How to choose a domain name?
January 13, 2010 | This post currently has more comments.One of the most important steps to take when creating your online presence is choosing the correct domain name. Your domain name is your online identity and will represent your website and business.
Finding a good domain today has become a lot more difficult, with over 168 million domains registered worldwide and increasing each day. But don’t panic, there are still many domains out there that can benefit your company, you will just have to be more creative.
Some of the most important factors when choosing a domain name are:
- Keep it short and simple.
- Make sure it is easy to spell.
- Make sure it’s easy to remember.
I would recommend trying to keep your domain under 20 characters with no more than 3 words.
If possible, you should consider using a keyword in your name, e.g. if your website is about computers, then having “computers” in the domain name would be beneficial. Not only would it let potential visitors know what your website is about, it would also have a positive effect when it comes to search engine optimisation.
Brainstorming Ideas
Now we know what to look out for in a domain name, its time to start brainstorming ideas.
- Create a list of possible domains just using your business name (e.g. abcpc.co.uk, pcabc.co.uk).
- Create a list of possible domains from the services you offer (e.g. computerrepairs.co.uk, pcrepairs.co.uk, fixmypc.co.uk).
- Now try and mix the above together (e.g. abcpcrepairs.co.uk).
Now we should have a reasonably long list of potential domain names which we need to see if they are available. There are many websites that let you check a domain’s status, such as; http://www.whois.net, www.123-reg.co.uk.
If you’re still struggling to find a domain that suits your business and is available then try adding in your location; for example abcpcashford.co.uk.
And finally, if you still don’t have a domain name that you’re happy with, you can look into purchasing an existing one from websites like www.sedo.co.uk.
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Good Read. I’ll look forward to your next piece
What would you recommend for multi-word domain names, hyphen or no hyphen i.e. customervsengagement or customer-vs-engagement?
This is where it gets tricky! Having customervsengagement takes a while to figure out what it says, but then customers may forget the hypens for customer-vs-engagement.
I would recommend purchasing both domains and re-directing one to the other.