How To Choose The Perfect Domain For Your Directory

How many times have you had problems with selecting the perfect name for your directory? Personally for me, the domain name selecting process is extremely painful and time consuming. I can say with confidence in my voice that I spend the most of my time picking the right domain for my directories or sites. Do you do that?

You should always take your time and pick the best domain for yourself since domain name is what people see first before visiting your site. A good domain name should inform a user what your the site is about and attract him or her.

There are generally three ways to come up with a directory name:

• Be creative, create a trendy name. Having a trendy name is a good way to distinguish your directory from competitors. Forplex is a perfect example of a brand directory name. Unfortunately, trendy name is of the hardest domain names to promote at the begging.
• Go keyword based. Having a keyword based domain will bring you traffic from search engines. However remember that keywords should be related to the industry you are in. For example, a good keyword based domain for a directory would be webdirectory.com but not crazytoysfactory.com. Also remember to use one to two keywords not a bunch of them. A good example of keyword based domain is WebLinks.com
• Think metaphorically. First, I have to warn you that this is the hardest way to come up with a domain name. This way evolves thinking of what your site will provide to it’s users and express it in a creative manner. For example, FingerTips.com would be a good domain for a directory since it will provide all information about sites at your finger tips.

Here are some general tips that you should follow when you pick a domain for your directory as well as for a website:

• The Shorter is Better. Always try to have as shorter domain as possible since short domains are easier to remember, easier to tell friends and easier to type into the browser.
• Try not to use hyphens. In my opinion, hyphens tend to confuse users since there are no real successful sites or directories, which have hyphens in its domain name. For example, is it mybestdirectory.com or my-best-directory.com or maybe even my-bestdirectory.com and so on… If the desired domain name is taken, try not to use hyphens but pick another name.
• Try not to use numbers. Numbers also tend to confuse users. For example, is it 7directory.com or sevendirectory.com or maybe even seventhdirectory.com. If you want to register a domain name with numbers then register all possible domains that user might type into the browser when he hears about the site.
• Register expired domain names. It might be a good action to register an expired domain name if it has good Alexa Rank, some backlinks and possibly even PR. You can use SnapNames to find out and register expired domain names.
• Use Thesaurus. Using alternative keywords in a domain is the best way to choose a domain if the preferred ones are already taken. Let’s say you want to have webdirectory.com but it’s taken, another best choice would be to register cyberdirectory.com or onlinedirectory.com.

In conclusion, the best domain name should be simple to remember, short, and easy to spell. I would also like to say that domain choosing process is completely up to you. Follow the tips written above and do what you think is right. Try not to ask for suggestions on forums since the suggested domain names can be easily taken by someone else.

Once again, don’t forget to leave comments.