Seize Your Perfect Domain Name via The Owlbert Way! Day 2 of 5

Mar 11, 2008

Seize Your Perfect Domain Name via The Owlbert Way! Day 2 of 5

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Yesterday I had regaled you with tales about my search for the perfect diet and fitness blogging domain name, and closed with a reference to http://thesaurus.reference.com/ . Let me now explain a bit about how I choose domain names…and how you can apply these techniques to your own particular niche.

First off, great domain names imbue at least one of the 5 following characteristics:

They are memorable. Perhaps it’s a catchy name, a slogan, a riff off of a common phrase. For example, let’s say that you blog about refurbishing paintings and portraits - do you think people would forget the domain name FramersOfTheLostArt.com ? (and yes, that domain name is, as of the time of this writing, still available. I visited Mystic, CT, with my husband…12 years ago…. and came across a little tiny store of that name. It’s stayed with me to this day).

They are short. Do you remember back in the early 2000s or so when domain names were extended to 67 characters? Oh, I sure do - it was called The ".com" Gold Rush and people were buying insanely long keyworded domains all over the place.

Thing is, though, if you’re trying to get active people to visit your blog, having hyphens and 67 letters, etc., makes typing mighty darned tedious. Ideally, the shorter the name, the better.

They are easy to spell. Domain names that have homonyms can cause some grief. For example, consider:
- http://www.MaidForYou.com
- http://www.MadeForYou.com

Both sound the same, but both have far different meanings. A solution, of course, would be to buy both names.

They engage the reader. What calls out to you more?
- HRNews.com
- YourHRNews.com

Adding the word "Your" or "My" can draw the reader in.

They are brandable in the long term. Are you your own brand? Can you market off of your image? Consider LockerGnome - everyone knows that’s Chris Pirillo, whose brand name grew out of the following he started back in 1996. From one site to another to a radio show to a call-in show to…more things than at which I can shake a stick, Chris’ brand is undeniable. Thus, ask yourself - "is my domain idea something that can be associated with me a decade in the future?"

With this bit of background out of the way, let’s now dive into formulating the perfect domain name for you. Here are some steps you can take:

Ask myself:

1.) Who will be my target audience?

2.) What phrases/nouns/etc. are known by that targeted audience?

3.) Are there any geographic/ethnic/niche/etc. aspects I should consider?

4.) How can I think outside the box?

Let’s cover points one and two today, shall we?

Step 1.) Who will be my targeted audience?

Let’s say that you have an undying appreciation for that beverage of the gods, coffee. And because you spend the majority of your waking hours worshipping the magnificence of this brew, you decide you want to start blogging about it (and adding coffee affiliate programs, and other coffee blogs, and coffee forums and ….)

So! Who will be your targeted audience? Well, hmmmm. Who "does" coffee? I’d bet people who frequent coffee forums would know!

Search for "coffee forum" on Google like so:

coffee forum

You might find CoffeeForums.com. Visit that site and poke around - you’ll see forums for shops, drinks, beans, hardware, bars, cafes, reviews, health, roasters, latte art, B2B, etc. Wow, what a lot of ideas should be bonking you on the head right now! Ideas like, oh, hmm:

CoffeeBeanBlog.com
CoffeeReviewsBlog.com
CoffeeBlogger.com
CoffeeCafeBlogger.com
TheCoffeeBean.com
HealthyCoffee.com
YourCoffeeCafe.com
MyCoffeeLove.com
CoffeeInTheMorning.com
MorningCupOfCoffee.com
MorningCupOfJoe.com (excellent fitness blog, btw!)

See what I mean? By visiting places where fans gather, you can pick and choose from various related keywords and see if any such domains are available. As it so happens, at the time of this writing,

coffeereviewsblog.com
mycoffeelove.com

are the only ones available. But not to fear! You can visit DomainsBot and search on, oh,

Coffee In The Morning

and peruse suggestions that include:

CoffeeInTheMorning.org
BeanInsideTheSunrise.com
CafeInsideADawn.com
BeverageInsideASunrise.com

Unique suggestions there, I’ll admit.

If you haven’t hit on the perfect domain name yet, move smoothly to

Step 2.) What phrases/nouns/etc. are known by that targeted audience?

Well now, at least THAT’S vaguely easy! Go to Google and search for

coffee glossary

Oooooh, the words that appear!! You can play with:

Blend
Bright
Earthy
Doppio
Flavor
French Roast
Solo
Brew
Cafe

to name a few:

MyCoffeeBlend.com
BrightCoffeeDreams.com
EarthsCoffee.com
BestCoffeeFlavor.com
SoloCoffeeNews.com
YourMorningBrew.com

(and it turns out that at the time of this writing,

BrightCoffeeDreams.com
EarthsCoffee.com
BestCoffeeFlavor.com
SoloCoffeeNews.com

is still availble).

See how it works?

When you want to craft the perfect domain name for your new blog or site, you can methodically explore that to which your audience would relate, would remember, and would visit. Yes, it takes time….but the end results can be most magnificent for you indeed.

This lesson is gettin’ mighty long indeed, so let me close with today’s homework. Tell me the niche in which you want to blog…and then find me some glossaries that deal with it. What domain names can you create?

I’d love to hear.

ThankYouVeryMuch!

Owlbert

#BEGIN highlights of this blog writing post:

Beginners blogging tips: Use Domainsbot to spin phrases and get domain name ideas

Intermediate and/or Advanced blogging tips: Proactively search for glossaries in your niche and explore what words are familiar with your targeted audience.

#END highlights of this blog writing post

(By the way, if you have any questions about the topics in this posting "Seize Your Perfect Domain Name via The Owlbert Way! Day 2 of 5", do comment below - I'll try to clarify any issues).

Barbara Ling and Owlbert

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