Choosing a domain name is one of the most important decision when establishing an online presence. Your domain name has a huge bearing on how you interact with your customers and search engines. Here how to go about selecting the best domain name for your business.
- Do Some Research
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Doing a bit of homework will go a long way towards making this process a lot easier. Find sites in a niche similar to yours and check out their domain names. You can search for your competitors using sites like ‘compete.com’ or by targeted keywords on search engines.
- Easy to Type and Remember
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Your domain name should be easy to remember and type. Avoid unusual spellings of words, using hyphens, or non-alphabetic characters. You should also steer clear or words that have multiple spellings as they can be easily mistyped. If you must use such a name, then it is best to buy all the versions of the word. It is always best to go for a short name as it is usually easier to type and remember.
- Avoid Slang
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Never use slang terms for your domain name. Use names that will still be meaningful many years from now. Unless you’ll only use the domain for a short-term project, you want a name that will be remembered and understood by non-native English speakers. This is especially if you’ll be doing business internationally.
- A Shorter Domain Works Better Than A Longer One
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If you go for a long domain name, you will make it harder for people to remember it and increase the chance that someone might misspell it. You will notice that most good single word domain names are taken. You need not worry. You can always append a verb or adjective in front of your desired name. For example, if you want the name “shoes.com”, you can always go with “getshoes.com”.
- Stick with ‘.com’
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The default domain extension is “.com” and many people will assume that your domain ends with it. While you can always use other extensions, it is best to go for a “.com” domain.
- Avoid Trademarked Domains
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Before settling on a domain name, make sure that it has not been trademarked to avoid getting into legal challenges. You risk having the domain taken away from you. You can check whether a name has been trademarked at www.uspto.gov.
- Avoid Using Hyphens
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It’s tempting to use hyphens in your domain name. After all, they make it easier to read and differentiate between the individual words. However, it’s a mixed bag as people normally forget to include the hyphens when typing in the domain name into a browser.
- Check the Availability on Social Media
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After you’ve come up with a name, it is important to check whether the name is available on popular social media sites where you intend to have a presence. While you may not be planning on using them immediately, it is important to have them secured for when you’re ready to launch. It is always ideal to have the same name across all your online platforms.
Now that you know how to go about choosing a domain name, you can head over to a reliable managed dedicated hosting provider to get started.
