Choosing a domain name is the first step in setting up your website. You can go here to add names and see what is still available: EZ Domain Name.
With the right domain name, your website will be remembered better and can be found easier by search engines.
It’s always good to have the main keyword(s) you want search engines to find you within the domain name. If you are going to sell “scarves” for example, it’s good to do something with the word scarves or scarf. For example, if you sold scarves on the west side then westsidescarves.com would be a simple-to-remember name with keywords to match your site.
Also, it’s good to not use any – (dashes) unless you are just using the domain for SEO or link reasons. Otherwise, the domain without the dash will get your traffic when people mention your domain. For example, one guy says hey check out westside scarves website. They will then go to westsidescarves.com, not westside-scarves.com. So stay away from dashes if you are branding the domain.
If you want to just target your keywords it’s perfectly o.k. to have westside-scarves.com, the search engines don’t mind the dash. Just keep in mind you might be sending some traffic to the person that owns westsidescarves.com.
For example, we own: coastwebhosting.com so if someone registers coast-web-hosting.com it will just be helping us because we have the non-dash name. And because people are not searching for Web Hosting on the Coast so that would not be a good domain to get.
Rule of thumb.
The rule of thumb is to:
- Stay under 12 letters,
- Stick with three words or fewer,
- And only use .com unless another tld makes sense.
For example, if you have a professional service then .pro would be great. If you have a TV show then .tv would also be perfect.
Good luck and once you get your domain to go here and sign up for Web Hosting to get your website on the internet.