How to Choose a Domain Name

Ok, so you’ve decided on a website, but now what? After you’ve made a choice to have a website established for you or your business, the next step is to come up with a domain name. A domain name is the unique address of a website, which is yours to keep as long as you pay for it. Choosing a domain name is not an aspect that should be disregarded, as it entails a lot of thought and consideration. Your domain name needs to be easy to find and promote, but it also needs to fit your business.

Choosing a domain name for your site is often overlooked, but the name of your domain is imperative. A domain name is more than just an address; it’s your online identity. Check out our domain name tips that are sure to help you come up with the perfect domain name for your new website.

1. Your domain name should match your site or product. Do not pick a domain name that has nothing to do with your business or product.

2. Choose a unique name. You want something that you can build a reputation around. You don’t want to be affected by the reputation of others, even if it’s a good one.

3. Keep the format simple. Do not use hyphens, and if you feel like you need to, keep it to one. Dashes and dots are hard to remember and type.

4. Keep your domain name as short as possible. This goes along with keeping it simple. Having a long domain name will increase the chances of someone misspelling the address. You don’t want your audience to get distracted by landing on somebody else’s website.

5. If possible, include high-ranking keywords in your domain name. By doing this, the search engine spiders are more likely to find and rank your site. Picking popular keywords means you are more liable to rank higher on the search engine’s results page.

6. Use keywords that describe your business or product. Keywords can be used in place of your company name for your domain name.

7. If you have a local business, you may want to target your area by including your city or state in your domain name.

8. You can utilize wordplay when choosing a domain name, but it is important not to go overboard. You want something that is easy for people to remember, so don’t be too crafty.

9. Remember, you can have more than one domain name, and you don’t need a website for each one. You can simply have a redirect for the other domain names so that it will go directly to your primary website.

10. Save yourself a headache and make sure you do your research before you make your final decision. You don’t want to pick a name that already being used, or is copyrighted or trademarked.