10 tips for choosing a domain name for your blog

How good is your domain name? Domain name are said to be real estate of the internet. A domain name could be said to play a vital role on the success of a blog, so it is important that when you want to start a blog, you choose a good domain name for your blog.

In this post, I will highlight some basic points to consider in choosing a domain name for your blog:

1. Choose a short name: good domain names are generally short. Look at the likes of Google, twitter, facebook, digg etc. When i say short, i mean not more than 10 characters. 
2. Choose a domain name that is easy to spell: Even if your domain name is short, it should not be difficult to spell. Example of domain names that are difficult to spell are words which contain double characters.
3. Choose a domain name that is easy to remember: Gifhth.com is quite short, but can you look at it once and get it stuck into your memory? No. So make your domain name short and easy to remember.
4. Avoid hyphens and numbers: People tend to generally leave out hyphen when entering URLs in the browsers. Consider a blog with the name my-blog.com. This is a very bad practice and will cause you to loose a lot traffic because not so many people will remember to include the hyphen(at least I).
5. Choose a domain name that is descriptive: Although, there might be some arguments against this, but I must say, it counts. It will aid your SEO and also give people an idea what your blog is about.
6. Consider a .com extension: except you are an organization (which a .org will be better for) or you are targeting a particular region(e.g domain.com.ng), purchasing a domain name with a .com extension should be the first thing on your mind. It is quite popular and the default in the mind of many visitors. Let's consider a case of visitor who didn't bookmark your blog, but would like to return later on. Usually, they will enter your blog domain name, and what comes after is a .com.
7. Get the .net and .org version of your domain name: If you can afford this, I will advise you go for them. It's an investment that's worth it. Purchase these domain versions and redirect them to your primary blog address. Doing this will make your blog have more coverage and you will help you gain visits that could have otherwise been lost.
8. Make it Unique: It is also important when choosing a domain name that you make it unique. Don't let your domain name be confused with some other domain especially the popular ones. Make your domain name stand out from the rest.
9. Research Keywords: Before you purchase the domain name for your blog, make research for say the top five keywords in your niche and try to see how you can reflect them in your domain name.
10. Avoid Copyright Infringement: This is another important tip to take note of. Copyright infringement is a very serious issue, try to stay clear of it as possible.

Finally, it might be impossible for a domain name to adhere to all the tips I stated above, but at least a good domain name should have at least five of characteristics.

Do you have any suggestions concerning "choosing a domain name for a blog"?, let's hear from you.