A Better Way To Choose A Domain Name

If you're like me, you want the best domain name for your online business. You probably did some brainstorming sessions yourself and possibly asked for opinions from friends, family and/or associates. You narrowed your choices, selected the "best" candidate, and then registered the domain name for your online business. However, if you're like me, you probably agonized over the final the selection after you narrowed down the choices.

You can avoid some angst and most likely make more money by picking more than one domain name and letting your customers make the final choice.

Start by having a brainstorming session ideally with some other people and even better if the group has diverse opinions. Give each person a Post-It note pad and have each person write down as many different domains names as possible within 5 minutes. Place all the notes on a table, wall or white board and review all the alternatives. The first brainstorming session may initiate further creative ideas, so have a second session of similar length to pull out additional possibilities. At this point, you should verify which domain names are available. Also, you will potentially discover additional choices during the verification process if you use a tool that makes domain name suggestions like the one at GoDaddy.

Let's assume you want to finish with five domain names. Give each person five votes, and allow them them to place their votes next to the alternatives they prefer. You can give one vote to 5 choices or five votes to one choice (or any other combination totaling 5). Any ties can be decided by repeating the process for the options that received equal votes. You complete the process by selecting the alternatives with the 5 highest votes. If you have a lot of alternatives, you could start with 10 votes and work down from there. Once you are finished, register the winning domain names.

Using the domain names from the previous step, start a Google AdWords campaign to find the final winner. Set up separate ads for each domain name and use identical ad text except for the different domain names. Run your campaign until a clear leader or leaders emerge. If you have several very close front runners, you might try changing the ad text a bit and run a new ad for the front runners again changing only the domain names.

Split testing potential domain names will:

• eliminate some of the stress (and potential procrastination) of picking the "perfect" domain name
• let you know which domain name your customers respond to the best
• increase your profits by selecting a domain name that is proven to drive more traffic to your website

Another variation would be to test conversion for each domain name name and use that option as your winner. Experiment a bit, and you'll be confident that you've made a good choice for your domain name.

Steven Hill works full-time in corporate finance and part-time in internet marketing and consulting.

Get more affiliate marketing and internet business tips on his blog at http://cliqpreneur.com/