5 Steps to register a domain name with high traffic potential

Written by Syed Abbas from Technology Nerd on July 11, 2008

I read a lot of write-ups about what’s right and wrong and how to register a domain name. I currently own close to 100 domain names and over a period of time I developed my own logic I follow.

This article will discuss the steps I follow to register a domain name with high traffic potential.

Step 1: Step one is always the most important step as it sets the foundation for our action in course of registering a domain name.

First identify the purpose of registering a domain name. Will it be a blog or a business? Will it be tech or non-tech? What will you write on it? Will you sell a product or services on this domain?

I have it all figured out, I want to register a domain name for a Tech Blog where I will write about Windows related stuff. Windows Software reviews, Windows Tip & Tricks, etc..

Now we are all set to move on to the next step, Step2.

Steps 2: Here we will decide the type of domain name we want to register. We can either register a domain name which means something (dictionary word/product name) or something which has no meaning.

Dictionary Words:
Domain based on dictionary words are easy to remember, they have huge traffic potential and have a high monetary value. The only issue with dictionary domains is that they are not easily available but it’s not impossible to find one.

Non-Dictionary Words:
Be creative, imaginative and come up with something 1) Short, 2) Catchy and 3) Easy to remember. Non-Dictionary domains are usually topic independent as they mean nothing. Such domain names can be used for anything blog, business, tech, non-tech, etc..

Let’s say we have chosen to go for a dictionary word as it is easy to remember and has traffic potential.

Step 3: In this step we will come up with keywords for the domain name based on the inputs from Step1 & 2.

In step1 we chose to create a blog for writing about windows related stuff and in step2 we decided that the domain name will be based on dictionary word(s).

Now think of a word which is tech in nature and talks about windows. How about “windows” itself? It is needless to say that windows.com is already registered; in fact it’s almost impossible to register a one word dictionary domain name. Add a supporting keyword to “windows”, let that supporting keyword be “suff” in our case.

We have a primary and a supporting keyword now. Windows & Stuff, these two words are a good starting point for step4.

Step4: Here we will evaluate the traffic potential of the keywords and find more related domain names.

I use Google Trends and Google Keyword Tool for assessing the traffic potential of a domain name keywords.

Following image shows the traffic from Google Trends for keywords “Windows Stuff”. It is reasonably good traffic based on which a domain name can be registered.

Google Trends Image

Another tool I use is Google Keyword Tool; it not only shows traffic for specific keywords but also generate more keywords which can be potential domain names too.

Highlight #1 shows other keywords, potential ideas for domain names and the highlight #2 shows the average traffic for the previous and the current month.

Google Keyword Tool Information

Following are two other sites offering similar information

I use two other tools for generating keywords for domain names, they are extremely helpful.

Alright, by now you should have a domain name you like. In this case I have zeroed down on WindowsStuff.com.

Step5: Register the domain name using any of the following domain registration services.

Congratulations for the new Domain!

Share and Enjoy:

Written by Syed Abbas from Technology Nerd on July 11, 2008 | Filed Under Domain Names & Hosting

10 Responses so far | Have Your Say!

The Freelance Writer's Blog | July 11th, 2008 at 4:54 pm #

Informative article Syed. I own 9 domain names, and always have trouble trying to select the best one. This is a good tutorial for that.

FYI, what do you feel about hyphenated domain names. For example, if you had registered windows-stuff.com? Do they work better, worse, about the same as non-hyphenated domain names. I read somewhere once that they were better, especially if it had the primary keywords related to the site topic?

Thanks in advance for shedding some light on this?

Yuwanda
Syed Abbas (Post Author) | July 11th, 2008 at 5:46 pm #

I am glad, you found the article helpful. Let me know if you manage to find a good domain name using the approach mentioned in the article.

Coming to your question…..

I personally would not register domains with hyphens not because it makes any difference technically but simply because I don’t like hyphens in a domain name.

Technically, I don’t think it makes any difference because, for example, windows and stuff are two different words anyway so Google will look for two different words instead of one and so windowsstuff.com as it has both the words (Ranking depends on other factors too).

Using a hyphen in a two word (or more) domain name wouldn’t harm but if you try to split one word (e.g. blogg-ing.com or blog-ging.com) into two then you might not be able to capitalize on the keyword in the domain name because users will not search for “blog ging” or “blogg ing”.. even if they do, they will be suggested to correct the query and after correction chances of blogging.com making it to the top of search page are WAY higher then a blog-ging.com

Also, a lot also depends on how you are being anchored.

Following post by Matt should make a good read about the hyphens and if they make any difference.

http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/dashes-vs-underscores/

Do let me know if you have more questions
The Freelance Writer's Blog | July 12th, 2008 at 12:12 pm #

Thanks Syed for answering my question and giving a link to further info. This is very helpful.

Yuwanda
LunA | July 12th, 2008 at 9:37 pm #

Thanks for sharing a great information. But I personally think short domains such as 3 letter domains and 4 letter domains (eventually in the future) will have more potential then keyword domains.
Syed Abbas (Post Author) | July 13th, 2008 at 10:44 am #

Hi Luna,

A good keyword based domain name will give a good kickstart to your blog/site based on the keyword traffic. Success of the site or the blog in the long run only depends on the content and nothing else.
Todd Andrews | July 15th, 2008 at 5:49 pm #

Webconfs has a nice keyword-rich domain name tool to check out.
Whonami | July 18th, 2008 at 10:45 pm #

It is nice artical for bloggers to register their own domain name. Thanks
Brian | July 26th, 2008 at 11:46 pm #

Very nice article. I have never used Google trends when registering a domain but I think im gonna have to use it as a guide along with Google keywords.
Much thanks for the article.
mmorpg | September 13th, 2008 at 9:14 pm #

Hyphens help SEO I hear for multi word keywords.