I’ve heard countless people ask “what is a domain?” or “what is a domain name?”, and in doing so, they’ve led me to feel that maybe domains aren’t so important after all. On the other hand, none of these people were bloggers themselves, so it is easy to see why they would ask such a question. In reality, a domain name is extremely important.
Are domain names really extremely important? Yes they are. Why? I’ve come up with a simple way to look at domain names. Domain names are very important to a website, as a name is extremely important to a human being. What if people did not have names, and were referred to through a number system. Simply remembering names is a difficult task for many people, myself being one of those people, so you can just imagine how difficult it would be if people were assigned numbers instead of names.
You can think of it exactly the same way for websites and domains. The alternative would be to connect to websites through IP addresses, and as we all know, IP addresses are only numbers. Remembering numbers is usually more difficult than remembering words or letters.
There is nothing really special about numbers, that would lead people to remember your website. On the other hand, domain names, if chosen properly, can be remembered very easily.
Prior to the domain name, there is a dot (.) and an extension. Some of these extensions include .com, .net, .org, and .info. The extensions often vary in price, and certain extensions will rank better in search engines. A .com will almost always rank better than a .info (with the same amount of work put into both websites).
Prior to registering a domain name, put a lot of thought into it. A domain name is what is going to brand your website. You are going to want people to remember your domain name, right?
Keep in mind, domain names are not free (unless you are going to go with a free domain name, which will be a subdomain). I do not recommend signing up for a free domain if you plan on running a website seriously. Now, if you want a domain name, you are going to pay – not many things come free! GoDaddy is a great place to buy domains, and there are a number of coupons you can use to save on your purchase(s):
- fbDomain10 - get 10% OFF on regular prices on .COM, .NET, .ORG, .BIZ, and .US domains, expires 13th Aug 2009.
- MTECH10 - get a .com domain for 30% discount, works for renew as well
- 10NCS699 - .com renewals $7.17, .net, .org, .info renewals $9.17
- goaorg01a - $7.49 for .Org Registration and Renewal
- cjctld749 - $7.49 .Net .Org .Biz
- goaz2001ai - $6.99 .Com domains (Register,Renew,Transfer)
- gdr0802y - .COM JUST $7.49* PER YEAR! register for multiple years. Plus get FREE Private Registration!
- gdr0802v - 30% off on .COM domains
- cjcdeal73 - Save 20% on Shared Hosting Plans
- cjc20host - Save 20% on
Shared Hosting Plans - cjcwwd25 - Save 25$ off Any reseller plans
- cjcsave10 - 10% off on ANY order
- goaorg01a - $7.49 for .Org Registration and Renewal
- gdr0729n - SAVE 20% when you purchase 2 or more select domains!
- WEASEL7 - 10% off your GoDaddy purchase
I’m sure by now you understand the importance of domain names. Do not pick a domain name like “www.ilovebloggingbecauseitzrlyfun.com”. Why not? For the following reasons:
- Its length – the domain is way too long
- The words – some of the words used are not “real” words (itz, rly).
Just because of these two things, people will likely have a very, very hard time remembering your domain name. In the end, it is only going to hurt the success of your website. Pick a good domain name and benefit your website.
Thanks for the coupons dude..I’ll link to it in my next domains post.
No problem man!
Good point with “www.ilovebloggingbecauseitzrlyfun.com,” and I have seen a few blogs with looooooooong domain names that just cant be remembered. I do not bookmark every site that I like, some of them I just remember by name, and if website does not have a catchy name I may not be going back…
Thanks Jason. I hate websites with long domain names. Exactly why I changed my own domain, or else I’d be a hypocrite.
Same here. If a sites domain is not a catchy, it is less likely that I will bookmark it.
Likewise I have seen warnings about using things like itz or rly that aren’t the real word, or using hyphens if you don’t have to Because if people tell each other about your site and they say, “You need to check out this site! itsreallycool.com!” then if your site is really itz-rly-cool.com you’re not going to get that traffic; that’s for sure. Your current domain name is great! That’s the name of a blog with authority!
Thank you Christie, I’m glad you like the new domain name!
As for what you said, you’re completely right. I was told by a few people to NOT pick a domain name with hyphens, because that would cause me to lose a lot of direct traffic. No one is going to say, you should see “i, hypen, blog, hypen, planet”, if you know what I mean.
Wow, there’s a long list of coupons. Good job.
Thanks Jacob, hope they are of use to you.
Thanx for the coupon codes dude. I am planning to buy a domain name for my new technology blog.
No problem Ricky! I’m glad you find the coupons useful
http://www.ilovebloggingbecauseitzrlyfun.com A catchy one there. It sounds good, but only if it had real words, it can be used.
Could be used, but I feel it is a bit long. I’d rather stick with short and sweet.
Simple rule you should be able to tell it to someone over the phone so they can remember without having to write it down or repeat it.
I can’t tell you how many times doing computer support over the years that if people took the time create a proper easy to repeart name life would have been easier. A good approach these days with a lot of short and common names taken is to take 3 words and put them together. iblogplanet or mine themoneycult great examples of this.
Exactly Jared. I didn’t think a domain name was all that important, until I put some real thought into it. A few friends told me not to pick something that people will not be able to spell out when someone says it to them. I bought the domain “dotcawm.com”, but realized I would lose a lot of traffic because word of mouth marketing would not exactly work. Why? Anybody who hears “dotcawm.com” would assume it is spelt “dotcom.com”.
Thanks, I like iBlogPlanet and TheMoneyCult as well
Both very catchy, and easy to remember!
The interesting thing about domains is that search engines for some reason really loves it when you have keywords in the domain. If you have keyword.com you can outrank domain.com/keyword even though you have fewer backlinks and less trust.
Yeah, I’ve come to realize that with my niche sites. I don’t pick a keyword in my blog domain, as my blog covers a number of topics. Definitely for niche sites though.
Hi Ben .. good points you make .. something simple, catchy, to remember, or just a good name – the name of your company or organisation.
Good to meet you .. a non USA visitor!
Hilary Melton-Butcher
Positive Letters Inspirational Letters
Thanks Hilary! Always good to go with something simple and catchy — helps in the long run.
Nice to meet you as well. Glad to see some non- USA visitors coming by.
I agree with you on this one. Names create identity. What’s there in a name become such a famous quote because of Shakespeare; a famous name after all. Keeping it clear & focused helps.
I agree Chris. Although the content of a site is more important than its name, the name still does carry some importance!