How to Find the Perfect Name for Your Website Business

Learn more about Internet marketing strategy by subscribing to my RSS feed - free and updated daily!

In Internet business and in search engine optimization, a name is everything and is absolutely crucial for online success. A name is what describes something and tells others what that something is all about. On the Internet, the name of a site or brand is especially relevant because important search engine optimization aspects are involved. For example, the name of the site is what most people use in anchor text when linking to the site. If you have good keywords in your name, your site will rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs) for those keywords because of the increased link popularity.

Furthermore, site owners usually include the name of the site in their title tags, header tags, and body copy. This on-page optimization for targeted keywords will also help search rankings because search engines will have a better understanding of what the site is all about. Because of these benefits, it is imperative that the name of the site contains optimal keywords and is carefully chosen after much research and thought. Choose the right name and you’ll reap the benefits of increased organic search traffic as well as having a brand that people will remember.

Choose the perfect name for your site

The below is the procedure I use to find viable names for my online businesses. The brunt of the decisions will depend mostly on domain name availability so it’s important to have a set strategy. Read more to find out how you can choose the perfect name for your site.

Have an industry in mind
You need to pick an industry that the site is focused on. You don’t want to pick a topic that is too general, as you will otherwise be faced with fierce competition. Rather, pick a topic that is in a niche market and is narrowed down to something specific. For example, a site about men’s designer sunglasses is going to be much more manageable and targeted than a site about all sunglasses ever made.

Do your keyword research
Next, use keyword tools to find the relative search frequency of related keywords in the industry. Then focus your attention on the top keywords. Going back to the sunglasses example, the keyword ‘designer sunglasses’ receives 244 searches per day compared to 1,399 for ’sunglasses’ according to Wordtracker. Knowing this, you definitely want to include ‘designer sunglasses’ in the name of the site or business. This will help you to target searches for long tail keywords related to ‘designer sunglasses’ as well as for the more generic keyword ’sunglasses’.

Find a domain name
After making a list of important and profitable keywords, you want to reserve a domain name that is easy to remember, brand, and has SEO value. Try to keep it under 18 characters and 3 words if possible and avoid using more than 2 hyphens. I usually avoid hyphens altogether as they limit the branding potential of the domain. How would I tell a friend about winning-the-web.com in person? It would be much easier if I had the non-hyphenated version (which is why I own winningtheweb.com).

• Try to get the domain name with just your main targeted keyword
  If possible, try to get a non-hypenated .com domain name with your main targeted keyword. For example, if you’re targeting ‘designer sunglasses’, designersunglasses.com would be optimal. However, finding such domains in competitive fields is nearly impossible these days.
• Otherwise, think of a catchy name using alliteration, assonance, or rhyme
  If you can’t get the exact match domain, the next best thing is to be creative and come up with something catchy while incorporating some of your main keywords. Use alliteration and rhyme to help people remember the name. SassySunglasses, SunglassesFast, and SunglassesBlast are some examples of this strategy.
• Or make up a name altogether and brand it
  If you don’t have any luck finding a domain with your keywords, you might want to consider coming up with a word yourself and branding it for your business. Google, Yahoo, Flickr, YouTube, and EBay are all megabrands that successfully used this strategy. Suggestions for the sunglasses example include SunnyGlasses, NoSola, Shaderoo, and Glassun. You get the idea.

I hope this article gives you some ideas for your website name, which is an extremely important component that is many times overlooked. A good name could potentially get your site over the top in search engine rankings and traffic. What names are you using and why did you choose them?