A domain name is how your website will be known online, no matter what type of website you’ll have. It is the unique address of your site on the internet and it will be yours as long as you continue paying the annual fee. Users who know your domain, technically referred to as a URL (uniform resource locator) can simply type it in their browser’s address bar, and be taken there. Others will be able to discover your blog through search engines such as Google and Bing.

Domain name extension
When you choose a domain name, one of your choices will be what domain extension or Top Level Domain (TLD) extension to use. There are hundreds of top level domains from which to choose. Here is the breakdown of the most popular ones.

The original top level domains (TLDs) include: .com, .net, .org, .int, .gov, .edu, and .mil. Only some of them are available for general use, and .com is far and away the most important.

Many country code top level domains (ccTLDs) exist, including: .com.ng and .ng (Nigeria), .au (Australia), .jp (Japan), .ph (Philippines),.cn (China), .in (India), and .uk (United Kingdom).

There are also topic specific generic top level domains (gTLDs), though their use has yet to catch on widely, including: .store, .accountants, .agency, .business, .city, .digital, .photography, and .social.

Tips for Finding the Perfect .com Domain Name
Getting the perfect domain name requires a mix of flexibility and creativity.

So you’ve decided that you want a domain name, congrats!

If you’re smart (and I know you are), your first instinct is probably to register your domain name with a .com extension. With nearly 30 years of top-tier news, entertainment and businesses associated with .com, it has become one of the most versatile, trusted and recognizable domain name extensions around the world. Many fortune 500 company and many of the top startups have .com domain names. And domain and branding experts agree that a .com domain name is preferred over other domain names.

So how can you take advantage of the reliability and instant recognition that .com can offer? There are many ways to find available .com domain names. Below are tips that can help lead you to several great .com options to register today.

Use modifiers. If your initial idea for a domain name is taken, like mine was, consider adding a modifier. For instance, a domain like TheJeannieMcPherson.com was selected by someone and actually make it look better. If the domain name is for your business, consider adding words that describe what you do, or the make-up of your company; like construction, dentistry, partners or associates. The possibilities are endless.

Include your location. Many businesses today are locally operated and serve specific geographic areas. Including this information in your domain name can help make your website more locally relevant for search and also can show your community pride. A great example is a Nigeria, NG.-based mattress company that registered several location-based .com domain names and realized an increase in business from organic searches alone.

Add keywords. Recent research from Verisign and comScore revealed that having a keyword-rich domain name can help with getting more clicks. That’s because Internet search users are almost twice as likely to click on a keyword-rich domain name that includes at least one of their search terms, compared to a domain name that does not contain any of the keywords.

Come up with a unique way to describe or brand your business. Plenty of successful companies have come up with unique names by adding or removing a letter from a common word, like Tumblr; by combining two common words or merging two words into one, like Facebook and Instagram; or by using a common word in a new context, like Yahoo. Getting a little creative can open up a lot of options for great available .com domain names that can help you stand out. That’s what Creative Agency, InkHouse, and electronic signature company, Docusign, did.

Ask: What would a customer type into a browser to find my business? For example, a Boston-based home repair business name might be “McPherson and Sons,” but a domain name to market that business could be “bostonhomerepairservices.com,” an easier to remember phrase that people will likely search for and that ties back to the business.

Use an acronym. Companies like AOL, IBM and BMW all use acronyms in their brands and their domain names. You can also abbreviate states, countries and professions in your domain name, for example: NYC, USA, UK, NG and CPA.

Use your social media handle. Many people and businesses start their digital journey on social media. Why not use the same branding your audience is already familiar with as your .com domain name. You can point the domain name to your website or the corresponding social media page, like

Use a domain name suggestion tool. Verisign’s DomainScope combines many of the above tips into one tool to provide available domain name options. All you need to do is type in keywords of interest and a list of relevant options is automatically generated for you to choose from. You can also use the tool to find recently expired domain names that are newly available and may be already receiving traffic. Alternatively, you can also try www.leandomainsearch.com generate outstanding new names by just entering a word you want the domain to contain.

