Did you know that your domain name is essentially your brand? Apple has apple.com, but what about you? Since Smart Affiliate Hub is a how to make money online blog. It’s important that you understand how to buy and choose a domain name.
Throughout my journey, I’ve purchased a few domain names. Most were purchased on Wealthy Affiliate when my website was hosted by them. For personal reasons (Wealthy Affiliate is an awesome platform for beginners), I moved to Hostgator so I explored other options.
The most well known is GoDaddy, there you can purchase and manage your domain names. They also offer premium domain names in which you can purchase through a payment plan (can be quite expensive).
I’m thinking about buying this! (:
Fortunately, domain names are not always $5,000.00. My domain name costs around $15.00 per year. That’s only $1.25 per month. Sometimes GoDaddy offers deals, so you can get your first year for $0.99.
Anyone can take out their credit card to buy a domain name, but it’s important that you know how to choose the right one. Smart Affiliate Hub used to be called Online Self Employed.
I ended changing it after blogging for a year and I totally regret not doing so in the beginning. Even though I properly transitioned my domain name to keep the majority of my authority levels. It still negatively impacted my blog.
I don’t want you to make the same mistake, so In this article, I will try my best to inform you on how to buy and choose the right domain name for your online business.
Before we continue, I’d like to offer you my Ultimate Passive Income Model. It is absolutely free to download and it details my journey to make money online with zero experience. Simply click on the banner below to claim your copy today.
How To Choose The Right Domain Name
Since your domain name will eventually become your brand. There are a few things to keep in mind:
#1. Is it easy to remember?
When choosing a domain name, you want something simple and easy to remember. Use examples from successful companies like Google, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, Tesla, etc.
I’ve seen websites like (example) 1xe3.com – Who the heck is going to remember that except for yourself? People who search the internet are browsing through hundreds of websites and if your domain name is hard to remember. The odds of them returning is reduced drastically.
Also, if your domain name is hard to remember then it’s probably complex. Like the example, I used, 1xe3.com. It’s not unlikely that someone will misspell it on the search bar.
#2. Does it contain keywords?
You don’t really need to have your niche keywords in your domain name. It’s far more important to include keywords in your pages and blog posts. However, having your niche keywords in your domain name does help convey what your website is about.
For example, makemoneyonline.com is obviously about how to make money online. You wouldn’t expect to find how to rescue a cat on a tree from that domain name.
#3. The shorter the better
This is not written in stones either, but it does help with making your domain name easy to remember. Most of my domain names are short and simple, but there are times where most of the shorter domain names have already been purchased.
If that’s the case, try to find one that’s short and easy to remember. After all, it’s better to have howtomakemoneyonline.com than howtomakemoneyonlinefastandeasy.com, right?
How To Find A Domain Name
Again, since we started talking about GoDaddy, we will continue to use them as an example. GoDaddy provides you with a domain name search bar:
Source: GoDaddy.com
Let’s use affiliates as an example and see what kind of results we’ll get (changes depending on availability):
GoDaddy: affiliates.com
As you can see, affiliates.com is taken, but they GoDaddy also provides you with similar alternatives with various domain extensions (.com, .wine, .io, .us).
Also, it comes at a various price point, so make sure you double check to see how much it cost for the first year and thereafter. It’s a great set-up because you’ll get suggestions plus be able to make a purchase very quickly at an affordable price.
Tip: If you have money to spare, I recommend that you purchase all extensions of your domain name. This will help protect your brand name because there are many scammers who are more than happy to use any available name.
For example, Smartaffiliatehub.com is my website. Someone can buy Smartaffiliatehub.io and use it to scam others. This will hurt my reputation because most people recognize the name, not the domain extension.
If you decide to do this, you can use their bulk domain name registration to register up to 500 domains at once on GoDaddy.com All you have to do is type in the domain name that you desire and check the domain extensions that you want.
This will then generate a list of available domains for you to purchase. Keep in mind though, the cost can really add up if you decide to buy every single one of them.
You Can Also Sell Domain Names On GoDaddy
Besides buying domain names, you can also sell domain names using their auctions function. Remember the image above where you can purchase the domain name smartaffiliate.com for $5,000.00?
Basically, GoDaddy acts as a domain broker as well. Being a legitimate company, you can ensure that you won’t get scammed. GoDaddy has domain agents who will reach out to domain owners and negotiate on your behalf.
In Conclusion
There are many services out there, but I prefer to use a reputable source like GoDaddy.com. They have tools and resources to help you with managing, buying, and selling domain names.
They also offer website hosting, but that’s a whole separate story. I don’t host my website on GoDaddy, so I don’t have an opinion on their support, uptime, and speed. I use HostGator for that.
If you have any questions, comments, or concerns. Please leave a message down below and I will try my best to help you out.
Kind Regards,
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