Mistakes You Must Avoid When Choosing A Domain Name

By Author: Randy Charach
Total Articles: 4
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Top 3 Mistakes You Must Avoid When Choosing a Domain Name

You should always look for a domain name that's brandable, catchy and memorable. If you're business relies on your personal brand, make sure you register your full name - mine for example is Randy Charach, so my first priority in choosing a domain was to get the .com extension, which I did a long time ago. In fact, I own most other major extensions for my name and company name, Synergy Domains, too. Okay, those are a couple DO's, but this article is about DONT's, so here are the top 3 mistakes to avoid when choosing a domain name.

Mistake #1) You should stay away from using hyphens and numbers in the domain

Hyphens and numbers in a domain cause confusion and extra explanation when the domain is being described verbally. Choose a relatively short domain with as few letters and words as possible. That way there's also less chance of spelling errors on the part of your potential website visitor.

Mistake #2) Unintentionally choosing names with more than one meaning

Be very careful not to make the same mistakes these ...
... site owners made when choosing their domain name:
therapistfinder.com
pensiland.net

Mistake #3) Registering your domain at a less than reliable registrar

Make sure you register your domains at a reputable and well established Registrar where who offer fair pricing on domain names as well as extra free features such as domain forwarding and 24/7 phone support. Please don't shop on price alone and if you haven't heard of the company before and they seem small, do your due diligence or risk losing your domain.

Is It Too Late To Change The Domain Name Of Your Site?

If you now realize that you've made a mistake in selecting a domain for one of your already established sites then there are two ways you can go to fix this...

You can create a new, relevant keyword domain and link it to your existing site, or put your existing site on your new domain and point your old domain to the new one. Ideally, you'll move the site to your new domain and re-establish its presence there.

You'll want to consider whether there are back-links to your existing site so you don't lose your current traffic and search engine rankings. If you don't know what I mean by back links and don't know how to move sites around, you may need to get someone to do this for you or learn how to do it yourself. None of this is very difficult; it just requires a little know-how and a bit of time. If you don't want to learn and do-it-yourself, then you can post the task at a site where outsourcers will bid to do the work for you.

This article was written by Internet Marketing and Domain Expert, Randy Charach. Please reproduce this article wherever you want as long as you include this resource box as-is, with author credit and live links. You can learn more great marketing tips from Randy Charach for FREE by becoming his friend at www.FaceBook.com/RandyCharach & following him at www.Twitter.com/RandyCharach