As you can see, the title and domain match perfectly.  The domain is short and simple, it starts with an “a”, and ends .com.  It also targets women and what we like..’stuff’!

If you are buying domains but don’t plan on setting them up anytime soon, I recommend you use Godaddy.  If you are looking for a reliable web host, I recommend Hostgator but just like anything else, always research.

I hope these tips help you in your domain name decision making.  These are just a few simple hints to get your blog started off right and one step closer to having a better blog.   Give yourself and your blog a good self assessment test to see what type of keywords will work for you if that is the direction you are after.

Do you have any tips to share for buying domains?