Choosing a domain name

[Dinha]

Hello REW, My name is Dave and I am a friend of Morgan's here in Nanaimo and I am also a real estate agent. He suggested I come here to ask for some suggestions on choosing a domain name. Morgan is going to set up a website for me and the first place to start is the domain.

I am in Nanaimo, BC with Coast Realty

[Southern Investor]

You want something the speaks to what you do...

davesellsnanaimo.com is available.

If you can get a domain name with good keywords, you might consider taking two. In this case, your real site would be: dave-sells-nanaimo.com, but you would also buy davesellsnanaimo.com and have it forwarded to your site. The search engines will have an easier time finding the keywords that way. Be sure to use no more than two (2) dashes.

Or, go for cute and memorable, like...

muchmorenanaimo.com

for that matter, I think...

nanaimore.com

is my favorite. It plays off the name of the town...so it could mean more nanaimo or nanaimo RE (real estate).

The PROBLEM with these suggestions...

I began by focusing on the town I served, but found that was too limiting. Adjacent areas might actually resent my focus on the hip little town in which I'm centered. I ended up changing from hometownfairhope.com to hometownbaldwin.com...Baldwin being the name of the county in which I work. I kept hometownfairhope and use it to post historic photos of the town and direct people to my new site.

In short, look for anything that focuses on what you do and where you do it.

[webmaster]

We are a little different here Southern, we don't really focus on real estate outside of Nanaimo in the same way some US cities and realtors do. In terms of the hyphens, they do not help significantly any more in search engines so I would avoid dashes as they are bad for branding. I will be helping Dave with his SEO, so he won't need any dash help

I like the davesellsnanaimo.com easy to remember, makes sense I also like nanaimore.com (Sounds like Nani More) but I don't think it is obvious enough for the simple folks of our small town. Great advice so far guys keep it coming

[REW Christian]

currently available

nanaimohomesource.com
davedinh.com
harbourcityhome.com
hubcityhome.com
nanaimohomemarket.com
myhomenanaimo.com

[Memphis]

NanaimoDave.com ?

[Southern Investor]

You could always go with

mynanaimorealtor.com

bestnanaimorealtor.com

yournanaimo.com

or nanaimomove.com.

(Dare I suggest nanaimove.com?)

They're all available.

[Sam Dodd]

Stay away from anything with Realtor in it. NAR will make you take it down if someone complains.

[kid disco]

WhatsInNanaimo.com

Anybody else think that's as clever as I do?

[Memphis]

Stay away from anything with Realtor in it. NAR will make you take it down if someone complains.

That's not an entirely true statement. There are guidelines in what manner you can use it.

MemphisBestRealtor,com ----- inappropriate manner
EdPierceRealtor,com --------- appropriate

[Memphis]

Of course, they're in a separate country -- far, far away.