Branding your website is extremely important since over time it helps drive traffic to your website or blog.
It may sound simple but having a memorable name for your site, which in some way describes what your website is about, is of great value to you. You want people to remember your website after landing there. By keeping the website name short and to the point makes it easier to recall on their next visit.
First things first; what is your website going to be about? By now you should know who your target market and niche are. If you don’t, then hold off buying a domain name and designing your website until you know the answers to these questions.
Include a Keyword or Two in Your Website Name
Have you done your keyword research? This is something that should be done as part of your search and identification of your niche. Find at least six keywords that apply to your niche. Once you’ve found the best keywords, play around with the combinations to come up with possible domain names.
A visitor to your site should get a pretty clear idea of what your site is about by the name. Also, from a SEO perspective, having good keywords in your domain name will definitely help with the search engines.
Don’t get caught up with trying to be like the next guy. Be yourself and unique. Don’t copy other’s domain names by altering them slightly, hoping to get some of their traffic. This isn’t appealing and the reverse can be true. You can lose traffic to the competition.
Getting a “.com” domain is still the best option. For most people, a .com domain seems to have more credibility than the others. This of course is a fallacy but if you don’t consider that perception, again, you could lose traffic.
If your domain name is available in .com and .net, consider purchasing both. This will stop others from purchasing the one you didn’t and then competing with your business. You would use one for your domain and then do a simple URL forwarding or redirect of the other, sending it to your website. You capture the traffic that would have entered the .net instead of .com.
Now What?
Okay, so now you know your target market and your niche. You have chosen at least six top keywords or phrases for your niche and you’re ready to start looking for a domain name.
Keep it simple and memorable. Longer domain names can be just as good, as long as the name has stickiness. You want the name to stick in the minds of your visitors so they will remember it and come back again and again.
Using humor is fine as long as it’s in good taste. This too, will affect the perception of your brand with consumers.
Now that you have found your niche and domain name, it’s time to design your website or blog and begin thinking about your brand. There’s much to consider as this should be part of your long term brand strategy. Take your time and get your message across to your market through careful planning.
Let 1-800-ShowMeHow help you with coming up with a name for your site. Need personal branding help? Check out the services we provide.