Getting the perfect domain name requires a mix of flexibility and creativity. By using the tips above, you’ll be well on your way. Finding the .com domain name that is right for you can be an important step in telling your story, or the story of your business. Because .com is one of the most trusted domain name extensions, it can help show the world your website is one of trust and reliability.

Domain name structure
domain example
Prefix – an internet application protocol of your domain (http: – standard, https: – secured).
Subdomain – the third level domain of your website name (some sites use “www” some not).
Name – the second level domain of the website, picked by the person registering the domain.
Extension – the top level domain can be picked for the variety of available choices.

Tip: There are ways to create a website that allow you bypass having your own domain, and instead go with – yourname.someplatform.com. For example, Blogger offers a hosted version of their service where you can be yourname.blogspot.com. With this option, you’re being controlled by the blogging platform you are on, which isn’t the best of the option.

Owning your domain name is an important part of your success online. In an ideal world, you will own sites associated with your brand before it has strong public recognition. This reduces the risk that someone else will buy the name, forcing you to purchase it for a great deal more than a few dollars. If your brand is well established, you may need to be a little more creative in coming up with an alternative domain name, if the obvious choices aren’t available.

Our recommended domain registrar and web hosting provider is ediarohost.com, which is able to provide a special offer for our visitors.

Choose a unique name
If you are marketing yourself, ideally you’ll be able to use your first and last names (lindaikeji.com or oluobafemi.com). Even if you aren’t marketing yourself, it’s not a bad idea to register your name as a domain now, in case you want to use it in the future. If you are marketing your business, you should see if your business name (yourbusiness.com) is available.

Using a search engine like Google, search for your proposed blog or website name. Does your search show any sites with similar domain names? If it does, try a different name. Giving your website a name that’s similar to other existing sites is the first step to failure. Also, don’t choose names that are plural or misspelled versions of existing sites.

Brainstorm
Pick at least five words or phrases that describe the key topic of your website. Write them down, then mix and match the words to create possible domain names. Choose one that sounds good and will be memorable.

There’s a rule in advertising that says when launching a new product, you need to start by making a list of ten names. The first three are easy. Maybe you can do five or six without breaking a sweat, but by the time you get to last one, you’ll be stuck for more ideas. Using the outline described above, choose the best one from your list and you are on your way. Don’t be afraid to ask some friends what they like. That’s the best way to help choose your domain name!

Make it easy to type
If you have to spell out your domain name more than once for it to be understood, then it won’t work. Keep the name simple to remember and easy to enter in an address bar or search field.

Why is simplicity important? Because you don’t want your future visitors to incorrectly type in your name and be directed to a different site. A classic example is the popular social media site, Flickr.com, introduced in 2005. Four years later, the company had to acquire Flicker.com for a large sum of money in order to redirect the many visitors who misspelled their name. If you’re determined to have that oddly spelled name, make sure common misspellings are also available so you can register them and redirect visitors to the main domain.

Choose “.com” first
Up to 75% of all websites are “.com” domains. It is still the preferred extension and the easiest to remember. If your number one name choice isn’t available, then try your second choice before accepting other TLDs. Remember that some browsers accept address-only entries in their address bar. If you type just the domain name (and who knows how many of your users will just do that?) they will return, by default, to the “.com” site.

Make it brandable
Your domain name will be your brand. Some names speak for themselves. When you hear the name, you know what the website is about. Take a look at Top 100 blogs by DailyTekk, and you’ll see that most popular websites have brandable names.

Shorter is always better
As we’ve been saying, shorter is better. If you can’t get your domain name down to one memorable word (almost impossible to come by these days), then consider adding one or maximum two more words. Combinations of two words work great for the memorable names like LifeHacker.com or GeekSquad.com. Also, don’t use an acronym. People will never remember the letters unless it’s a highly catchy name.

