Every small business owner or service professional who wants to start their web site will at a certain point get stuck at the supported infrastructure. Hosting is one problem and the other one is domain name. Everyone wants a domain name that is easy to remember and cool.

If you have ever tried registering for a new domain, it is as if all the good names were taken. Nowadays, you can’t find a domain name which word is in an English dictionary anymore. Single-word domain names are gone. You should find it very hard to find good domain name from two common words.

But, do all those really matter?

The Myth About Keyword-Rich Domain

I mean, many website owners want to stuff main keywords into their domain names. With all the best words taken, you have certainly seen long domains such as “rose-gardening-tips-trick-and-tools.com.” This is just an imaginary domain that I quickly come up with but you get what I mean.

Why do they insist on such long and hard-to-remember names? For once, there was (and still is) a myth that getting keyword-rich domain name will sky-rocket your site to the first page in the search results — if not to the top.

This could not be further from the truth. While keywords in domain may be important, it is by no means a key factor in determining search rankings. Contrarily, many people think that such long domains are nothing but spammy.

Search engines have limited space to display title, description and URL. If your domain is too long, searchers may not be able to see the full URL or other words after the domain, which might contain the keyword itself.

Moreover, such domain names are impossible to remember. There’s no way you can use it in your business card or tell others in business networking or via the phone.

Tips to Choosing a Good Domain Name

Here are important factors to consider when choosing a domain name:

1. Relatively short and easy to remember. It is important for several reasons. A short name fits into logos, AdWords ads and easy to remember. Try to spell out your domain name to others. You may need to give away your domain name in front of a group during a seminar, or if you’re getting interviewed in local radio or teleseminar.
2. Use brand name. Think Google. You don’t need keyword-rich domain to rank well on search engines. It may be beneficial that it explains the topic of your site to the audience immediately but brand name can be useful later when you want the visitors to remember your name.
3. Get a .com. You may get other TLDs (Top Leve Domains) such as .net or .org but also get .com. When people think of a website, they think of .com. Sometimes people will type domain names onto the browser out of their mind and you don’t want to lose visitors that way.
4. Plurals and singulars. People may not remember if your domain name is plural or singular. This is true if you use keyword rich domain name. For the exact same reason as above, you should also get domain names that are plural or singular forms of your domain, if exist.
5. Avoid trademarked names. You may have heard stories about people buying cheap domain names and resell them to others who want it and make a fortune. The thing is, nowadays people prefer to call their lawyers. Avoid the headache.

Getting the Creative Process Going

If you still get stuck and need help to have the creative process going, try using one or more of the following tools.

• NameBoy allows you to enter a primary and secondary word and choose if you want to allow hyphens or use domains with similar rhymes. It will search for synonyms and other combinations for you. You can also see which top level domains are currently available for those keywords.
• The check-a-name service from DNBuy allows you to do the same by entering a sample domain name into the engine. It will also display different combinations and availability of different top level domains.
• Dictionary and thesaurus are also helpful for brainstorming many domain ideas.

Other Tidbits

You will never know when you will get good ideas for domain names. It helps if you start thinking about it at least one week before you register the domain. Domain names can communicate your brand and it is important that you do it right.

Finally, many web hosting companies offer free domain name for the first year if you sign up with their service. I never use them because you may have troubles migrating it to other hosting later for one or other reasons.

I use NameCheap for all domain registrations. It may not be the cheapest around but I have used it since I got started. It provides me with single dashboard to manage all my domains. Expired domains are part of the past and I can manage my inventory easier that way. I don’t know about you, but that is very helpful for me.