In today’s digital age, every serious business must have a website.
A well-designed, search engine optimized website is your corner on the Internet where you present your business to the world. It should be easy to navigate, visually enticing and well written. And, it should have a name.
Many people don’t pay much attention to the domain name aspect of their website. But choosing a good domain name is crucial, as it’s the first thing people will type in their search bar to find you.
A lot of business owners go the wrong way about domain names. They make them too long or add hyphens between the words.
So keep reading to see our 6 proven tactics to choose the best domain name for your business and what to avoid.
1. Keep It Simple
The number one rule of domain names is to keep them as simple as possible. Avoid using long words, hyphens or numbers, even if your business name has them.
The key to searchability is using 1-3 words in the domain name. Many people won’t bother to type out all the hyphens between the words or remember names that are too long. If you end up using hyphens, make sure to purchase all variations of your domain name to redirect to your website.
2. Link It to Your Brand
If your business or brand name is easy to pronounce, it’s best to use it as a domain name for the website.
Many entrepreneurs create a brand around their personal and use their full name as a domain name.
In any case, make sure the name is not already used by another person/business before buying it.
3. Use the Right Extension
Depending on the type of business you own, the right extension can help you stand out. For example, if you have a photography business, you can add the extension .photography instead of .com.
Similarly, .biz is great for e-commerce sites and online stores, .co is for commerce, companies and communities, .org for organizations etc.
4. Make It Memorable
The best domain names out there share three main characteristics: they’re short, easy to type and memorable.
Your domain is a digital address for your business. And in a sea of millions of domains, you have to make it as memorable as possible.
You want your potential customers to remember it almost instantly. So make it short and to the point.
5. Try to Use Keywords
Some businesses like to use keywords in their domain names to target their customers. For example, if you own a plumbing company in Dallas, you may want to use something like dallasplumbers.com.
Whether you use keywords as a domain name or the full name of your company is entirely up to you. But if you can integrate keywords in the domain, it may help the search engines rank you higher.
6. Check If Another Company Is Using It
Once you’ve chosen the perfect domain name, do a quick online search to see if somebody else is using it. You don’t want to register a domain name only to end up being sued by another company that has trademarked it.
If this is the case, consider using a variation of the name or think of a new name altogether to avoid legal problems.
Final Thoughts on Choosing the Best Domain
Now that you know the basics of choosing a domain for your business, it’s time to go ahead and buy it.
If you need custom domain names for your website or a reliable web host, contact us today! We’d love to help you out!