Avoid trademark problems
Once you’ve decided on your top choices for your site name, make sure you are not violating anyone’s trademarks. To check within your country trademark database and do the search before you register the name. It is always good to check now because this could kill a great website and business down the road. Also, if you are going to include some big name product, such as Twitter or Facebook, review their terms and conditions. Most will not allow you to use their name in any part of your domain.

No numbers or hyphens
Numbers and hyphens (especially hyphens) cause confusion. Stay away from them at all costs. Even something as clever as the number1website.com will cause confusion. Make the name speak for itself.

Beware of trends
Anything that deals with something trendy will, like the trend, fade away. Stick with a classic name that will span the generations and not be tied down to a trend or fad. Deciding whether something is a trend or here to stay, is a matter of personal judgment, but it’s usually not too hard to tell.

Marry your domain name
It sounds odd, but you have to be absolutely sure you love your domain name. Once it’s set, you have it for years to come. If you decide later to rename it, then you will lose time, money, branding, and rankings. We do not recommend changing your domain once your blog has been live for any considerable amount of time.

Check social networks
Before you register your desired domain name, it’s always a good idea to check social networks for the same name. To keep your site name constant and to build your brand, you want a name that is readily available. For example: check facebook.com/yourdomain, twitter.com/yourdomain – and secure them as well. KnowEm is a great tool to use to see if certain names are already branded on social platforms.

Domain name extension
When you choose a domain name, one of your choices will be what domain extension or Top Level Domain (TLD) extension to use. There are hundreds of top level domains from which to choose. Here is the breakdown of the most popular ones.

The original top level domains (TLDs) include: .com, .net, .org, .int, .gov, .edu, and .mil. Only some of them are available for general use, and .com is far and away the most important.

Many country code top level domains (ccTLDs) exist, including: .com.ng(Nigeria), .au (Australia), .cn (China), .in (India), .jp (Japan), .ph (Philippines), and .uk (United Kingdom).

There are also topic specific generic top level domains (gTLDs), though their use has yet to catch on widely, including: .store, .accountants, .agency, .business, .city, .digital, .photography, and .social.

Common words that go well with your main keyword
The words on this list are good all-purpose options and tend to work well in a lot of different situations and for a lot of different types of websites.

alley
annex
avenue
barn
base
box
cafe
center
central
city
clan
club
community
connection
corner
crib
den
depot
destination
district
dynasty
empire
factory
garage
garden
harbor
haven
hideout
house
hut
joint
junction
kingdom
lobby
loft
lounge
monarchy
nation
network
nexus
nook
oasis
office
pad
palace
parlor
place
point
portal
post
realm
republic
sanctuary
shack
shed
shelter
society
spot
station
store
street
terminal
territory
town
tribe
union
universe
valley
venture
village
vine
warehouse
world
yard
zone

Powerful words that create emotion
The words have a bit of a different feel than our first set of words and these are actually the ones that I use the most for my own sites.

beat
blast
blaze
blitz
buzz
craze
ecstasy
fever
fire
flow
focus
frenzy
fun
fury
fuse
fusion
heat
joy
madness
mania
passion
pulse
roar
rush
storm
voice
zeal

Factory-oriented words
The words on this list can be used in situations where you want to brand the site as factory of content or products.

factory
foundry
gallery
lab
mill
plant
studio
workshop

Heavenly ideas
Use any of these words to brand your site as a paradise for people in your niche.

bliss
destiny
eden
heaven
nirvana
paradise
perfection
utopia
wonderland

Adjectives and descriptive words
Another great way to find a good domain is to use a descriptive word along with one of your main keywords.

awesome
basic
beautiful
best
bold
brilliant
chic
clasic
clever
cool
crazed
crazy
divine
elegant
essential
exclusive
extreme
famous
fast
first
holy
insane
inspired
key
luxury
mad
modern
popular
posh
prime
prodigy
righteous
savvy
sleek
smart
successful
super
swank
top
trendy
ultimate
unique
vital
vogue
wild
wise
worthy

Words that imply authority
It’s possible to help with branding yourself as an expert by choosing the right domain name.

