Choosing a domain name is the first thing you need to do when you are about to start a blog.

It’s not an easy job. You might find it difficult after discovering that all the cool names are registered.

Because of the unavailability of the desirable names, many people go with a random name and make some common mistakes.

To avoid those mistakes and make things easier for you, I am going to share 10 tips for choosing a good domain name for your blog

Here’s the quick preview of 10 domain name choosing tips.

Now let’s dive deep into these tips.

1. Keyword Rich Vs Branded Domain Name

The very first thing you need to decide whether you want to choose a keyword-rich domain or a branded domain name.

If you don’t know the difference between the two types of domains, here’s an example for you.

Both are products related sites. But only the first domain name contains the keyword “Products”. So it’s a keyword-rich domain name. The second domain name is a unique name which is more branded than the first one.

Keywords Rich Domain can be two types – Exact Match Domain (EMD) and Partial Match Domain (PMD). Let’s see an example:

EMD doesn’t look good. People used to buy EMD for affiliate marketing purpose. A few years ago, it was easy to rank an exact match domain. But things have changed. Now it’s not easy to get high rank with an EMD. So it’s better to stay away from EMD.

On the other hand, Partial Match Domain is doing good. As it contains a related keyword, it’s easy to understand what’s the blog about. And it’s not so tough to make it brandable.

Now let’s talk about Branded Domain Name.

Branded Domain Name has nothing to do with the keyword of the niche. It’s a unique name. For example, Labnol.org is a technology blog. The domain name doesn’t represent its niche. In fact, Labnol has no meaning.

Once you have decided, which kind of domain you want to pick, let’s move to other points.

2. Make It Easy To Pronounce and Spell

Look at these domain names:

All of these sites are very popular. And the common thing is, it’s very easy to pronounce and spell their domain names.

Your domain name is the name of your brand. So make it easy to pronounce and spell. Don’t use complex and unusual words. Make it rememberable.

Also Check: 23 Great Examples Of Good Blog Domain Names

3. Keep It Short & Simple

There is no ideal length of a domain name. Try to keep it as short as possible. A short domain name is easy to remember. But it’s very difficult to find the short domain name. I’d recommend you keep the domain name within 10-15 words.

At the same time, you need to make sure that the domain name is simple. Don’t use any complex words.

For example, RoadToBlogging.com is not a very short domain name. But it’s simple.

4. Go For The .com Extension

.com is the most popular domain extension.

People remember the name of your blog, not the extension. If your domain ends with other extensions like .net, org, it might be a little bit tricky to find your blog.

So go for the .com extension.

If .com extension is not available, go for other popular extensions like .net, .co, .org, etc.

5. Avoid Hyphens, Numbers, & Articles

It’s hard to tell about the domain that contains hyphens. Let’s say your domain is Tech-tips.com. You have to say “tech hyphen tips dot com” to the offline people. There is a chance that most of the people forgot the hyphens and ended up visiting techtips.com.

Same things happen to the domain with numbers or articles. People forget numbers and articles.

Even though some sites like Digital-photography-school.com, 9lessons.info, thewirecutter.com, etc are very popular, but these are exceptional. They have been here for a long time.

Try to avoid hyphens, numbers, or articles on the domain name.

6. Avoid Copyright & Trademark Violation

Copyright and trademark violation can do severe damage to your blog. You may end up losing the domain name.

So it’s better to be careful before choosing the domain name. Make sure that your domain name is not going to conflict other commercial names.

For example, you cannot use terms like Facebook, WordPress, etc on your domain name.

However, I am not a lawyer. I cannot help you professionally. If you have any confusions, you should talk with an attorney.

7. Singular Vs Plural

Look at these two domains:

• BestProducts.com
• BestProduct.com

BestProducts.com is the main domain name. But some people might visit BestProduct.com instead of BestProducts.com.

If your domain contains such a thing, I’d recommend you to buy both domains. This way you will not lose any visitors.

You can choose one as a primary domain and redirect another to the main domain name.

8. Make Sure Social URLs Are Available

One of the essentials things to do after buying a domain name is secure social media URLs like https://facebook.com/yourdomain.

If you have a plan to give more attention to any particular social media site, it’s better to make sure that your desirable URL is available.

You can use this tool – knowem.com.

9. Use Your Name As Domain Name

If you cannot come up with the right domain name for your blog, you can use your name as a domain name.

Some of the bloggers are doing great with the personal name as a domain name.

You can even use a part of your name as domain name like Hongkiat.com. You can also use a part of your domain name with other words like HuffingtonPost.com, GoinsWriter.com.

Even if you don’t have any plan to use your name as a domain name, it’s a good idea to grab the domain if it’s available. You can use it later as a personal blog or a portfolio site.

10. Use Domain Name Generators

It’s not a good idea to depend on Domain Name Generators. But these generators can help you to get some ideas.

Here are some tools you can try.

I’ve Found The Desired Domain Name, Now What?

Congrats! You are now one step closer to launch your dream blog. Now you need to do one thing immediately.

Registering the domain name as soon as possible.

There are several domain registrars out there. Namecheap and GoDaddy are the most popular. I use and recommend Namecheap.

If you want to have a free domain name, buy web hosting from Bluehost. It offers a free domain name for one year.

Bluehost is officially recommended by WordPress.org.

Recommended Reading: I Have A Domain Name, Now What?

Over To You

If you haven’t found the right domain name yet, relax.

You can change the domain name later. So don’t overthink. Just go with the name that seems good to you. There is no such thing as the perfect domain name.

If you have already found the domain name, all the very best for your blog.