Few things are more important to the success of a business website than its domain name. There may be a lot of technical aspects to consider when a website is created, developed and launched – such as: the use of dedicated servers, platforms and programming, but your domain name serves as the headline of your business.
Regardless of whether it is for business or personal use, when selecting from domain names, there are a number of tips that are likely to be useful:
#1: Whenever possible, choose a domain name that ends with .com. By far the most memorable, the .com top level domain has the advantage of being most widely accepted and, as such, .com can tend to bring credibility and a level of respect. In Australia, .com.au is also a very effective top level domain.
#2: In order to avoid confusion, it is preferable to use a domain name that can be spelt only one way. The last thing that you want is customers being led to other sites or finding it challenging to spell the domain name of your website.
#3: In order to get customers and visitors to your site, it is important that your domain name is short and memorable.
#4: Your domain name also needs to be appealing in a commercial sense. Think about names that are catchy and marketable – can you imagine it in an advertisement or on a billboard?
#5: Domain names containing hyphens are frequently problematic. Although some businesses do successfully use hyphens in their domain names, the risk of including them is that people can forget or mix up where the hyphen(s) are positioned within the domain name. Also, consider the fact that if a customer or potential visitor does not realise that your domain name contains a hyphen, or they simply do not include it, they may be quickly taken to another website and one that may well be the site of a competitor.
#6: If you are able to secure a highly effective domain name that you love, it is a wise move to try to purchase other extensions of that domain name (e.g. .net, .org, .biz) and redirect these extensions to your domain name that ends with the preferred top level domain e.g. (.com). Not only will the redirection of customers and visitors to your site be maximised, you will also be stopping others from buying and using a domain name that is very much the same as yours but distinct only because it has a different extension.
#7: Think carefully about whether the singular or plural form of the words in your domain name sounds best. Regardless of which provides the better sounding domain name, it is incredibly effective to purchase both the single and plural versions and ensure that whichever one is not your preferred domain name redirects visitors to the URL with your preferred domain name.
#8: When registering a domain name you will be required to pay a fee every year. However, if someone already has a domain name that you want, or has a domain name that they are auctioning, you may be up for a little or incredibly significantly amount (like these highest selling domains), in addition to the registration fees paid yearly.
#9: It is important to choose a domain name that contains keywords related to your website. For example, if your business is an electrical service, you would be wise to include the word ‘electrical’ in your domain name. Remember that you want to make it as easy as possible for people to find your business and understand what it is about.
#10: Your domain name should be easy to type and easy to understand. When someone hears your domain name for the first time they should have a clear sense of what your business is all about.
Selecting a domain name is an important and highly significant decision. Your domain name is often the name by which people know your business and in order to draw people to your site, you want to make your domain name as straightforward and memorable as possible.
