HOW TO find the right name

techtimmy · May 22, 2009

Noob question here,

I was messing around (read wasting my time) trying to find some amazing domain names to reg.

I was looking at (this is just an random example ) dog walking.

I could reg something like howtowalkdogs.com and howtocleandogsteeth.com and countless other howto'insertword'dogs.com

What about just cutting all that out and regging howtodogs.com and having loads of pages on the site each titled how to 'insertword' dogs.

How do the search engines deal with that. Is it an effective strategy?

PS on a lighter not i though i hit gold. Godaddy told me vacuums.co.uk,vacuum.co.uk,vacuumcleaners.co.uk,vacuumcleaner.co.uk were all available to reg. I crapped my pants, went to buy them and it turned out they were already regged ages ago. Damn you Godaddy

retired_member12 · May 22, 2009

Try 'howtodog.com' you will definately get traffic with that one!

crabfoot · May 23, 2009

With "howto", sometimes it counts as a keyword, sometime it parses down to "how to" and the "to" gets ignored. Sometimes its a useful idea to register a name and find out.

When you get a few sites going, you get free access to tools provided by the domain registrar, site hosts, and advertising providers, which give you info on keywords, and ideas for new domain names start to flow naturally.

The more sites you set up, the easier it is to get info and the easier it is to judge what is likely to be a good idea.

techtimmy · May 23, 2009

Yeah, i spose I should just buy the names I have in mind and see what happens. Best to learn through experience.

I'm fairly new to the scene so its tough resisting buying every interesting name I come across. I seem to be spending way too much time searching for that elusive golden domain name. Addicted :twisted:

miked · May 23, 2009

techtimmy said:
I'm fairly new to the scene so its tough resisting buying every interesting name I come across.

I think we've all been there at some point! One of the hard lessons I've learned is that the names I bought on a whim after thinking 'that looks cool' almost always turned out to be duds.

Whatever you're thinking of buying, take a deep breath, put it on hold and do some proper research. Then you'll have a much better idea of if your prospective domain is gold or just fools' gold...

Mike.

joned · May 23, 2009

Some advice I wish I'd seen before I spent a bucketload on rubbish domain names - read this forum (and other domain forums) religiously for at least a month before spending anything!

HTH

Cheers, Jon

dtm · May 23, 2009

Hello there,

This may be of some use:
Domain Score - DomainScore

resellerorder · May 26, 2009

have you fixed up with it?

techtimmy · May 26, 2009

Thanks dtm, useful data.

Cheers for all the advice as well guys. I've only got about 10 domains so far of which 5 I am developing. The other 5 I bought in a fit of excitement and can see they are lame. At least i didnt buy 500!

crabfoot · May 26, 2009

Well, perhaps the "lame" ones have possibilities that you can't see. Sometimes I find it difficult to see potential in a name, then someone else comes along and suggests a way forward that I could never dream of. No harm in posting them and asking if anyone can see a way forward ... lots of people do just that.

techtimmy · May 27, 2009

Well i bought 3 Wii .co.uk based domains. wiilife co uk, wiiart co uk, wiipaint co uk

I thought i'd be quids in if a decent wii painting game came out but nothing looks like happening. They're not generics but I though I could just buy any clever sounding name and make money from them.

A better domain i'm developing is RC Drift Cars just to give you an example of where i'm at.

cc976a · May 27, 2009

techtimmy said:
Well i bought 3 Wii .co.uk based domains. wiilife co uk, wiiart co uk, wiipaint co uk

I thought i'd be quids in if a decent wii painting game came out but nothing looks like happening. They're not generics but I though I could just buy any clever sounding name and make money from them.

A better domain i'm developing is RC Drift Cars just to give you an example of where i'm at.

It's a nice Wordpress theme - RC Drift Cars gets around 3,000 searches a month (without variations) and you have the .co.uk so good start!

I'd worry about the wii domains though - these would be trademarked and if Wii did release a paint game they may be after the name for themselves!

crabfoot · May 27, 2009

Well, there's reasoned thinking behind those choices - and I think you might get some traffic on a couple - you could review anything Wii connected on wiilife co uk, and perhaps discuss game techniques, cheats and dodges on wiiart co uk - art can mean crafty, y'know.

Mind you, I know naff all about Wii. My experience is limited to one game of Wii bowling on holiday last year ... hope that helps.