Finding an appropriate domain name is an important part of setting up and running an affiliate marketing business.
In this post, I will share how to find a domain name for affiliate marketing. I will look at how you can find the most effective available domain name and what to look for in a domain name registrar.
What is a Domain Name?
A domain name is a human-friendly method for reaching a website. Instead of remembering the IP address, an internet surfer can type in a domain name, such as www.sekihudson.com.
Why do you need a domain name as an affiliate marketer?
Many people ask me this. Why do I need a domain name if I am an affiliate marketer? Here are the three reasons you need to buy a domain name, even if you are an affiliate marketer.
You can create a brandable email address.
It is easier for your customers, readers, or viewers to recognize your emails if they have the same name as your brand.
They need to see that the email they get is related to that domain. This will give them another reason to open your email.
Here, I explain more about why you need a branded email.
You can use it to host your squeeze pages.
Most landing page builders will let you use a custom domain. This is where you can redirect a squeeze page to your domain.
Instead of having a landing page like https://sekihudson.systeme.io/freedom-business, you can set it up to redirect to https://sekihudson.com/the-roadmap/. The second link looks more friendly and professional.
You can create a blog.
You can install WordPress into your hosting account, and then you can redirect your domain name to point to your blog.
If you write and post quality and helpful content, a blog can generate enough traffic with time to get you leads and sales. It is one of the most important parts of my affiliate marketing portfolio.
Tips for choosing a good domain name for affiliate marketing.
When selecting the domain name for affiliate marketing, you should consider these three criteria.
It should be short.
Your domain name should be three words or fewer with a max of 20 characters, excluding “.com”); for example, makemoneywithpaul.com is not recommended, but successwithpaul.com is recommended.
Hint: The first has four words, while the second has three.
It should end with “.com.”
I recommend getting a domain name that ends with .com, the main reason for this is that if you have a brandable domain name and you tell someone about it, they will assume that it ends with .com and if someone else has that .dom extension you will be sending them a lot of free traffic.
If you can not get a .com, you can get a .net or .org but always try to find a .com first.
It shouldn’t be hyphenated.
So you figure out that your favorite domain is taken, do not use a hyphen. For example, if makemoneyonline.com is taken, do not go with make-money-online.com, this is bad for branding, and it looks spammy, you will lose a lot of potential customers for this, do not do it.
Make it easy to remember.
This is important, you are going to put a lot of effort to build your brand, and if it is very difficult to remember it will be very difficult to retain some visitors.
You want it to be easy for people to remember and type into their browsers without frequent misspelling incidents. It also seems more professional.
How to find and register a domain name for affiliate marketing.
The first step before you register a domain name is coming up with a good idea. How you do this is up to you – with a computer or pen and paper – to pick your favorite brainstorming method.
Three types of domain names.
For me, there are three types of domain names.
- Niche-related domain names.
- Arbitrary domain names.
- Using your name as a domain name.
Niche-related domain names.
These are the domain names that contain a keyword or a niche. When you tell someone your domain name, they can just figure out what your site is about without telling them anything.
For example, if I tell you that my domain name is rankrichly.com, you already know it is about how to rank content online.
If I tell you that my domain name is smartgasdetection.com, you know it is a blog about gas detection.
How do you find niche-related domain names?
The idea of niche-related domain names is that you have a niche included in your domain name, for example, If you are in the cooking niche here is what you can do.
- Use a name – Is cooking.com or cookingtips.com taken? You can go with saracookingtips.com.( if your name is Sara). This is a good domain name as it adds a personal touch. Just make sure it is easy to pronounce.
- Use a “the” – since cookingtips.com was taken, You can get thecookingtips.com. Facebook.com started as TheFacebook.com, so you’re in good company! Just check what sort of site is at the original (cookingtips.com) first. You might want to back off if it’s an established site with a strong brand. You should be good to go if it’s just someone squatting (there is no website at the moment).
- Use an adjective – Put a describing word at the start. How about bestcookingtips.com, smartcookingtips.com, etc?
If you can find a domain name that includes the keyword in it, it will be great, this is my recommended approach, but if you can not find anything like that keep reading.
Arbitrary domain names.
These are domain names that have nothing to do with the content in it. An excellent example of this is shoutmeloud.com, one of the most famous blogs in the blogging niche, but it does not include the word blogging.
This is a clear indication that the name does not matter that much. Just pick one and go on with it.
Using your name as a domain name.
If you can not find a domain name with a niche or an arbitrary word you can use as a domain name, go with your name.
A good example is this domain name, Seki Hudson. My domain name is sekihudson.com.
You do not have to spend much time on this. You can be the business and brand.
Again, the key is that the blog name should be easy to pronounce and short.
How to find a domain name using AI.
If you do not want to use your name or it is already taken, and you can not find a domain name, you can use AI. There are a lot of AI tools you can use to find your domain name.
I use ChatGPT from OpenAI to quickly find brandable domain names.
- go to https://openai.com/
- Use a simple prompt to get domain name suggestions
- Pick the domain name you want and see it it is available, if it is available, register it.
I use a simple prompt like Can you please suggest a brandable domain name for (niche).
Note: You do not have to tell a bot, please😂. I use that because it is the way I speak most of the time.
For example, I used the same prompt to find a domain name for my email marketing blog.
As the good bot suggests, you can pick a domain name you like. If you do not like any, type more, please, and it will give you another list. You can do this all day until you find the domain you want.
From the list above I picked SendStrategist.com, I think it is cool, I am going to register it.
Where can I buy a domain name?
When buying a domain name, you have two options: you can buy a domain name with hosting from the same company, or you can buy hosting and a domain name separately.
You can buy your domain name through your web host.
Most hosting companies will give you a free domain when you register. Some even give you a free domain for life.
This is a good deal, especially if you are starting. The main reason is that it can simplify things and save time and hurdles, as the company will set everything up for you.
The drawback to this is that in the future, if you want to leave the hosting company, most of them will take hostage of your domain name, even those who offer the free domain name for life.
The offer will end when you want to leave the hosting company, and the worst part of it is that some of them won’t release it, or they will charge you a lot of money for it.
Many hosting providers will offer special discounts on domain names or even offer you a free domain “for life.”
Buying your domain through the same company as you get your hosting can simplify things considerably if it’s your first time since the company will hook everything together for you.
You can also buy your domain name and hosting separately.
This is a good option if you want to be sure you have control over your domain names.
This requires a bit more work since you’ll need to manually point your domain at your hosting.
How to register a domain name with Namecheap.
I register all my domain names with Namecheap.
Step 1: To register your domain name, go to namecheap.com.
You will see a page like this.
Step 2: Type in the domain name you want to register and click search.
Step 3: Select the desired extension and click Add to Cart.
Step 4: Click the checkout button.
Step 5: At checkout, if you have a coupon code, you can add it and then click apply.
Note: If it is the first time you have bought a domain name, you can use the code NEWCOM598.
Step 6: After clicking confirm order, they will ask you either to log in if you have an account or to create a new account if you are new.
Step 7: You will see a pay button after logging in or creating a new account. Choose a payment method you like, and pay for your domain name.
Congratulations, you just registered your domain name.
If you want to install WordPress into your new blog, here is how.
Final words
So, that is how to find a domain name for affiliate marketing. I hope, at this point, you have a domain name and are ready to take your online business to the next level. Comment on your domain name below so that I can check it.