Choosing the best Domain Name for affiliate marketing can be a tricky decision if you allow yourself to get too involved with the complexities of domain names.
In saying that, it’s important to make a good decision on the right domain for your website. To make that good decision you need to be armed with the correct information about how your domain name influences your website.
I have learned from my own experience the importance of buying the right domain. Due to not having the necessary information available to me when I first started affiliate marketing, I found it difficult to make a decision on the right domain to choose, and that’s what I mean by the complexities.
So much time and energy can be wasted when not knowing exactly what to focus on in the choice of a domain for your website
Knowing what a Domain Name is and how it works for your website removes the uncertainty or confusion about how to decide on the domain you so anxiously want to settle on.
Table of Contents
Moving on With Choosing the Best Domain Name for Your Affiliate Marketing Website
When you purchase your Domain Name it becomes your property. Your domain is an asset, and the address of your website. It is something to be valued as without a domain you don’t have a website.
Additionally, your Domain Name should appear professional and trustworthy. Preferably it will be made up of between 2 to 4 words.
There are different schools of thought about the choice of Domain Names. Some recommend that a Domain Name should be the keyword of your website. For example, if the title of your website is ‘How To Juice Fruit’ you would want your domain to be HowToJuiceFruit.com.
Others recommend having your Domain Name as your Brand. For example, if your Brand is ‘Best Fresh Seasonal Fruits’ a Brand Domain could be anything related to fruit.
Using a Brand Domain rather than a keyword-rich domain could make the decision of choosing a domain name easier. This is because getting the exact domain to match your keywords is not so easy these days with the vast number of websites on the internet.
The Extension of Your Domain
This brings us to your domain extension which preferably would be a dot com (.com), or dot org (.org) as a second choice, or dot net (.net) as a third choice.
Why a dot com Extension?
A dot com domain extension is considered to be the most credible; it receives Google’s search preference over other extensions.
Dotcom is the extension that the majority of people will use when typing a domain name into a search bar. The person searching can remember the domain name but not the extension, so .com is the most likely choice they will make to find a website.
Four Must Do Actions Before Choosing Your Best Domain Name
1. Be absolutely sure you are happy with the niche, or subject, that you have chosen for your website.
2. Do your research on Google to make sure many people are searching for products in your chosen niche. Also, check that the competition is low. Look at other websites for the same or similar keyword on Page 1 of Google and decide whether your site can deliver better information that will assist your visitors.
3. Do your research to be sure there are affiliate programs promoting products for sale in your chosen niche.
4. Do your keyword research to help you decide on the name of your website. This assists with deciding on whether to choose a keyword-rich domain name or to go with a brand domain
Having completed items 1 to 4 above you will have decided on the name of your new website. It’s now time to focus on what your Domain Name will be.
Getting Back to Your Keyword Research, You can Go to Google.com and Enter the Name of Your Niche into the Search Bar.
As an example only let’s look at a website around ‘juicing’ (See image below). For instance, I entered ‘ how to juice fruit’ and received the following results:
If the name of my website is ‘How To Juice Fruit’ then I would purchase the domain name ‘HowToJuiceFruit.com’
But, if the name of my website is ‘How to Juice Fruits Without a Juicer’ I would purchase the domain ‘JuiceFruitsWithoutAJuicer.com.
Notice I have not included ‘how to’ because this is a long domain name. To include ‘howto’ would make the domain much too long.
Be Aware of the Length of Your Domain Name
If you look at the domain name ‘HowToJuiceFruitsWithoutAJuicer.com it is too long. There are 34 letters in HowToJuiceFruitsWithoutAJiucer.com (including the dot) and I suggest that you attempt to limit the length of your domains to 30 letters or less.
Believe it or not, sometimes people go for long domain names because they can’t find a shorter version. I recommend that you spend as much time as needed to find the right domain name. Your Domain costs money to purchase and to renew annually or for as many years as you choose to renew it, so endeavour to make the best choice you possibly can.
Keyword Research
Using a Keyword Research tool will give you greater results to work with and help you to decide on the right domain name.
If you don’t have access to a reliable keyword research tool I recommend you try the Free Starter Trial version of Jaaxy. This is an amazing keyword tool that could help you to choose a domain name.
Where to Purchase Your Domain Name
I recommend purchasing your domain from NameCheap.com as their domains are reasonably priced. Also, you can go to their website and enter different ideas to see if that Domain is available.
Take Time to Choose Your Domain Name Wisely
Another thing of great importance to take notice of is: be sure to use correct spelling in your Domain Name. I have known people to enquire whether they can correct the wrong spelling in the Domain Name. Unfortunately, there is no way to correct spelling. Once the Domain Name is purchased, that is it forever. The only option is to purchase another Domain with the correct spelling and, of course, that is an expense to be avoided!
As I have already explained, taking the time to choose the right Domain Name for your website is important. You can’t change it once you have made the purchase. As you build your website you can, and no doubt will change the content from time to time. But, you can’t change your Domain Name. Once you have made the purchase of the Domain it is yours. There are no refunds on Domain Names. So choose carefully.
I trust that this information has helped you with your choice of the best Domain Name for your website.
If you have any questions you are welcome to leave them in the comments at the end of the post.
Hey this is a really good article, i do think a good domain matters a lot. I have seen some weird domains that just dont sound right. I am lucky i thought of a good domain name for my main site, my second site could have a better domain name but it is still good. Im only going to manage 2 sites for now, hoping i can make it to the point when i can make another!
Hi Justin, I think you are wise working on 2 sites for now. I read where people are anxious to start new additional websites, but each site we have limits quality time to develop sites worthy of receiving visitors.
I’m pleased you are happy with your domain names, particularly for your main site.
Thank you for your comment.
When I first got started with affiliate marketing, I decided to use a keyword rich domain name for my website. That turned out to be too long and it was difficult to remember.
Which is why I decided my domain name and website would represent my brand. I feel like I made the right choice and I couldn’t be happier.
I will say this… obsessing over the perfect domain name can end up taking a lot of time. You can always change it along the way, the key is to get started.
Choosing to go with a brand for your domain was a good choice, Diana.
I agree with not obsessing over the perfect domain. However, to change a domain is not something I would choose to do. It would call for far too many redirections of URLs and external links.
Thank you for leaving your comment.
This is a great tool. Since joining the Wealthy Affiliate I know it, and I’m currently using Jaaxy daily.
With the features of Jaaxy, many people do not know, when they use it they will certainly see many advantages compared to some other tools such as Google Adwords.
Thank you for sharing, more people will know Jaaxy.
Tivana Nam – Affiliate With Nam
Very true, Tivanam. I have used Jaaxy for several years and it serves me well. I never need to search any other keyword tool, as Jaaxy provides all I need, including the right domain name for my websites.
Thank you for visiting my website and leaving your comment.
Hi Valerie,
What a great and helpful page.
You gave me a lot of valuable that I didn’t know before.
I didn’t realize that google finds .com extension more credible than others extension.
So if I already chose .org extension, you think it is better for me to move it to .com extension?
I already using this extension for the last 3 months.
Thanks.
Hi Efi
Thanks for your comment. I am pleased you found the post to be helpful.
With regard to your .org extension; due to having used this for 3 months I do not recommend changing to a .com
Changing the extension now could cause problems with seo and also problems with 404 errors. Please leave your website as it is.
If you happen to start another website within the next 12 months it could be worthwhile using a .com extension.
Keep in mind that online functions such as algorithms change frequently meaning that what works right now may not be the case in 12 months or so.