How to choose a great domain name

1. When possible, choose a domain name that contains your primary keyword. For example, if your site sells widgets, widgets.com would be the ideal domain name.
   
   Of course, in today's competitive environment, getting a domain name that consists of just the keyword is virtually impossible, but always give it a try. You might be pleasantly surprised.
    
2. If you have to, use your primary keyword in conjunction with another keyword or other short text. For example, try getting quality-widgets.com or a1-widgets.com. You get the picture.
   
   Be sure to separate the keyword(s) from the other text with a
   dash (-). This helps the search engines recognize the keywords in your domain name. Try to keep the number of dashes to three or less.
    
3. Your domain name should be as short as possible. A domain name like quality-inexpensive-blue-widgets-from-argentina.com may be descriptive and include your keywords, but just try getting type-in traffic or even getting someone to remember your URL. It just won't happen. Besides, I believe the search engines will eventually penalize long, "keyword list" domain names.
    
4. Is the .com version of your desired domain name already taken?
   Try registering it with another top level domain (TLD)! For example, if your first choice of blue-widgets.com is already taken, try blue-widgets.net or blue-widgets.org.
   
   While domain names with a .com extension have a few benefits over those with other TLDs, (especially for commercial websites), a great name ending in .net or .org will outperform a poor name with a .com extension in the long run. And the search engines make no distinction whatsoever between TLDs for ranking purposes.
    
5. Be careful when considering previously registered domain names. Many "expired" domains and currently registered domain names that aren't currently being used have search engine penalties attached to them due to misuse by the previous owner.
   
   If someone offers to sell you a great domain name, check it out first. Only buy a domain if it has never been used with a website before. Here's how to check:
    
   • Search for backlinks to the domain in Google. In the Google search box, type link:www.domain-in-question.com (replacing domain-in-question.com with the actual domain name that you're thinking about buying). If the search returns any backlinks at all, the domain has been used in the past.
      
   • See if the site is listed with the Wayback Machine. Enter the domain name in the "Take Me Back" search box. If anything comes up, the domain has been used before.
      
   Why is this important? Once a domain name has been penalized by a search engine, it typically stays that way forever. This means that no matter how many links into the site you get or how well you optimize the site for the search engines, it will never rank well in searches.