How to Choose a Good Domain Name

Everyone knows it’s necessary to have a strong internet presence if you’re going to be a modern writer. Perhaps one of the most difficult decisions you’ll make is the domain name for your site. Or maybe not.

Domain names are becoming less and less important. Today, people are searching for site links with Google using the name of the company, writer, or book title, and not bothering to remember site names. However, you still want your domain name to be professional so you don’t look like a scammer.

 

Guidelines

That being said, here are some guidelines to good domain name choices.

1. Short(< 15 characters)
2. Descriptive of the company, or individual
3. Easy to say (and spell)
4. Fairly unique across the web (org and HerosWay.org are very close and two very different sites)
5. Avoid punctuation(like dashes greg-smith.com)
6. Avoid numbers(thai-diner-2.com [Do people spell out TWO or the digit 2 or the words TO or TOO.])

NOTE: Single-word domain names have already been scarfed up by the domain harvesting companies. So “Wonderful.today” is never going to be available without paying a hefty fee on the order of thousands of dollars.

NOTE: DO NOT PAY FOR BROKER SERVICES. Brokers claim to be able to get you a deal on harvested domain names, but they almost never broker a deal for less than several thousand dollars.

 

Top-Level Domains

Your domain name doesn’t have to end in ‘.com’ or any of the usual suspects. Consider a different top-level domain (TLD) for your website.

• .pro
• .site
• .group
• .world
• .page
• .today
• .guru
• .info
• .fyi
• .name (All of the usual last names are taken, so be creative, or use both first and last names.)

I’m stunned and amazed that .writer is not a TLD.

 

Suggestions & Resources

I’d recommend a domain with two words, both short. Like WritersBounty.com or such. For international, consider “WritersBounty.world”—the domain harvesters haven’t stolen dual-word domains yet!

Here’s an extensive list of TLDS and prices you can expect.

And here’s GoDaddy’s search engine for domain names. Make sure yours isn’t already taken!

 

Finally…

Regardless of what you choose, be sure to do a sanity check with friends, relatives, and coworkers. Google your own domain name components to see what else shows up and see if you’ve picked something that yields unexpected results (go ahead and Google “writers bounty” from my example, above; you may be surprised). Above all, have a little fun!

 

 

Greg Smith is a writing coach, editor, and publisher. He founded the Agile Writer Workshop in 2011 with the mission of finding a method to help beginning writers complete a first draft in 6 months. The Agile Writer Method is based on the writings of experts in mythology, screenwriting, psychology, and project management. His seminars on the Agile Writer Method have informed and delighted thousands of writers, scholars, and university students. Agile Writer authors have written over 50 first draft novels and 10 published novels. Greg is a developmental editor for novelists and memoirists. He also coaches authors through the self-publishing maze. Greg runs the popular Agile Readers Book Club where new writers can get a beta read from a dozen or more readers.