A domain name is like a Saving Account. Every effort you make is like putting a few dollars in this saving account. However, you can’t transfer the account easily to another bank. Fees for transferring the money is very high. Moreover, interest rate (your visibility) will vary tremendously depending on the domain you choose. Would you prefer a saving account at 6% or 0.5%? That might be the difference you get from a good domain name compared to a bad one. Over time, and based on your effort, your domain reputation (Page Rank on Google) will increase. Moving from your actual domain name to another one will adversely impact your domain reputation. As such chose wisely. If your actual domain does not match most of the criteria's outlined in this post, you might consider moving to a new domain name. Pay attention, there is a penalty. Read this excellent article on the topic. If your current page rank is low, you might consider doing it now!

2. How to:
Find a good Photographer Domain
Name
What you need to take into consideration when looking for a good Domain
Name for your freelancing photographer business.
Read it on: http://www.rawtests.com/en/good-photographer-domain-name/

3. What you will learn
Rawtests.com aims to help photographer
learn new techniques, grow their
business and earn revenue.
Should you be a photographer, you
should consider joining the rawtests.com
community.
 Why it is so important to find a
good domain name;
 Criteria that make a good
domain name;
 Tips, resources and tests
helping find one;

4. Why it is so important
Every effort you make is like putting a few dollars in this saving account. However, you can’t
transfer the account easily to another bank. Fees for transferring the money is very high.
Moreover, interest rate (your visibility) will vary tremendously depending on the domain you
choose.
Would you prefer a saving account at 6% or 0.5%? That might be the difference you get from a
good domain name compared to a bad one.
Over time, and based on your effort, your domain reputation (Page Rank on Google) will
increase. Moving from your actual domain name to another one will adversely impact your
domain reputation. As such chose wisely.
If your actual domain does not match most of the criteria’s outlined in this post, you might
consider moving to a new domain name. Pay attention, there is a penalty. Read this excellent
article on the topic. If your current page rank is low, you might consider doing it now!

5. Intro – Disclaimer – Help out!
Affiliate Links
 Amazon Canada, USA, UK;
 Amazon Germany, France;
 Amazon Spain, Italy;
 Domain.com;
 Smugmug.com;
 DigitalOcean.com;
 Squadhelp;
 Domainit.com.
Newsletters:
 Learn new techniques;
 Grow your business;
 Become an associate.
Social Media Channel
 Facebook page;
 Tweeter handle;
 Google plus.
Putting together these guides requires
time, research and efforts. I am
rewarded only when you perform one of
these actions:
• Share it with others;
• Follow me;
• Subscribe to newsletter;
• Click on my affiliate links;
• Visit rawtests.com
Please help me help out!
_________________________________
Disclosure:
We are a professional web site that
receives compensation from the
companies whose products we
recommend. We test each product
thoroughly and give high marks to only
the very best. We are independently
owned and the opinions expressed here
are our own.

6. 8 Great Qualities of a good Domain Name for a Photographer
1. Easy to remember;
2. Short;
3. Easily Pronounceable;
4. Spelling (no possible confusion);
5. Tells your story;
6. No hyphens or other special character;
7. Find a .com (preferably)
8. About firstlastname.com
9. Multi-languages? Then read this also!

7. Easy to Remember
Will your audience be able to key in
your domain name just by hearing it?
With podcasts and videos being the norms
even on social media, you need to be able to
tell your domain name and have people
remember it. Is your domain name easy to
remember?
Do the test, call your best friend and tell your
potential domain name asking for opinion on
it. Call again the day after and ask back the
name and how to spell it.
 Try two short words;
 Start with: My, e, i, or an anagram;
 Use a number (99designs.com), pay
attention: using a number is a
double edge sword, test it with a
friend;
 Avoid numbers in lieu of stop words
like 4 = for, 2 = to. They are
confusing;
 Easy to remember should be your
most important criteria!
Why it is important Inspirations

8. Short
Short name will be remembered for a
longer period of time. Is it likely that
visitors might come less often than
once a week? You need a short name!
There is no magic why name like eBay, amazon,
kijiji, Facebook and the likes are easy to
remember. No more than three syllables.
As you increase the number of syllables, it is
becoming harder to remember.
Finding short name is more difficult, however,
you will be investing in promoting your domain
for years to come. Take the time!
 Try Crossword solvers;
 Scrabble word finder
 Anagrams with your story;
 Other languages dictionnary;
 Short Word lists;
 Namestation – web tool;
 A short name should be your
second most important criteria.
Why it is important Inspiration

9. Easily Pronounceable
Everyday you might meet somebody
that will want to reach out to you on
your web site. Can you tell the name
easily?
Being able to tell your domain name in a
conversation is quite important. Does your
domain name speaks well?
In these day an age, with more content being
produced every day than what it is consumed,
you need to be able to promote your domain
easily, over the phone, face to face, in a radio
show.
Do the test – Tell your name and ask for the
proper spelling!
 There are not much resources that
help find pronounceable
name. Phonetic tools might help;
 Your best bet is making the test and
find out if your friends can spell
properly a name that you say out
loud;
 Should you go the “Contest Route”
make sure you make this one
criteria;
 Domainit.com could help perform a
bulk search after a contest.
Why it is important Inspiration

