How to choose a
domain
name.
Domain names are incredibly important to any business or
organisation as it bears a direct relation to their name or
product. Get the wrong domain name and people may not be able to
find your site, or worse still, they end up at a competitors web
site.
The
Internet is becoming increasingly popular as the first place
people turn to find out anything, whether it is for information or
to buy something. So choosing your domain name needs careful
thought.
Ideally your domain name will match the name of your business,
but if you are running a pub called The Red Lion, or any other
popular name, then you will need to work on alternatives as you
can be sure that the best domain names have all gone!
If your company or
organisation name is not available then the first rule is to
choose a similar domain name that can easily be remembered,
easily spelt, easy to say when on the phone; and made up with
any of the following characters:
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789-
Short or long?
As a domain name may be up to 67 characters long, some say that
a longer domain name is more likely to be available and quite
distinctive, but remember, the more characters involved the more
typing is involved and more chances of mistakes. But names that
contain keywords sometimes fare better with search engine
results. Others prefer shorter domain names as these are easier
to remember and type. However, the shorter the name the less
likely it is that it will be available.
With or without
hyphen (-)?
The disadvantages of having a domain with a hyphen are that they
can easily be missed out or forgotten. This is likely to lead
your customers to a competitors web site. However, by having
hyphens makes it easier for search engines to distinguish what
your web site is all about and can therefore rank it higher.
Should I choose a dot com name?
TLD’s (Top Level Domains) like .com are more likely to be in use
already. This can be highlighted by the fact that virtually
every word in the English language has already been bought as a
domain name. I have not checked this myself, but it is
believable!
If you have
intentions of going global with your business then I would
suggest that a dot com is very important. If you are happy with
trading in the UK then I would suggest that the .co.uk domain
extension is more appropriate – in fact I would say it is a
must!
Other extensions,
like .net or .org are still worth considering, especially if you
are an organisation. However, the cost of buying such names is
significantly higher.
A final thought…
Finally, before you order your domain name, look at it carefully
one more time. The examples below demonstrate what can happen:
www.expertsexchange.com – the owners had to spend a lot of
money changing it to
www.experts-exchange.com which is the current version.
www.therapistfinder.com – for locating therapists.
www.childrenswear.co.uk – kids clothing company.
I hope you found
this information of interest. Of course we would be delighted to
help you find the right domain.
