Naming Your Online Directory

What's in a name?
 
Plenty! Your online directory domain name (or URL) is the foundation of your site. A person hearing your domain name should immediately understand what the site is about and ideally would be able to guess your URL when searching for that type of information.  Official movie websites rely on this principle--think of 'avatarmovie.com' and so on.
 
Great names for your directory site will include your subject (Chicago lawyers, Dallas restaurants, used baby clothes, etc.) plus a word or two meaning 'list of'.  'Directory' would be perfect.  Words like 'guide', 'hotlist', 'hotsheet', 'top ten' or whatever works for your topic would also be good choices.Your ideal domain name will be short, unique, easy to spell and remember, and will include your top keyword(s). Avoid substituting numbers for words (4-for, 2-to, etc.)
 
NEVER add a trademark, product or brand name to your URL: you won't be allowed to keep it.
 

Juice the caboose
 
For an online directory, especially in a competitive niche such as a big city business directory, a '.com' domain is your best bet. These sound more authoritative than '.net', '.info' or '.biz' and are likely to be in a searcher's first guess.
 
If the perfect domain name isn't available, try inserting a word like 'my', 'your', 'expert', 'Mikes' (if your name is Mike), 'best', 'top', or any other common descriptive word at the beginning of your URL. So if the dot-com for 'usedbabyclothes' is already taken, 'bestusedbabyclothes' dot-com may be available.
 
Adding dashes between words may solve the problem ('best-Dallas-restaurants'.) Or, if your niche has a nickname (such as Windy City for Chicago) that might work--but don't get too exotic: the less 'plain language' your domain name is, the more promotion it'll take to drive traffic.
 

Fries with that?
 
Should you buy the .net, .org, and .info versions of your domain?  Always good advice, especially if your niche is highly competitive. Otherwise someone may 'poach' your traffic by launching a similar domain.
 
Once you've found a good name, get it registered as soon as possible. There are plenty of registrars to choose from and prices vary so be sure to shop around.

Then it's time to look for web hosting (you don't have to host your site with your domain name registrar.)

Because webhosting costs, servers and capabilities can be quite different, it's important to know the details -ESPECIALLY if you've already purchased directory software. For more detailed information on how to find, register and host your perfect domain name, please visit DirectoryScriptReviews.com.


Kathee Muzin is a writer, editor and webmaster located in southern British Columbia.