As a web developer I am always faced with problems some of my clients face with making their websites profitable. Over the next few posts I will address some of the issues and mistakes that are made.

The first issue is the domain name. Whether I am selling a turnkey website or helping a client develop a new site, the first factor to a site’s ultimate success is the domain name.

Everytime I find a domain name that I think is great and am surprised that it has not been taken, the first place I go to is the Internet Archive and use their “WayBackMachine". Just enter in the URL you are considering buying.

If the URL existed previously, the Internet Archive will be able to show you what type of web site it was. If it was a site that you don’t want to be associated with, for example a porn site, you may want to reconsider purchasing that domain name.

Here is my list of “must have’s” for a domain name:
1. It must be a dot com. Even after all of these years, people think dot com.
2. Does it spell like it sounds? This domain - ProfitableDomains.com does. Where you can get in to trouble is when using numbers or the word “to". Occassionally you see something like - Baskets2Go.com. That was registered probably because BasketsToGo.com was taken. If there is more than one spelling for the word, make sure the spelling you’re using is the common one.
3. No more than 2 words. Had ProfitableDomains.com not been available, I would have looked for another 2 word combination and not have registered ProfitableDomainNames.com
4. Avoid hyphens. I want to be able to say ProfitableDomains.com, not Profitable hyphen domains.com. If the person is having to remember the domain name, chances are they are not going to remember the hyphen.
5. No abbreviations. I never would have registered ProfDomains.com or ProfitableDoms.com

There are exceptions. I developed a web site for a miniature golf association. I recommended they register both MiniatureGolfNetwork.com & MiniGolfNetwork.com, since mini golf is a common reference to minature golf.

Look at the domain name when you spell it out. Does it look as good as it sounds? How does it sound? Can it be remembered if someone just hears it? This is reason you don’t want to do uncommon spellings or replacing numbers for letters.

From my years of experience with this, I have stuck by these rules to insure the people who want to get to my sites arrive and do not get rerouted to the competition.