Awhile ago I wrote a post titled purchasing domains: a look towards the future, which was pretty well received.   I also got a lot of good discussion when I talked about the value of a domain name, so I figured I would write some more about my experiences with buying domain names.  People with a lot of knowledge in this area seem to enjoy discussing strategies, while everyone else is starting to look at domaining for what it is, online real estate.  It really can’t be summed up any better than that because that is exactly what it is.  

So, what do you look for when purchasing a domain?   I’ve discussed a few strategies in the past, but I figured it might be for the best to consolidate them into a single post and get some readers input.    

Targeting Readership 

If your goal is to create a loyal following (RSS Subscribers, get comments, etc.) then you need to find short (1-3 word) domain names that use common words (easy to spell) and are easy to remember.   A lot of your traffic will be coming from people entering the URL into their browser, so make it as easy as possible for them to remember your domain name and spell it correctly. 

Another thing I find to be very important for these types of blogs is having the domain be a dot com domain.   In addition to the domain being easy to remember, readers instincts are to enter dot com when typing in the blog URL.   The only exception I’ve found to this rule would be if you run a local business.   Buying a domain that is specific to your country can make potenial clients more comfortable with you.   In these situations, I recommend people buy both (if possible) and redirect the dot com domain to the domain you will be using, so you have everything covered.

For additional information about domain name characteristics, Daily Blog Tips has written a great post offering 7 Characteristics of Good Domain Names. 

Targeting Search Engine Traffic

If your goal is simply to earn a lot of search engine traffic and monetize your website with programs like Google AdSense, then you should be employing a completely different strategy when searching for the right domain name.  

Search engines love hyphen separation because it helps them distinguish keywords, so you’re better off purchasing a domain name that contains hyphens between your keywords.   An example of this would be if you are trying to rank highly under the term “Cheap Vehicle Loans”, it is better to have the domain http://cheap-vehicle-loans.com/ rather than having http://cheapvehicleloans.com/.  Search engines also treat all top-level domains (TLD) the same,  so you are not bound to using a dot com domain if you are only looking for search engine traffic. 

How Do I Find a Good Domain Name?

I’ve spent some time talking about this in depth in the past, so here are links to those posts:

  • PCNames Search - Recommends available domains under your keywords of choice.  Also offers a discount at most registrar’s if you purchase through their referral link.
  • Just Dropped - Allows you to search recently dropped domain names.   With over 200,000 being dropped each day, some people make a good living doing just this.

That pretty much covers everything I look at when buying a domain name.  Anything you would like to add?