Which Domain Name?

Or TLD?

[stu2]

I've had an idea for a website burning in the back of my head for a couple of years. It's not unique. The keyword search in Google is 27.5 million and Overture has just under 40,000. There is 1 two word phrase with about 100% more searches, and a large number of two word phrases with substantial searches below it.

I intend to put about 1000 item database and other relevant info on the site with options for visiting members (free to join) to add more entries and rate the entries, rather like a recipe portal. Have a forum for discussions.

Needless to say, just about all TLDs are taken for the single and plural keyword and I've had a hard time trying to find a two keyword combination which is unregistered. A lot of these domains, even the not very good ones, are parked and for sale in the high hundreds or low thousands. Even prefixes like i, e, my, our, the, are all taken.

A registrar offered me, keywords.ws and NEWkeywords.com as unregistered. The plural is more relevant than the singular. I registered both. I've also made inquiry about a two keyword .com name which isn't being offered for sale (which would be my preferred domain name). The NEWkeywords.com is an option except it's not very descriptive of the site, which will contain both old and new information. Mostly old. It's not intended to be a cutting edge website.

So. The question is. Where should I put my site? keywords.ws or NEWkeywords.com. Any other suggestions welcome. I'd be quite happy to start off with 1 domain and switch should I acquire a better domain at a later date. I'd just like to get the site up 'n running. If the domain name works then, no problem either.

Another idea might be to acquire some other domain and brand it to my site, or something relevant to my content and use the keyword as a subdomain. I doubt if I'll ever appear high in the search engine rankings. So, probably it's expected to grow by word of mouth only.

Confused.

[Corey Bryant]

If you can get the .com - that would probably be better because people usually take the .com for granted and enter that in before any other domain name (depending on the country).

-Corey

[stu2]

Thanks Corey. Ok. I found a couple of other 2 word domains unregistered. Just trying to be creative. One was keywordword1.com which is an alliteration, kinda catchy and memorable, and the phrase is very occasionally used together, and another was keywordsword2.com, also occasionally used together but a bit awkward and more commonly used as the singular phrase, keywordword2. Although my preference would be to use the plural keyword in the domain name (because it's the more common usage and the topic is about multiple items), I think I'm going to go with the alliteration unless I'm able to buy my preferred domain I've inquired about, which was a considerably better alliteration than the one I have now, and uses the plural. Neither of these domain names has significant (or any) Overture scores and less than 1000 Google search results, but both are using 2 generic words which find occasional use together in the language, and the alliteration is clearly brandable. Not maybe as good as most of the 2 word generics found in the Overture results maybe, but still probably good enough for my purposes.

Thanks for listening :) The subject is not closed. I'm still open to further observations and comments.

[jtara]

Does this depend on type-ins for success?

Once you get away from type-ins, you can still get very short, memorable, relevant domain names if you are creative. I think you are getting the idea in your latest post.

When I say "type-ins", I guess really I mean "blind type-ins". That is, somebody just taking a guess that there might be something useful at <keyword>.com. If you can't get this, it is still important to have something that people will remember and type-in the next time they visit. Some people just don't do bookmarks, and repeated search is risky, as they might not find you the next time.

It's unlikely that all the relevant or compatible prefixes and suffixes are taken.

[stu2]

Thanks jtara. I'm in agreement with what you say. I just found a very nice 8 char domain, catchy and memorable. Related to my subject matter in a "parent" kind of way. It doesn't contain the keyword I want (which is 9 chars all by itself without a second word added). I could very easily use it for this site or just hold it until another project to come along.

I really would prefer to use the keyword I want in the domain for relevancy and memorable purposes. I've had a "bite" from the owner of my preferred name also, so it'll be interesting to see how that pans out. They regged the domain but aren't using it for their business. It's kinda related to part of their business but not entirely relevant. They appear to be a thriving business, so it's still not clear yet whether we will be able to agree on a price.

I guess once we (them and me) come to a conclusion as to whether that domain is within my reach I'll make a decision about which of the domains I'll use. If I can't get that one, I'll probably now use this 8 char domain. I'll just redirect all the other domains I've acquired for this project to that domain :) Until that time, I'm still looking :)

[stu2]

Interesting that nobody thinks I could or should use the exact keyword I want in the .ws tld. Well, I know nobody types in the .ws extension and I'm not really having expectations of reaching high in the serps. So it makes sense. It appears the ONLY way to go is to get a .com and hope for the best in the somewhat overcrowded space (even if most of the ovt results are only being parked). Memorable .com (and as relevant as I can get) is the way to go.

[stu2]

Hehe. I just took the 4th largest ovt result (18k) for my keyword, reversed the words and made it plural, and I just got myself another very nice domain name. I'm beginning to enjoy this domain search too much :)

[stu2]

Well, I said at the outset, that this wasn't a unique idea. I just found in the serps (on page 9), the exact plural keyword (I have in the .ws tld) on the .nu tld (in english), doing exactly the idea I'd intended. Judging by the forums, it isn't getting many visitors. So, I think this is proof that these exotic tlds are a crock. It's also given me renewed hope that I might be able to do better than expected in the serps.

[stu2]

Ok. They don't want to sell my preferred name. So I've decided to go with the reversed keywords pluralised name since it has the plural keyword I so desire in the name. It's a nice name. I'll keep the 8 char domain for another project and almost certainly link it to my new name.

There is one doubt in my mind however. The reversed keywords pluralised name is a brand new registration, whereas the 8 char domain has been regged since 1999. Looks like I'm going to have to wait out the sandbox :(