Here are three things to consider doing before you choose a domain name. This is solely based on my experience in creating Learn Like A Mom and truth be told, I’m still learning a lot and don’t know it all. Although there are experts online that can give you loads of advice and offer their know-how on the topic, I promised myself that I would blog about setting up this website when I got started, because I found myself on an unexpected learning curve. So, this is the first of many posts that will be addressing the topic.

Three Steps To Choosing A Domain Name

Step One: THINK!

Before even going online, THINK about the purpose of your site. Will you be offering services for hire? Will you be sharing ideas? Will you be documenting a trial in your personal or professional life over a course of time? As you explore your purpose, you’ll be developing the premise behind your work.

While sitting in a seminar, listening to L. Diane Wolfe provide me and others with valuable information about publishing and promoting books, two things jumped out at me. At some point in the seminar she said, “Everyone is an expert about something.” At another point, she said, “You don’t necessarily have to come up with a new idea, but just be willing to give your take on the idea.” (If you are interested in more from Diane, you can visit her site, Spunk on a Stick. She is a published author and owns Dancing Lemur Press. I purchased her book How to Publish and Promote Your Book Now! which I have yet to read all the way through…I got sidetracked with setting up this site! However, she is a walking resource of information and the book is full of steps to make things happen!)

If you would like to order her book, here’s a link to it!

If I had to choose my expertise, I would say it is teaching and working with young children. This is based on my college degrees and experience. Even though I’m not teaching in a classroom now, I’m still working with young children. They just happen to be my own and we’re at home. They’re also much younger. It’s completely different, but it still requires many of the skills I learned along the way.

The premise of Learn Like A Mom is that I’m still learning, even as I’m teaching. To get myself “out there” online, I decided that a mommy blog was the path for me. My audience would likely be other parents and other teachers. It’s not that teaching or parenting are new, but I can give my take on different aspects within each area. THINKING was only the first step to choosing this domain name!

Step Two: BRAINSTORM!

The second step in choosing a domain name is BRAINSTORMING. Sounds an awful lot like thinking, right? Well, in this step, you should brainstorm domain names. What should people type when they are going to your site? What should people say when they’re telling others about it? My advice: Keep it simple. Make it relevant.

Make a list of all the names that would make sense based on the premise you set up in step number one. When setting up this site, I had various domains with the following words in them: teaching, learning, parent, mom, teacher, kids, students, children, teach, and learn. All of these focus words centered around the premise I established during step one.

Say the entire domain name out loud. Is it easy to say? Is it easy to remember? Narrow down your list to the top five, but don’t discard your entire list until you have gone through the next step.

Step Three: VERIFY THAT IT IS AVAILABLE!

The third step is VERIFYING that the domain name isn’t already in use. Get online and use different search engines and search your choices. What appears in the search results that is similar? Do you want to be associated with that? Does your exact domain show up? If so, cross it off your list and go to the next one. You may go through your top five and find that none of them will work. That’s why you need to keep every domain you can think of until you zero in on “the one.”

Not only should you search for the domain, I think you should go even further. Before setting up this site, I got on Twitter, Pinterest, Google +, Instagram, and Facebook and typed it in there as well. I just wanted to see if Learn Like A Mom was anywhere out there already. Going even further won’t hurt. I also checked to see if it was trademarked already. This can be useful in the future…just in case you expand and become more than what you’re initially thinking your site might be. I recommend KnowEm. I didn’t use it for any of the paid services, but I did search various domain names through it, which is a free service. It checks if the domain is available or for sale and which social media sites are open under that name, and if the name is already trademarked or not. It does offer various profile plans, currently ranging from $69.95-$649.

So, to recap, when you’re deciding on a domain name, THINK about your purpose, BRAINSTORM domain names that are simple and relavent, and VERIFY that they are available…not only on the Web, but also on social media and possibly available for trademarking.

Can you think of another step that might help someone choose a domain name?

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. This means that if you click through and make a purchase, you put a little bit of money into my pocket. However, as always, the opinions stated here are my own!