Even though just about any kind of name would work for a forum here's my argument why the domain name is particularly important when it comes to FORUMS.
Although just about any name will work on the internet - even crazy names like Google and Yahoo
- some names will work better than others. What you name a new forum is THE FIRST and one of your most important decisions you will face.
Why are forum domains so important? I would argue that it is even more important than a domain name for a regular website simply because forums are interactive. They go way beyond personal preference. They are a "club" in a sense. Visitors will be members and people want to be a member of something that sounds good, sounds cool, sounds right, is fun AND most important of all - relevant.
Here are 10 important factors to consider when choosing a Forum domain.
These are qualities that a good domain name should possess but it does NOT need them all. A great domain name might only really fulfill ONE of these 10 qualities but fill it well. Generally speaking however, you want your domain name to at least hit the radar of these qualities.
1 -The most important is that the name you choose is a .com TLD. (Top Level Domain). You might want to also register the .net and or .org version of your domain idea if you are sure that the name is a winner. Otherwise wait a few months and do your "defensive registration" later. If you want your forum to be limited/associated with your country get the country code along with the .com domain. Registering the other TLDs is not important. It wouldn't even be all that bad if someone else developed the other TLD versions of your .com since that would actually feed you traffic from people who only type in name-part of the domain name. (since most browsers in most countries will automatically shoot an address bar entry without the TLD to the .com site)
2 - The second most important factor is that the domain is relevant to what the forum is about. It should simply make sense. It will make for easier promotion and faster communication.
Beyond this point not in order of importance:
3 - Having the keyword in the domain name is a good thing for seo (search engine optimization) reasons. Each time a site will link to your site it would be automatically a keyword link which would add to your site ranking higher on most SERPs. (search engine result pages). So if "Smoking" is important your forum then at least try to come up with a domain that includes the word smoking.
4 - Especially important for forums domain is that the name is inviting and "cool". Something that people would want to be associated with. HOW-TO START-SMOKING-NOW-FORUM.com is a great name for search engines but not that great of a community name.
5 - Shorter is always better in Domains. Eventually you will keyboard type-in traffic through your offline marketing efforts and word of mouth. The shorter your domain is, the easier is it to remember and to type in correctly.
6 - It should be new and unique which will make it memorable. This can often clash with your keyword objection but a memorable and fresh name will set you apart and serve you well down the road when your forum will be talked about and mentioned in the news etc.
7 - It should in some way say or imply community - Some of the biggest forums don't have any FORUM description word in them at all. It is not required at all but it can help you communicate that your site is an interactive forum and can also help you with "keyword" in domain name. When people search specifically for forums they typically use words like Forum or Community. You may also use other forum describing words such as TALK, chat, Discussion. Community words such as Town, Village, Tribe, Group, Club can also work well. Action words that tell people there is somegoing going on can be good too such as: Live, Action, 247
(we will make another thread on various forum "HUB" & forum category words)
8 - It should be mistake safe. For example the great Forum watchdog site Big-Boards.com is Not very mistake safe. Just about everytime I need to check it I end up at a parked site such as BigBoards.com or Big-Board.com. Pay attention to grammar issues such as singular or plural and possessive versions. Also don't settle for a dash domain unless you can also secure (regisyer) the without dash version. For future growth you may also keep an eye on easy-to-make misspelling versions and be ready to register them after a while. Better yet, avoid hard to spell words alltogether.
9 - Your domain should have a "click-curiosity" factor. These are names that just begs to be clicked on. Like TheRichJerk.com
10 - It should make YOU happy. In the end this is the most important factor. If you don't like the domain name chances are other people won't like it either. If you don't absolutely love your domain name you won't be happy talking about your forum at parties, printing business cards and t- shirts.
The domain stage is the most fun part fo the whole project. It's also the one that will have the most long term implications on your business. Unless you will have a forum completely supporting a product or service - stay away from Trademarks. Even How-to-use-adobe-software-forum might be ordered to be shut down with just one legal form letter.
