One of the most daunting steps in starting a Brand New Blog is choosing the perfect domain name. In this post, we’ll talk about the do’s and dont’s of domain names and avoid the pitfalls of what I call the rabbit-hole of blogging.

There are a few steps in starting a blog that if you’re not careful, you could end up in what I call the “Rabbit Holes of Blogging”.

Remember the rabbit hole from Alice in Wonderland? That thing went on forever!

What I mean is you could literally spend days, weeks, even months trying to choose that perfect domain name……when instead you could be actually doing something more constructive – like writing that first blog post, setting up your email, or engaging with your readers.

I get it though.

Domain names ARE important. So here are FIVE tips I have that will hopefully make it easier to choose that perfect domain name:

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Make Sure To Include Your Topic In Your Name

I only say this because it worked for me and …. it will make it easier for people to find you when they’re searching on Google.

For example, my topic is VEGAN, so my blog is Brand New Vegan.

Actually, since I’m more of a recipe site – I could have called it Brandnewveganrecipes….but that seems kind of long to me.

Which brings up to the next point….

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Don’t Make Your Domain Name Too Long

I seriously see a lot of blogs with ridiculously long names.

And while it may describe your blog to a T…..do you really think people are going to want to type that every time they visit your site?

Brandnewvegan is 13 letters and even that is pushing it when it comes to length of a good domain name.

Shorter is better.

Remember the whole idea here is to make it as easy as possible for people to remember.

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Keep The Spelling Simple

Another thing I see all the time is people trying to be cute with their spelling. I can only assume they did this because the name with the correct spelling was already taken.

For example cheese vs cheeze or business vs bizness.

You get the idea.

And here’s the problem with doing that:

YOU may know your site uses the alternative spelling, but will anybody else?

No. They’ll probably end up on that other site instead. Keep it simple or you’ll end up losing people.

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Don’t Use Numbers or Hypens

Along the same lines of keeping it simple and easy to type…..don’t use numbers or hyphens in your domain name.

Most people are not going to remember your domain name has a hypen in it.

So while your new ‘plant-based’ website may be the bomb when it comes to plant-based recipes…. if they’re typing the word ‘plantbased’…. 

They’ll never find you……same with numbers.

Recipes4u might seem like a cool, cutesy name – but how many people are going to type recipesforyou?

Trust me, a lot.

And lastly……….

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Stick To The .COM Extension Whenever Possible

True story: I use a popular music site to buy my royalty-free music for my YouTube Videos.

I had just started using it and like an idiot – did not write down the address or save it. So I’m typing in all kinds of things……and not finding it.

Turns out it was a domain that ended with something else besides ‘.com’. So my point here is this….most people are going to expect a dot com from you.

Not a dot ORG, or a dot NET, or a dot BIZ……

Those extensions may be useful to some people. But if you are starting a blog that you hope to make money with one day…..keep it a commercial extenstion.

Which is what dot com represents. (dot commerce)

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Ok, so let’s recap

1. Make it easy to type and keep it fairly short if you can
2. Make it as easy to spell as possible (and maybe pronounce too)
3. Avoid hypens or numbers
4. Include your topic is you can
5. And try to get a dot com

And people will have no problem finding your new blog.

Good Luck