ace
authority
boss
champ
chief
expert
freak
genie
genius
guru
hero
insider
legend
magician
pioneer
pro
sensation
whiz
wizard

News and press inspired words
These words are good options for news-related sites and blogs.

almanac
book
chronicle
diary
edition
essay
gazette
herald
journal
ledger
media
memoir
news
notebook
press
register
report
review
source
story
tale

Educational related words
If you want to brand your site as an education site or source of teaching, these words are excellent options.

academy
adviser
advocate
captain
coach
college
conductor
counselor
guardian
guide
institute
instructor
mentor
professor
scholar
school
teacher
trainer
tutor
university

Easy addons
These words can be used, especially at the beginning of domains, if you are struggling to find good domains that are available.

all
daily
e
easy
free
fresh
future
my
now
the
today

For your domain registration, web hosting and website design, ecommerce website design, we got you covered at ediaro.com. To get started, you can contact us via info@ediaro.com or call (+234) 080-9502-9999

About ediaro. com

For over 5 years ediaro.com (a member of Fladio International Nigeria Limited) has provided web solutions and advertising for public and private sectors. Our main division is Computer and Information Technology. Thanks to our flexible approach towards the development of new solutions, we have often been at the inception of digital revolution and incorporating the most recent technologies. When you partner with ediaro.com, you are associating with one of Africa's best company for your ICT needs, we are the 1st Nigerian Company listed on the Economic Community for West African States (ECOWAS) ECOBIZ computer session in 2010. Focusing on quality, reliability and design of our products and services has brought us customers and partnership with local and Multinational Companies such as United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA), Interswitch Limited, Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc among others. Our current customer portfolio covers individuals, companies and Government agencies across the globe including Nigeria, India, United Kingdom, Mozambique and United States of America.

10 reasons why OpenCart is a powerful but easy-to-use platform for creating your online store.

1. IT’S EASY FOR DEVELOPMENT.
OpenCart is a system based on the Model View Controller (MVC) pattern. It’s easy to develop extensions or customize OpenCart if you know PHP and MySQL. To make a new extension, create four files: Controller, Model (or use an existing Model), View, and a language file.

See below for an example:

OpenCart file extension example
2. IT’S EASY TO USE.
Similar to other platforms like Shopify and PrestaShop, OpenCart has a very friendly administrative dashboard. All of the menus are very straightforward and user-friendly: Catalog, Sales, Extensions, System.

If you choose OpenCart 2, you’ll also get a mobile-first interface and the ability to use your admin panel on a tablet or smartphone.

OpenCart admin panel view
3. IT’S EASY TO MAKE CHANGES TO YOUR OPENCART STORE.
You should definitely hire someone who knows PHP, MySQL, and HTML with CSS. This is a similar stack to e-commerce platforms like Magento, Bigcommerce and PrestaShop and there are many developers on Upwork who are PHP and can help you with OpenCart customization.

4. IT HAS A LOT OF DOCUMENTATION, FORUMS, AND ARTICLES.
As a famous CMS for e-commerce, OpenCart has well-discussed tools. A lot of information exists on Stackoverflow.com and opencart.com.

As of today, there are a total of 539,304 posts in the forum, with 126,046 topics and over 90,000 members. If you have any issues with your OpenCart site, you can always search for a fix or advice in official forum. Chances are, you’ll find the help you’re looking for.

Recommended OpenCart Freelancers
$50/hr Dmitry Dyakonov
Dmitry Dyakonov

Hybrid Designer & Front-end Developer

$12/hr Md.Mourshadul Islam S.
Md.Mourshadul Islam S.

