Picking a good domain name

There are several things to keep in mind when picking a good domain name.  Picking a good domain name will drive traffic to your site, and help with search engine results.

1) Easy to Remember

If your domain name is easy to remember, it will help bring people to your site.  If you company is well known, or you are a one man business, like a doctor or lawyer, you should try to find a domain that includes your name or the name of the business.  JohnSmith.com is easier to remember than JSmithTheElectrician.com.  Although people know your name is John Smith and that you are an electrician, an easy to remember domain name will have the best results.

2) Keep it short

This is also part of making it easy to remember.  The more letters/numbers in your domain, the harder it will be to remember.  Two words is the best, but many two word combos have already been taken across the web.  You may be forced to use a three word combo.  That can be fin, just keep it short.  If you can shorten a word, so it.  Too many long words can drive you customers crazy.  MiamiCosmo.com will work much better than MiamiCosmopolitanDesignServices.com.  It is also much easier to print on a business card.

3) .Com vs others

There have been more and more domain type popping up over time.  There is now .tv and .us to name a few.  The rule of thumb is that a .com will always work out better than a .tv/.us.  Most people are used to .com's and you will have better results over all.  If you are a non-profit .org still works very well.  There is not much of a reason to run to a .tv or .us unless you already have the .com and are trying to buy up as many domaisn with your name in it to secure your brand.  A .tv or .us domain could just mean that you marketing work and advertising dollars are really just helping the guy who has the .com version of your domain.

4) Use of keywords and logical domains

It drives me nuts when you have to remeber which part of the domain is abbreviated or shorted.  If your domain is foreeyes.com, you may not realize that when you tell someone that you can reach you are This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it they might type in @4eyes,  @foreyes, and @foureyes.  It might be obvious to you, but you have to think about what others hear.  I know of an old tshirt shop in Miami called MiamiPrints.com.  Over the phone, many people heard MiamiPrince.com.  Mistakes like those can be deadly.

Keep these things in mind.  Try to make it as easy for your customers and effective for you as possible.