Top 10 Things to Consider When Buying a New Domain

Here are 10 top things to look for when buying a new domain.

1. Length. The shorter the domain the easier it is to remember and spell.
2. Keywords. If a domain has popular keywords in it then it will be more memorable.
3. Extension. The extension is what follows the last dot. It is the TLD, or Top Level Domain. The most popular TLD is .COM. The jury is still out on the second most popular extension.
4. Age. The older the domain, the likelihood of better quality (although not always). More likely it will rank higher in any TLD or extension.
5. Seller. If the seller has good reputation and experience  then the domain you are buying will be of the top quality and will be protected from potential trademark issues.
6. Memorability. You want a domain that your visitors and prospects will most readily remember it.
7. No hyphens. Most of the time, hyphens will spoil a domain name. Unless it is common in your country or the keywords are extremely good/valuable.
8. No misspelling. Avoid domains that replace a “z” for an “s” or the like. You will lose visitors to the correctly spelled domain.
9. No numbers. Numbers can work if they make sense and you do enough marketing. But in most cases, numbers will confuse visitors. Is it 1 or “one”?
10. History. Always check the history of a domain. Is it banned somewhere? Was it used for a spam business/email/site? Does it infringe on a trademark or copyright?

Bonus: I usually try to avoid a combination of words where the starting letter of the second word is the same as the letter at the end of the first word. Especially if the first word ends with a double letter as in “straplessshirt”. It’s not a hard and fast rule. Unless both words are popular and make sense together, it just doesn’t look good and can easily be misspelled.

These top 10 things to consider when buying a domain name will save you a lot of headache and avoid making a costly mistake.