How to choose a good domain name

You know how people say that the 3 most important secrets to a successful business is ‘location, location, location?’ Well in the virtual world, that location is your domain name. A good domain name is easy to remember and easy to find. How do you do that? This article gives tips on how to create a good domain name.

1. Use ‘.com.’

The ‘.com’ is the most common and the most credible domain name extension. While there are others (‘.net’ and ‘.org’) people tend to forget these and type in ‘.com’ instead.

2. Avoid confusing spelling

Choose words that are easy to spell, or are at least spelled the way they are pronounced. Again, it minimizes the risk of error.

3. Keep it short.

Short domain names are easier to remember, and are even easier to type into a browser. And, when your users share your website address, they’ll be able to tell their friends (‘Oh, just go to…’).

4. Think like a billboard.

Would your domain name work if it were up on a huge billboard or said on a commercial? Then you know if it has mass appeal, and will be easy to market, especially if you are creating a business website.

5. Avoid hyphens.

Most people will forget hyphens or put it in the wrong place, and so a customer might make a mistake and end up going to a competitors’ site. And imagine yourself telling others about your website: ‘Please go to grandmas-dash-country-dash-kitchen-dot-com.’ Uh, say that again?

6. Think if you should singular or plural.

‘Grandmascookies.com’ is more natural than ‘Grandmascookie.com.’ On the other hand, a pet accessory store called ‘puppylove.com’ would sound really awkward as ‘puppyloves.com.’ Think about what works best for your company name: singular or plural.

7. Remember keywords.

A domain name that contains the keywords of your website has a higher chance of being picked up by a search engine. For example, if you sell vitamins, then say so ‘vitaminsource.com’ will get you more hits and more brand recall, and is much easier to market oto.

8. Consider type in traffic

This is a term for searches where people type in the key words or questions of something they are looking for and then add a ‘.com’ at the end. Some domain name companies will let you check if your chosen name has a good chance of getting type in traffic, or help you get a pre-selected domain tested to have good type in traffic.

9. Check for copyright.

Don’t use domain names that are under another copyright. Go to the US Copyright Office to find out.

Photo from thempro.com