10. Spelling (no possible confusion)
Avoid potential confusion, some
vowels and consonants could lead to
the same pronunciation. Some words
lead to different spellings.
By sticking to a short name vowels /
consonants that are not interchangeable you
will avoid potential confusion.
Remember that some plural word might be
told exactly like their singular equivalent.
Make the test, tell your domain name over the
phone. Is it spelled correctly?
 Pay attention to Homophone. They
could be deadly!;
Homophone are words that have the
same pronunciation but spell
differently. These words might create
confusion. Avoid these words / syllable
when possible. You could lead your
visitors to a competitor website with
Homophone.
Trick: Your local competitor domain name
violated this rule? Register the
alternative and forward it to your
website. It could be fun!
Why it is important Inspiration

11. Tells Your Story
Does your story is well represented by
your proposed domain name?
Part of your success in promoting your brand is
directly inline with your offering. Is your
domain name supporting your story? If not,
consider another name before it is too late.
Promoting a domain name that does not
support your story will likely demand more
from you.
While some very popular web site (like
amazon) are not really inline with their
offering, they spend millions of dollars
promoting their brand.
Do you have that kind of money? Take the
time, it is well worth it!
 Look at Squadhelp to help tell your
story;
 Crowd based contests to help find a
domain name;
 Issue a contest on Facebook asking
for suggestions, give a coupon for
your services;
 Are you location based? Geo based
keyword can help tell the story.
 Keyword based domainsbot could
help!;
Why it is important Inspiration

12. Find a .com (preferably)
The .com TLD (Top Level Domain) is by
far the best option for most people.
However…
Should your services or offering be valid only
in one country, this is a lesser problem.
Should your website be audio only, a .fm could
be great. There are more choices in .fm.
.org is usually recognized as non-profit.
.net is usually recognized as network and
community.
However, if .com is available take it! Take it
now!
 Make a search on Domain.com for
additional TLD. They have them all!
 You should prefer a known and short
TLD over a longer one like
.photography;
 Try to stick with known one;
 Look for other popular one for your
chosen domain. Is mywedding.com
would be in direct competition with
your mywedding.fm?
 You might consider buying one! You
will be investing in this domain name
for years to come ! Read this before
though.
Why it is important Alternatives

13. No Hyphens (or other special characters)
Hyphens is bad. It does not tell well,
people forget it and they head to your
competitor.
Again, when you are promoting your domain,
you don’t want all that energy and money to
benefit someone else.
An Hyphen is the best way to throw money
down the pit.
You should consider numbers well before
putting a Hyphen in your domain name.
 In lieu of hyphens, consider
alternative TLDs
 It might not be possible to match all
criterias AND the .com one.
 Alternative TLDs are less attractive.
 Look at alternative TLDs on
domain.com when needed.
 .wedding, .style, .photos, .photo,
 .co, .me, .biz, .org, .net
Why it is important Alternatives

14. About firstlastname.com
If it is available, TAKE IT NOW! It won’t
be available for long. Will you use it?
The potential value (resell wise) of
firstlastname.com is really low. Should you think
about selling your business in the future, this is a
bad idea. However, if you intend to remain alone
and act as a freelancer, go for it.
I would advise against
firstlastnamephotography.com though. Unless
you are prepared to invest a lot in your name.
Buying more than one domain name is certainly
something to consider. They do not loose value
over time and the yearly cost is rather small.
 You could try using your first or last
name with your offering. This could
create a name that really tell your
story.
 Hiring a photographer is hiring a
person and not a
corporation. Investing in your name
in the context of a Photographer
Domain Name is not a bad idea.
 Remember, it will be harder to sell
your business to someone else if
your full name is part of the domain
name.
Act now! Alternatives

15. Multi-languages?
Should you support multiples
languages, your challenge is
multiplied!
Should you want to the tell your story in a
pronounceable and easy to remember way,
you will have to work harder to find a domain
name that suits multiples languages.
Should the search be fruitless, think about the
predominant languages (or the more
understood one) and focus on that one.
Why it is important Inspiration
 Homographs;
 Cognate;
 False friends;
 Synonyms;
 Thesaurus.
Think about homographs. Homographs
are words that are written the same in
multiple language. Search for
homographs website for your proposed
supported languages. On the web,
homographs are best found using cognate
or false friends as the keywords.

16. Disclaimer – Help out!
Affiliate Links
 Amazon Canada, USA, UK;
 Amazon Germany, France;
 Amazon Spain, Italy;
 Domain.com;
 Smugmug.com;
 DigitalOcean.com;
 Squadhelp;
 Domainit.com;
Newsletters:
 Learn new techniques;
 Grow your business;
 Become an associate.
Social Media Channel
 Facebook page;
 Tweeter handle;
 Google plus.
Putting together these guides requires
time, research and efforts. I am
rewarded only when you perform one of
these actions:
• Share it with others;
• Follow me;
• Subscribe to newsletter;
• Click on my affiliate links;
• Visit rawtests.com
Please help me help out!
_________________________________
Disclosure:
We are a professional web site that
receives compensation from the
companies whose products we
recommend. We test each product
thoroughly and give high marks to only
the very best. We are independently
owned and the opinions expressed here
are our own.