Archive for the ‘Domain Names’ Category
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This is a 3 column fixed width theme with sidebars on each side.
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Choosing a New Domain Name Part 2
It’s so important to check the domain name first because the great name you thought of will likely already be taken.
For example, if I wanted to create a site called freewordpressthemes, I couldn’t do it because somebody else is using that name already.
There’s something else you need to do as well, and that is to use an ordinary search engine like Google or, my favourite, Ixquick, and type the name that you’re hoping to use into the search engine and see what comes up.
The reason for this is that you may find many sites which don’t have a domain name as such but do use the words in their titles.
This particularly applies to people who have sites on wordpress.com, for example, which will give you a wordpress domain name but it might be like the one you want to use.
And this applies to Blogger and Flikr and other sites where people can come up with titles and user names that don’t have to be registered.
The only requirement is that they’re not being used by anyone else on that particular site.
It’s my experience that once you’ve done this you may feel a little bit depressed.
You’ll think that, depending on the niche that you’re interested in, that all the good names have already gone.
There’s one more point when you’re searching and that is to think of SEO – Search Engine Optimization.
It will be a real help to you if you can think of a domain name which will identify your niche so that when people search, it’s your site that comes on the first page.
As an example, typing “Bulgarian Stock photos” into the new Bing Search Engine gives this result:
Which means that for the key phrase bulgarian stockphotos my site is first out of 471,000
A search for these terms gives a similar result.
stock photos of bulgaria
stockphotos of bulgaria
bulgarian stockphotos
That’s not too bad.
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This is a three column fixed width theme with a two columns on the right.
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Theme is coded with clean XHTML.
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Use Your Name as a Domain Name Part 1
So, what’s in a name?
One of the obvious ideas when you want to choose a domain name for your website is to use your own name or to incorporate your name.
And this is something very common with photographers.
They want to have their name as a brand but, even here there can be problems.
Just take a look around you today and you’ll see that some quite ordinary names are brand names of a kind that you wouldn’t want.
Supposing your name is Flora?
Well it’s easy to see what happens.
You’ll go into a search engine type in the word Flora and instead of sites about flowers or books about village life, you’re likely to get another product altogether.
The same applies if you’re called John Smith for example.
And even if you have a certain occupation the results can be unhelpful.
For me a “Private Eye” means Philip Marlowe and others like him.
The Search engine may suggest a different view.
So, what is there to be done about this?
Well, it’s a big problem because it’s very difficult to predict the future.
You want to establish a brand.
Search engines take your domain name more seriously the longer it’s
established.
This is one of the facts of SEO (Search Engine Optimization).
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A Free WordPress Theme with a black background.
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This is a three column fixed width theme with columns on the right.
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Theme is coded with clean XHTML
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Choosing a Domain Name – Your Name?
How about using your own name or a variation?
There must be some good points … and bad ones maybe …
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Free WordPress Theme 5.
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This is a three column fixed width theme with column on the left and right.
You can use widgets.
Theme is coded with clean XHTML
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Choosing a Domain Name – initial thoughts
I imagine that if you’re interested in free themes it’s because you’re interested in starting a self-hosted blog or because you’ve already started.
If you’ve already started you’ve probably already chosen your domain name and in a way it’s too late.
Good luck with your choice.
Still, you might be planning other blogs or you might not have started.
It’s really a good idea to think of some things before you start and, in my view, a domain name needs careful thought.
Why? Well it’s simple really.
Your domain name is your brand, your identity – it’s your presence on the web.
If you want people to read your blog, they’ll have to find you.
They’ll normally use a Search Engine.
There are other ways of getting your name known but Search Engines are pretty important.
This means you’ll have to find out, with the millions of new blogs produced every day, how people are going to find out about yours.
If you look at the name of this site – freethemesplus – you’ll see now why there is a plus in it.
The plus is because although this site is about free themes I think that there are some other related things that are worth thinking about which could be part of the plus.
So it could be plus:
Choosing, using and buying Domain names
Plus:
Choosing a reliable Web Host
Plus:
Making your site Search Engine Friendly what is known as SEO or Search Engine Optimization
Plus:
How to change the colour or design of your theme or how to design your theme yourself.
Now I’m not an expert on any of these matters but I have been a site owner and a blogger for some years so I feel I’ve got a few tips to pass on.
So what about Domain Names?
I think if you look around the web you’ll see that there are really two approaches.
One is to use a Domain Name based on your own name or personal identity.
The other is to choose a name which you think gives a good idea what your blog is about, what makes it unique or different and hopefully, is just catchy.
Let’s look at some of these points in some coming posts.
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Free WordPress Theme 4.
Theme Details:
This is a two column fixed width theme with the column on the right hand
side.
You can use widgets.
Theme is coded with clean XHTML
For a larger image of this free WordPress theme, click here
If you want to make the best of your WordPress Theme, it’s never too early to think of a good Domain Name. This is going to be your brand for the coming years.
How can we choose and use a Domain Name and where shall we put our hard earned money down?
