Start brainstorming and come up with a list of keywords that are associated with your business and the types of services you have to offer. Try and come up with a list of around 5-10 keywords to start.  Here are 11 things to consider when choosing a domain name for your new website or blog:

The Shorter The Better

You can have a domain name that is up to 67 characters long but in my opinion, this is way too long.  Short names are easier to remember and easier to type in.  7-10 characters is optimal but harder and harder to come by these days so do your best. Try and choose a name that’s under 3 words as well.  Longer domain names with too many words are difficult to remember and if there are too many keywords, the search engines may see it as keyword spamming.

Use Your Business Name

If you have a off-line business with a real world presence, you’ll want to use your business name in the URL if possible.  Many commonly used business names are already taken, especially the shorter ones but try and get at least a portion of your business name in the URL.  This will help with branding purposes and it’ll help your customers remember your company’s name. For instance, there’s a Sacramento company called “Liberty Bell Alarm and Home Theater” that chose the domain name www.libertybellalarm.com.  They didn’t use their entire name in their URL – which would be too long – but they got the first portion of it which is good.

Use Keywords

If you are starting an online business, try and choose a domain name that has some of your keywords for SEO purposes.  You don’t want to use TOO many keywords though since the search engines may see it as keyword stuffing.  If you owned a web design company in the Sacramento area called “Sacramento Web Design and SEO Company”, you wouldn’t want to use the entire name in the URL.  If the name was available, you could use http://sacramentowebdesign.com.  This would be a good URL since you have your location, part of your business name, as well as keywords for your services “web design” and “services” all in the URL.  Keywords in your URL also help with incoming links to your website.  When someone links to your site from an outside source, your keywords will be listed in the URL which is an SEO advantage.

Easy To Remember

When choosing a domain name, find one that’s easy to remember.  You want to avoid getting crafty and clever with your name.  A name that seems easy and obvious to you may be difficult for someone else to remember.

Easy To Type

You also want to choose a domain name that’s easy to type in.  Avoid words that are difficult to spell such as: ache, calendar, and conscientious.

Endings – .Com, .Net, .Org

There are split views on what’s the best ending for a domain name.  Many people will ONLY choose .com domains since people are used to typing this in.  The argument is that people naturally assume that a domain is .com and will always want to type this in.  Other people believe that .org and .net are very suitable endings as well.  .Org for instance has the connotation that you belong to an organization or non-profit outfit which can be beneficial for your  company’s image. Many of the .com domains are already taken as well so settling for a .org or .net may be your answer.  Personally, I always look for the .com domains first but will take a .org or .net name if the .com is unavailable.

Hyphenated vs Non-Hyphenated

There are pros and cons of having words hyphenated in a URL.  One of the benefits of choosing a hyphenated domain name is that it helps a lot with SEO.   Search engines are able to easily pick out your keywords and separate them where keywords in a non-hyphenated name are sometimes melded together by the search engines.   You may also find that a name you really wanted to use is already taken in the non-hyphenated form so in order to get the name you want, you may need to get the hyphenated form. The downside of hyphenated names is that they are difficult to type in, tricky to remember, and often left out when someone is referring a website via word-of-mouth.

Get a Unique Name

Choose a domain name that is unique.  A name that is too similar to another website may result in lost business when people type in the other website instead.

Avoid Abbreviations and Acronyms

Business name abbreviations for the most part are hard to remember.  Since there are only letters and no keywords, this is also not good for SEO.

Don’t Use Trademarked Names

This may seem obvious, but avoid using trademarked names in your domain name. There is a Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP) which protects trademarked names in URLS.

Ask For a 2nd Opinion

When choosing a domain name, before settling on one that you like, ask a few other people what they think.  A name that seems easy to remember and simple to type in to you may be obscure and for someone else.