Seems like every contact I make and after we start talking, we end up discussing domain names. Keyword or no-keyword in the title? .Com or .info, etc? Where is the best place to purchase domains, etc.

So I figured it might be good to go over some of my prerequisites on domain name selection. I’m not saying that my way is correct, but if you’re interested, these are rules that I follow.

#1 I always go for .com and .net only. I NEVER go for .info or other extensions. I don’t care how cheap they are. .Coms are always preferred, but might be hard to nail with competition. If the .com is taken and the .net is available, I’ll see if the .com site is active. If it’s a squatter domain, I’ll usually pick up the .net since the .com is not ‘currently’ competing with me.

#2 Avoid numbers and dashes in the name. Numbers because people don’t know if it’s the numeral or if they need to spell it out. Dashes, because individuals will always forget to include that. If the domain I want is good enough, I’ll sometimes go with the dash, but not often… notice this domain.. heh.

#3 I do like to have keywords in the domain name. I think that is a good call, especially with storefront type sites. If you’re working on community site.. and going for ‘identity’, it’s not that important. But I think for affiliate marketing, keyword in the domain is great for SEO.

#4 Try to keep the domain length down. I don’t like long winded domain titles. They’re hard to remember and hard to type. Short and simple is the best, but like always, domains are getting harder and harder to score.

#5 I never purchase domains through crappy registrars. I usually always buy my domains via GoDaddy or Dotster. I don’t like to go with the hosting/domain inclusion package. It gets to be a pain in the butt if you want to transfer sometimes, and worse, if the host dies. I’ve dealt with that (with clients) and it’s not pretty. Registrars that I hate.. eNom and register.com are high on my hate list. I like to buy in two year increments, and I like to steadily purchase domains for projects. Doing this evens out the bill. I always pay for domains via my American Express and get cash back by doing so.

Domains is a easy purchase. I hate people telling me that they buy .info because it’s cheap. Really, if domain costs are hurting you, you’re in the wrong biz. That should be a tiny expense in the big picture. You should be paying for domain costs within the first month, and the rest should be profit (depending on other costs.. hosting, development, etc).