Business Web Design Resource How to Choose a Domain Name
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How to choose a domain name

The complexities of owning an online business involve practical decisions, and they extend all the way to your domain name. Believe it or not, the right domain name can be the most critical marketing decision you make for your online business venture to thrive.

Depending on how big or small your business is, and its operating budget, affects the decision of how to choose your domain name..

If you have a large budget and you want to specifically market your brand, it is a good idea to have a brand name in your domain. For example, MountainDew.Com is an off-shoot of the Coca-Cola Co. Specific information about MountainDew is found at that Web site rather than using the broad-based CocaCola.com Web site.

A smaller budget means you should use a keyword for your domain name. Let’s say you own a small-scale flower business. Perhaps your domain should be shopflowers.com or flowerstobuy.com. The keyword “flowers” is in the domain, so it is more likely to be hit during a search-engine search.

Here are some other helpful hints in choosing the right domain:

  • Use a domain search Web site to first recognize whether your desirable domain is already registered. Domainsearch.com is a reliable Web site to perform this task.
  • Seek advice from people knowledgeable with domain use. Webmaster forums exist online and those in the know are always willing to offer advice to show their expertise. It doesn’t hurt to cover all avenues before making one of the most important decisions for your online business.
  • Domains should be short and sweet. They should not be longer than 10 characters. Customers will remember acronyms or simplified names more than a long-winded domain. The domain should roll easily off their tongue.
  • Choose a unique domain. If, for example, if a business already is using shopflowers.com, do not use myshopflowers.com. This can be easily confused by the customer. They will tend to relate more to shopflowers.com than an extension of that form.
  • Use only the .com extension. Other extensions such as .net and .org are widely used but not as mainstream as the .com extension. Any business tries to draw itself to the masses…. well, the masses on the internet primarily use .com extensions.
  • Unless your online business is only geared toward a specific city or location, try to avoid a location in the domain. Using the flower shop example, if you are in Las Vegas and you want to only target Las Vegas customers, then lasvegasflowers.com might be a suitable domain. Otherwise, try to avoid locations in your domain.
  • Save your money and pay the minimum for a domain. Many Web hosts offer very inexpensive charges for a domain name. Why pay a lot of money for something as simple as a domain name? However, you should NEVER use a free domain. This does not make a good impression on your customers. A domain such as freewebsite.com/shopflowers is not very impressive and search engines will not list it.
  • If you believe the customers might be confused by your domain, try to use variations of your domain, if you can afford it. For example, shopflowers.com can be confused with flowersshop.com. If you can, try to register both variations for your company’s Web site.
  • Avoid using hyphens in your domain. Customers are more apt to remember and type shopflowers.com rather than shop-flowers.com. Always go with human nature.
  • Don’t register a domain with the number “0” because customers might confuse that with the letter “O”.
  • If you register a domain that includes numbers such as “2” and “4”, such as flowers4you.com or flowers2buy.com, make sure you back it up with a flowerforyou.com and flowerstobuy.com domain. Make sure you think like the customer and what they might remember.
  • To cover all your bases, take a look at recently deleted domains to get an idea of what you might use. Deleteddomains.com is a good resource. You immediately know that domain is available because it was recently deleted.
  • Avoid infringement by using a similar domain. Research all potential trademark conflicts with your domain before you purchase one.
Thank you to Javier Moralas for this How to Choose a Domain Name article.

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