I recently wrote an article about choosing a niche for your blog. The next step when creating a niche website is to go ahead and buy a domain, but that comes with a slew of questions as well. So in this article I’m going to list out some tips to help you learn how to choose a domain for a niche website.
We are proceeding with this article assuming that you have chosen your niche and are ready to move to the next step. If you haven’t chosen a niche, then I suggest you read this article on how to choose a niche for your online business.
Are all online business blogs? No. Are all blogs online businesses? Again, no. But for my purposes they are. I build blogs/niche websites in order to earn money from them. I don’t work for free and neither should you.
Ok, on to some tips to help you decide on a solid domain name. You don’t have to follow all of the tips, but use some of them to help you make your choice.
How to choose a domain name for a niche website – 13 tips
1. Keep it simple – don’t overthink it
One of the most important tips when choosing a domain name is to not overthink it. Stick to the tips I lay out in this article, but you don’t have to have the best domain in the world. If you have spent more than a couple of hours deciding on your domain then you are overthinking it.
2. Have your niche name in the domain
Whatever your chosen niche is, consider trying to work it into the domain name. This is NOT 100% necessary at all, there are many successful niche sites that do not do this. You may also choose a brandable domain name that isn’t even a real word or refers to something totally different that what you are promoting. Like Apple who doesn’t sell apples.
I prefer going the route of having the niche in the domain name personally, but it’s not a requirement. Check below for some examples
3. Or instead go with a more brandable domain
This is another way to go, usually different from from having the niche in your domain.
The definition of the term brandable is not etched in stone and is up for debate. However there are few things that can apply to a brandable domain that I’ll list below. Just remember that it never hurts to have a domain name that you can build a brand around and sounds like a real company.
A brandable domain name could be:
- Catchy
- Memorable
- Easy to remember
- Pronounceable
- An uncommon or invented word
A few real life examples of brandable domains are some of the biggest tech companies in the world like Uber, Lyft, Google, Apple, and Amazon. Now you can choose a domain with your niche in it and still turn it into a brand, that’s actually how I do it. Do you have to do it one way or another? No.
4. Easy to remember
Regardless of whether you go the niche in the domain name route or the more brandable domain route, it needs to be easy to remember. This is so people can find their way back to your site more easily, maybe even tell their friends about it.
5. Stay away from misspellings
This is also related to helping people find their way back to your site. Don’t try and be cute and spell something wrong to be unique, not with a niche site like we’re building. Doing this won’t have any effect on SEO, but it’s just confusing.
If you’re in the camping niche then an example might be spelling it weird like kampingplanet.com instead of the proper way of campingplanet.com.
6. Keep domain and hosting separate
This is a personal preference for me but I like to keep my domains separate from my hosting. Many web hosts will also offer domain registration services or even give you a free domain when you sign up, and that’s fine if you want to save money the first year.
Consider this:
You purchase web hosting on a monthly basis from a host that you aren’t familiar with, and you decide to register your domain there. Domains are registered yearly, hosting is often monthly. You have a terrible experience with your host and want to move to another host after a month.
Well now your domain is stuck with the bad host unless you transfer it, which can be sort of a pain and in order to do so you have to pay for another year at the new registrar. Bottom line is it’s just easier to keep them separate from the beginning.
I use Namecheap for my domains, they’re great for domains. They offer hosting as well, but I don’t use them for that.
7. Try to stick to a .com
This is another personal preference and if you decide to get a .net or a .co for your domain, it won’t impact you negatively in regards to SEO.
This really goes back to being memorable, everyone is used to .com and they look more professional. If you tell someone that your website is The Knitting Planet then they try and look it up, they will almost always default to looking for a .com.
Make it easy on them and get the .com version. If it’s not available then that’s a sign that someone already had the idea for that site name and you should choose something else anyway.
One trick I use is to go to an online thesaurus and type in various words to see what other ideas I can come up with. Then I head over to Namecheap and keep trying combinations until I have a .com I’m happy with.
If you really want to go with another TLD then choose a .net or even a .co, but again I strongly suggest sticking with .com. Just make sure there isn’t an established site with the .com TLD or you could be infringing on their brand.
8. Don’t box yourself in, leave room for growth
You may start out in a very small niche, which is fine. Just make sure that the domain name you choose allows you to move into related niches so that you can grow your site. If your niche is knitting and you choose knittingblanketsonly.com for your domain then you’re boxed in, all you can ever write about is knitting blankets.
However if you go with my above example of TheKnittingPlanet.com you can talk about all aspects of knitting and still start out only writing about knitting blankets.
9. No numbers or hyphens in the domain
This just makes things confusing. It’s another thing that doesn’t necessarily affect SEO, but I don’t recommend. Keep it all letters with no numbers or hyphens. If you have to make your domain a little bit longer then so be it, which brings us to the next tip.
10. Keep your domain as short as possible
As people are snatching up all of the good .com’s you’ll find that less and less are available meaning new ones are becoming longer and longer. Most of the time it’s best to keep your domain name under 14-15 characters, before the TLD (.com).
Usually this ends up being 2-3 words. I try to never go over 3 words in my domain, and look for available domains with 2 words if possible. Shorter just looks better and is easier to remember.
11. Check social media for availability
Before you click that buy button for your domain head over to Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Youtube, and all of the big Social Media Outlets to see if the username is available. Just because TheKnittingPlanet.com is available as a domain name doesn’t mean that all of the social media usernames aren’t taken, which could cause a problem.
12. Make a list of possible candidates
If you have a niche in mind and you’ve gone through these tips, your wheels should be turning already coming up with ideas. Get them down on paper, or on a notes app of some type for when you start checking availability.
13. Go to Namecheap and start typing in ideas
Open up a tab for Namecheap and maybe the thesaurus website and starting brainstorming. Add the ones that aren’t taken as available and mark off the ones that are taken.
I recommend against Godaddy because I’m almost almost positive that they have purchased domains that I’ve searched for out from under me just to try and sell them to me at an increased price. Meaning I’ll search for a very unique domain name and it will be available. Then I’ll go back the next day and all of a sudden it’s unavailable and they want me to contact them in order to make an offer on it. It’s happened more than once and I’m not the only one it’s happened to.
8 niche examples and domain names I might choose for them
These are random niches purely for example purposes only, I suggest you choose your own niches and domains. I have not checked the availability of the domains listed under each niche example.
These should help you further get an idea of my process for choosing a domain name. All of the below niches are hobbies and interests.
1. Knitting
Possible domains:
- theknittingplanet.com
- knittingalong.com
- knittingguide.com
2. Camping
Possible domains:
- campingtogether.com
- campersunited.com
- familycamping.com
3. Sailing
Possible domains:
- learningtosail.com
- sailingcentral.com
- sailingpros.com
4. Metal detecting
Possible domains:
- treasurehuntingexperts.com
- metaldetectinghub.com
- findingmetalunderground.com
5. Gardening
Possible domains:
- gardenerscorner.com
- mylittlegarden.com
- greenthumblife.com
6. Barbecuing
Possible domains:
- foodonthegrill.com
- alwaysgrilling.com
- thegrillerscorner.com
7. Home office decoration
Possible domains:
- homeofficeliving.com
- homeofficehub.com
- homeofficeworld.com
Wrap up
I hope this article has helped you figure out how to choose a domain name for a niche website, or at least pointed you in the right direction. Take each of these tips into consideration and don’t overthink it. Choosing a domain should be one of the easiest parts of getting your niche website started.