Choosing a domain name for your website is a small but important detail. If you’re not very tech-savvy, let us begin by explaining what a domain is. To put it simply, a domain is the name of your website. It is the words or phrases plus “.com”. Sometimes domains may have other extensions like .net, .us, .tv or even .marketing (like ours!) Choosing your domain may seem simple. The most obvious choice would be to use your business name, but it may not be as simple as we would hope. Here are nine guidelines for choosing a domain that is sure to lead customers or clients to your website.

 

Be memorable.

 

There are millions of websites out there. If there is something catchy or rhyming that makes sense with your business, this may be a good choice. Share your ideas with a few friends and see if it sounds appealing to others as well.

 

Choose a domain name that is short.

 

If your business name is long like ours, you risk people mistyping it when they try to find your website. They may land on another site or a domain registrar site if the name is not taken, and think your website is down.

 

Use keywords.

 

What keywords would people search for that you would hope lead them to your business? If you are a roofing company, for example, you may want a domain name that is a combination of the words “roofs” plus your service area. These types of domain names are very successful.

 

Make sure it isn’t too close to your competitor’s domain.

 

If a competitor has a name close to yours, it can negatively affect your business. This is a problem that may affect more than your web traffic too. However, to keep it within the scope of this article, just remember to try to keep your domain name unique. Do a simple web search using keywords of your products and services plus the name of your service area to see what other businesses are using to form ideas.

 

Avoid hyphens and numbers.

 

Using hyphens is not a good idea because people may forget about them and land on the wrong site. Numbers should also be avoided if possible. They are easy to forget and can confuse users since they have to remember if numerals are used or if the words are spelled out.

 

Check a registrar site for ideas.

 

Not all domains are priced the same. A domain may cost as little as $1.00 to be registered for a few years or thousands of dollars for the lucky person that owns a simple, memorable domain name. A search in a registrar site like GoDaddy.com or BlueHost.com will let you know if your name idea is already in use, how much it will cost if it is available, and other suggestions of similar domain names.  

 

Choose an appropriate extension.

 

An extension is what comes after the name such as “.com,” which is the most popular followed by “.net.” Sometimes people are leery of extensions besides .com. It’s ok to have something besides .com in most cases. If you’re a non-profit organization “.org” is often a good choice. If you are a company, “.co” can work as well. Just don’t choose an extension that seems odd for your business or organization such as “.me” which is normally used for personal sites like blogs and résumés.

 

Buy more than one domain.

 

You can always buy more than one domain and have multiple domains that still point to your website. This is very useful if you have a name that is commonly misspelled. You may wish to purchase the misspelled version of your name as well as alternate extensions such as “.net”.

 

Be quick.

 

As fast as the internet grows, domains sell very quickly. If you happen to find just what you want for a good price, go ahead and make the purchase. Remember that you can always buy other domains if you change your mind down the road.

 

We love assisting with every step of the website process such as design, build and all the little details like domain names. If you need help with new website issues, please reach out!