Good luck and HAVE FUN with it.
Although just about any name will work on the internet - even crazy names like Google and Yahoo
- some names will work better than others. What you name a new forum is THE FIRST and one of your most important decisions you will face.Why are forum domains so important? I would argue that it is even more important than a domain name for a regular website simply because forums are interactive. They go way beyond personal preference. They are a "club" in a sense. Visitors will be members and people want to be a member of something that sounds good, sounds cool, sounds right, is fun AND most important of all - relevant.
Here are 10 important factors to consider when choosing a Forum domain.
These are qualities that a good domain name should possess but it does NOT need them all. A great domain name might only really fulfill ONE of these 10 qualities but fill it well. Generally speaking however, you want your domain name to at least hit the radar of these qualities.
1 -The most important is that the name you choose is a .com TLD. (Top Level Domain). You might want to also register the .net and or .org version of your domain idea if you are sure that the name is a winner. Otherwise wait a few months and do your "defensive registration" later. If you want your forum to be limited/associated with your country get the country code along with the .com domain. Registering the other TLDs is not important. It wouldn't even be all that bad if someone else developed the other TLD versions of your .com since that would actually feed you traffic from people who only type in name-part of the domain name. (since most browsers in most countries will automatically shoot an address bar entry without the TLD to the .com site)
2 - The second most important factor is that the domain is relevant to what the forum is about. It should simply make sense. It will make for easier promotion and faster communication.
Beyond this point not in order of importance:
3 - Having the keyword in the domain name is a good thing for seo (search engine optimization) reasons. Each time a site will link to your site it would be automatically a keyword link which would add to your site ranking higher on most SERPs. (search engine result pages). So if "Smoking" is important your forum then at least try to come up with a domain that includes the word smoking.
4 - Especially important for forums domain is that the name is inviting and "cool". Something that people would want to be associated with. HOW-TO START-SMOKING-NOW-FORUM.com is a great name for search engines but not that great of a community name.
5 - Shorter is always better in Domains. Eventually you will keyboard type-in traffic through your offline marketing efforts and word of mouth. The shorter your domain is, the easier is it to remember and to type in correctly.
6 - It should be new and unique which will make it memorable. This can often clash with your keyword objection but a memorable and fresh name will set you apart and serve you well down the road when your forum will be talked about and mentioned in the news etc.
7 - It should in some way say or imply community - Some of the biggest forums don't have any FORUM description word in them at all. It is not required at all but it can help you communicate that your site is an interactive forum and can also help you with "keyword" in domain name. When people search specifically for forums they typically use words like Forum or Community. You may also use other forum describing words such as TALK, chat, Discussion. Community words such as Town, Village, Tribe, Group, Club can also work well. Action words that tell people there is somegoing going on can be good too such as: Live, Action, 247
(we will make another thread on various forum "HUB" & forum category words)
8 - It should be mistake safe. For example the great Forum watchdog site Big-Boards.com is Not very mistake safe. Just about everytime I need to check it I end up at a parked site such as BigBoards.com or Big-Board.com. Pay attention to grammar issues such as singular or plural and possessive versions. Also don't settle for a dash domain unless you can also secure (regisyer) the without dash version. For future growth you may also keep an eye on easy-to-make misspelling versions and be ready to register them after a while. Better yet, avoid hard to spell words alltogether.
9 - Your domain should have a "click-curiosity" factor. These are names that just begs to be clicked on. Like TheRichJerk.com
10 - It should make YOU happy. In the end this is the most important factor. If you don't like the domain name chances are other people won't like it either. If you don't absolutely love your domain name you won't be happy talking about your forum at parties, printing business cards and t- shirts.
The domain stage is the most fun part fo the whole project. It's also the one that will have the most long term implications on your business. Unless you will have a forum completely supporting a product or service - stay away from Trademarks. Even How-to-use-adobe-software-forum might be ordered to be shut down with just one legal form letter.
Good luck and HAVE FUN with it.
