Domain names, do they really make or break a website? While a domain name isn’t solely responsible for the success of a website, it is a
contributing factor. Knowing the true purpose of your domain name can not only help you select the perfect name for your website, but
keep its focus.
The following tips will help you choose the perfect domain name for your website:
- Discover the purpose of the website.
Understanding the true purpose of your website is an important factor in choosing the perfect domain name. After all, it gives you the
opportunity to build unique Internet presence.
- If the purpose of your website is to promote your retail business, pick the name of your business as the domain name.
- If the purpose of your business is to promote yourself as an expert, pick your name as the domain name.
- If the purpose of your website is to share family news with family members across the globe, pick a domain name that reflects the
heart and soul of your family.
- Have your domain name match the website’s name.
Developing an online presence is no easy task. It takes a lot of hard work to bring people to your website and keep them there,
don’t confuse them by purchasing a domain name that does not match the title of your website.
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One of the benefits of naming your website after your domain name, or vice versa, is the fact that people remember names. Internet
savvy people often type in the name of a website (or company name) followed by a .com or .net before they do a search to find the
company. Having your company name match your domain name makes it easy for others to find your website and prevents the competition
from getting your business.
- Don’t infringe upon someone’s copyright or trademark.
When choosing your domain name, make sure that you pick a name that hasn’t been trademarked. If you choose a domain name that has been
trademarked, you’ll be required, by law, to give up ownership to that domain name and that could mean more than just lost revenue, it
could mean the end of your business. To do a trademark search, visit the official government website:
Tess2.uspto.gov
- Keep your domain name simple.
Simple domain names are easier to remember than complicated domain names and far less likely of getting misspelled.
- Avoid dashes or underscores.
While there are many people who claim dashes in your domain name, such as discount-car-rentals.com, help your rankings in the search
engines there’s no proof to this theory. Besides, most consumers won’t remember that your website has the dashes to begin with
and if another website owns the domain name discountcarrentals.com, there’s a good chance you’ll lose business to the competition.
Underscores are a really poor choice when choosing a domain name because they cannot be seen when hyperlinked, not mention the reasons
mentioned with dashes..
- Avoid domain names that are too similar to another domain name.
Again, the reason for avoiding similar domain names is simple, losing business to the competition. And example of this would be a
skynews.com or skynewz.com
- Buy more than one variation of your domain name.
With domain names being as cheap as they are, many companies will buy up a stack of domain names to be sold at an outrageous price
later; especially if the domain name is a variation of a highly trafficked website. While this tactic an unethical way to steal
traffic another website, it is not illegal.
Buying variations of your domain name not only stops competitors from stealing your traffic, but those variations can help visitors
find your website if they happen to mistype your domain name.
When I first purchased my domain name, thedabblingmum.com, I often got emails letting me know that my website was not showing up. When
I asked what they typed to find my website, I got many variations of my domain name. Guess what I did? I purchased all those variations
and redirected them to the home page. Those variations were simple changes, like dabblingmum.com, thedabblingmom.com, and
dabblingmom.com
Homonyms are also a variation you should consider, such as carrot and carat or principle and principal or tees, teas, and tease.
- Always buy the .com extension.
When choosing a domain name for your website, always buy the .com version. It’s the most memorable extension and the first thing
consumers will type when trying to find your website by name. Since .net is also a popular extension, you should buy both the .com
and the .net extensions of your domain name. While there are many extension variations on the market, there’s no reason to purchase them unless you feel those extensions will somehow be beneficial to your business, add traffic, or prevent traffic theft.
- Don’t include numbers.
Studies prove people remember letters far easier than they do random numbers. Avoid buying a domain name with numbers unless it is
absolutely relevant to the purpose of your website or business strategy.
- Don’t include a geographic location if you plan to do business worldwide.
Adding a geographic location to your domain name can cause visitors to think your website only relates to that geographic location.
So if you plan to do business worldwide, I would leave the geographic location out of the domain name. If, however, you plan to only
do business locally and want travelers to find your company, including the geographic location in your domain name, could be a very
wise move.
- Don’t buy a domain name merely for the keyword phrase.
Many search engine gurus claim that domain names with keyword phrases rank higher than those that don’t have them. While no one knows
for sure if this theory is fact or fiction, logic does say domain names and/or web pages with keyword phrases should get an extra notch in the search engines ranking radar. That being said, don’t buy a domain name in hopes of gaining an “in” with the search engines, there’s more to ranking high in the search engine results pages than the name of your website.
If you already have an established business, buy a domain name that reflects that business, such as the name of the business. If
your business name is already taken, and it’s not trademarked, buy a domain name that closely reflects your business name. If your
business name is taken, and it is trademarked, you can file a suit to gain ownership of that domain name.
If however, you’re just starting your business and not set on the domain name, you can then pick a keyword phrase that you like and
incorporate it into the name of your website, company, and domain name.
- Be careful when using repeat letters.
Repeat letters could be hard to remember and easy to misspell. If your domain name has two of the same letter right next to each other
it’ll be easy to forget one of them and mistype the domain name, often resulting in a page error or being directed to the competition.
- Don’t get too creative.
While it may be fun to come up with unique spellings and variations for your domain name, keeping it simple and familiar will cause far
less problems in the long run. For instance, people will remember phones.com more than they will fones.com and rosesforyou.com versus
roses4u.com.
If you’ve already settled on a creative name, make sure you can buy both variations, and then point the uncreative domain name to your
creative domain name.
In the end, choosing the perfect domain name is really a matter of personal choice and business smarts. Take the time to do your
homework and the perfect domain name will be waiting for you.
About The Author:
Alyice Edrich is the author of several highly praised e-books designed to help you work from home. To discover how you can
earn $50 in two hours or up to $10K in your spare time visit her store:
http://thedabblingmum.com/ebookstore
* This article is available for your publication, for a F-E-E.
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