The Importance of a Good Domain Name
A domain name is what is put in a browser to access a website on the internet.
Acquiring a good domain name to take ownership of the rights to that domain is a very important step when starting a blog or website. Choosing the right domain for your brand or content being offered on your website offers a good first impression, aids in credibility and has SEO advantages.
It’s important to find one that aligns to your blog, is memorable, relevant and short as possible.
How to Hand Register a Domain
It’s a good idea to first see if your desired name and extension are available to hand register at a registrar. Many registrars, such as Namecheap or GoDaddy provide a search prompt on the homepage where you can enter a domain and search.
If it’s not available, when you search Namecheap will often give good similar suggestions for available names and the same name available in other extensions other than .com.
However, while some might be successful hand registering their domain name, it’s likely that the perfect name you want as your blog’s domain name has already been registered in .com and multiple extensions.
The Domain Aftermarket
If you don’t want to compromise on the quality of your domain name for your blog, that’s where the domain aftermarket comes in. The domain aftermarket refers to a domain that’s already been registered and can be acquired if it’s then left to expire or put up for sale. You can find listings through marketplaces from websites such as Namecheap, GoDaddy or Sedo.
See here for a guide to Namecheap’s marketplace.
Domain aftermarkets are a huge resource for finding domains, so much so that when starting a side income blog, it can even mean it’s sometimes better to tailor your subniche or niche to your domain after first finding a good domain.
DA and Backlinks for a Domain
If you come across a domain for sale in a marketplace that appears to be valued higher than otherwise expected, it’s likely that the previous website your potential domain was pointing to was popular and had developed a good DA or domain authority and backlink history.
This can translate into more traffic that was pointing to the previous website coming through to your new website if you choose to acquire that name and build a website for it, giving it more value.
This can be confirmed by checking the domains DA rating out of 100, that can be obtained by visiting the Ahrefs website and entering the domain name you want to check.
An Ahrefs rating is also available on any auction page in Namecheap’s marketplace.
Avoid a Domain That Was Misused Previously
It’s worth avoiding a domain that has been used inappropriately previously.
If you think it has, you can check its history sporadically at Wayback Machine to see archived captures of previous website stages to find out.
Wayback machine can go as far back as 1996.