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It is difficult to overestimate the importance of choosing the best domain name for SEO (search engine optimization). If you are confronted with the problem of deciding on a domain name for your website, don’t be discouraged by the thought that the best domain names are already taken. A multitude of potentially successful domain names are still available. Here is the list of most important factors to take into account while trying to select a domain name.

Relevance

Don't expect a website about dogs with a fruity domain name to generate much revenue. The message of your website is what usually matters the most when it comes to naming your website. Concentrate on your main services and content and stick to domain names that wrap up the essence of your website. You can think of the names associated with the product of your business, its creator, target audience, etc.

However, while choosing the name, leave open the possibility for diversification into other areas. For example, if you sell Venetian masks, souveniers.com would be better than venetianmask.com because your business could switch to magnetic figures in future and venetianmask.com would seem rather odd.

Of course, it’s your right to forget about relevance and make up a unique name like yahoo or google. However, think whether you can afford it to advertise this name so that users know what your website is about.

Domain Extensions

When brainstorming over your domain name, you will have to decide what domain extension you would like your website to fall under. The selection of a domain extension matters a lot since it could give some information about your site and affect its popularity. Out of all the extensions, the best one is certainly .com, which is the default setting in most users' head. When people type in the domain address they can sometimes forget the extension and in most cases they start guessing with .com.

Don’t think that finding the right name with dotcom would be a piece of cake. You’ve got to be really inventive because the shortest and the most catchy domain names with this extension are already taken. Check all your variants of domain names for availability. There is a plenty of websites like DomainTools.com which allow you to conduct a quick check.

However, it doesn’t mean that you necessarily have to choose .com. If you need a website for a small business, consider the .biz extension. If your organization is not commercial, the extension .org would be the most suitable. The most popular extension for informative websites and for businesses related to the information industry is .info.

It is also noteworthy that due to your domain extension search engines will get to know about geographical location of your website, and provided users limit their search to websites from a specific country, websites with that country extension will be given the priority. Thus, if your target users are from a specific country, it would be reasonable to buy the country extension, unless you are the lucky owner of .com.

Length

Since most people have short term memories, the simpler your domain name is, the better the chances are that the users will be attracted to your website. By selecting a shorter domain name, you increase the user’s ability to remember it.

If you are going to advertise your domain name on marketing materials, choosing a lengthy word wouldn't make sense. Just try to visualize a 30-character domain name on a billboard or a logo. It would be practically impossible for the viewers to keep in mind.

If you can’t think of any catchy short words relevant to your website content, you might consider settling for a not too lengthy phrase that is easy to remember and spell like doitcontractors.com.

Spelling

Don't choose names which can be misspelled. If you stick to the name that is easy to spell for most people, you will not incur the risk of losing potential visitors. Every time you come up with a new variant for your domain name pronounce it and decide whether it can be mistaken with other words. If the word sounds clear enough and it is highly unlikely that the users will mistake it for another domain, don't cross it out from your list.

Readability

Don’t select non-normative words, in particular, the words from "cool" internet slang, which could be frowned upon by certain categories of users. Make sure your domain name is easy to pronounce and easy to be perceived over the phone. It would be unreasonable to use numbers, especially when the domain name is rather long, like in the case of wordsofencouragement4u.com. Before registering the name, check whether it sounds clear enough. For example, you can mention the website’s name in conversation, sometime later ask your interlocutors if they remember the name and make sure they can write it correctly.

Another variant of this test is asking people to read your domain name aloud. If all website owners did the test like this one, they would never register domain names with inappropriate word combinations such as orleansexpress.com, mammotherection.com, penisland.net, therapistfinder.com, whorepresents.com, cummingfirst.com, etc.

Alphabetical Order

Although it doesn’t make any difference to search engines whether your domain name starts with A or Z, it would be a plus if you select the name that comes up first in the alphabet. Many web directories list domain names in alphabetical order.

On the one hand, when users look through these lists, they will come across your domain name sooner. On the other hand, search engines, while scanning such directories, are limited by the number of links. Thus, if your domain name starts with an A or 1, search engines are more likely to pick it up.

Hyphenated Domain Names

In case you've come up with a brilliant domain name just to find out it is not vacant, you might be tempted to use hyphens to secure that desired name. However, think twice before doing this. If you are interested primarily in type-in traffic, hyphens in the domain name might cause confusion and turn out to be user-unfriendly. For example, your potential customer might mistakenly type in unhyphenated domain name and enter the competitor's website.

Still, if your major focus is Internet marketing, hyphens would be great. The thing is that some search engines may "like" hyphenated domain addresses as hyphen is supposed to serve as a bridge between the most important keywords related to the website's content.

Buying an Existing Domain Name

Some domains are registered by its owners only to be re-sold for profit. You may be lucky to find such domain name that is within your budget.

Buying an Expired Domain Name

A winning strategy of opening a supermarket at the same location where there used to be some other popular supermarket can be successfully applied online. A large number of websites become expired for different reasons. The beauty here is that you have a chance not only to get a preferred domain name for your site, but also to have links to your new website without spending on advertising.

However, before buying an expired domain name, make sure the previous owners didn't refuse from it because their website failed to generate any revenue. If the website enjoyed great popularity, something extraordinary must happen to make its owners abandon it.

Registering Several Domain Names with Various Extensions

If you finally found the most suitable option with dotcom extension, you might also consider registering corresponding variants with other extensions like .org, .net, etc. to cover all of the traffic that is meant for this address and make sure no copycats will be able to get your potential clients. In case the name includes a number, it would be advisable to register both numeric and alpha variants for the same reason.

Organizing Domain Name Contests

If you feel that none of the options you have come up with is worth sticking to, announce domain name contest online. It would save your time and give you a host of fresh ideas to take advantage of.