Front-End Web Developer (HTML5, CSS3, jQuery,)

$45/hr Sergey Shurygin
Sergey Shurygin

Expert Full Stack Web Developer (Laravel, Yii, Angular), PST timezone

$11/hr Saurabh Kumar Sharma
Saurabh Kumar Sharma

Web Developer & Mobile Application Developer

5. There are thousands of extensions and modules.
There’s no reason to develop your own module until you’ve checked the forums and store for existing OpenCart modules. You’ll find modifications, new features, parsers, marketing tools, etc. Prices start from $10 per module, while some are even free. The official OpenCart website sells 1,2325 extensions, modules, and templates:

OpenCart modules
6. IT HAS VIRTUAL FILE STRUCTURES: VQMOD AND OCMOD.
Making changes to the core of the CMS is a bad idea, but sometimes in a custom coding project it’s unavoidable. The reason why it’s tricky is that editing the core will cause it to be impossible to update, or an update will cause some of the important changes to be erased. And you can’t not update!

Why? Because there are a lot of bugs or back doors inside every CMS that are easily fixed by updating the core. To make this easier, OpenCart has adopted a version of vQmod created by Google. It can help you edit files in the core of the CMS… without any changes! Special files store instructions for changes which are carried out inside core (or any other files, like extensions or language files). Original files are not changed; rather, vQmod creates a virtual copy of them and they’re overwritten by the vQmod instructions PHP file. You can read more about vQmod here.

7. IT HAS READY-TO-USE TEMPLATES.
If you don’t have a big budget or even time to develop individual designs for your store, you can leverage ready-to-use templates. Many famous online web content stores like Templatemonster.com or themeforest.com sell hundreds of themes for OpenCart.

OpenCart template design example
8. IT’S EASY AND FAST TO MAKE YOUR SITE MULTI-LANGUAGE.
You can translate OpenCart to any language in the world—it doesn’t matter if it’s right-to-left (RTL) or left-to-right (LTR), hieroglyph, or even Galactic Basic Language from Star Wars. OpenCart is a language-neutral CMS thanks to UTF-8. Inside the admin panel folder under “Catalog,” you’ll find “language” folders that store translations. Translation files are just .php files with text variable values.

Here’s a sample file translated into Bulgarian.

// Heading
$_[‘heading_title’] = ‘???????????’;

// Text
$_[‘text_account’] = ‘??????’;
$_[‘text_register’] = ‘???????????’;
$_[‘text_your_details’] = ‘?????? ?????’;
$_[‘text_private’] = ‘?????? ????’;
$_[‘text_company’] = ‘?????’;
$_[‘text_your_details’] = ‘?????? ?????’;
$_[‘text_company_details’] = ‘????? ?? ???????’;

Every store can have an unlimited number of languages!

9. THERE’S ONE MORE “MULTI”: MULTI-STORE MODE.
OpenCart’s multi-store mode is very useful. It makes it easy to manage several online stores even if they have different:

Design
Products
Modules
Customer databases
Languages
You manage all of your stores from one admin panel, similar to Magento’s dashboard that allows you to manage multiple stores from one place. Learn more about multi-store mode.

10. IT’S SEO-FRIENDLY.
Google likes OpenCart. I have helped dozens of OpenCart e-commerce stores boost their rankings in Google. Create an SEO URL from scratch (http://store.com/category/product/) and you can even choose the suffix (like “.html” or “/”).

For your Opencart Website development, contact ediaro.com web design team via info@ediaro.com or call (+234) 080-9502-9999.

About ediaro. com

For over 5 years ediaro.com (a member of Fladio International Nigeria Limited) has provided web solutions and advertising for public and private sectors. Our main division is Computer and Information Technology. Thanks to our flexible approach towards the development of new solutions, we have often been at the inception of digital revolution and incorporating the most recent technologies. When you partner with ediaro.com, you are associating with one of Africa's best company for your ICT needs, we are the 1st Nigerian Company listed on the Economic Community for West African States (ECOWAS) ECOBIZ computer session in 2010. Focusing on quality, reliability and design of our products and services has brought us customers and partnership with local and Multinational Companies such as United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA), Interswitch Limited, Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc among others. Our current customer portfolio covers individuals, companies and Government agencies across the globe including Nigeria, India, United Kingdom, Mozambique and United States of America.