Choosing the right domain name is equally important as any of the other elements that aid in the success of an online business. Yet, you may be surprised at how many small business owners don’t give it a professional thought.
We believe you should take it seriously. The best advice we can give you is to choose a name that adds value to your business.
Here is a list of things that will help you do that:
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Keep it short. Five to seven characters are recommended, but they are hard to find nowadays with the .com TLD. There are a host of new TLD’s that might help add value to your domain name, but they are somewhat more expensive since they are new and in fair demand. The extra expense now may be more than worth it later.
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Make it meaningful. Your domain name will represent your company, products and services. Your domain name should give some idea of what your business is about.
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Make it easy to spell. Of course the shorter names are generally easier to spell. Easy to spell names prevent mistakes when entering it in your browser’s address bar.
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Make it easy to remember. If a potential visitor can readily recall your domain name when needed, he/she is more likely to visit your site.
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Ensure it is spelled correctly. Correct spelling of words is easier to remember and type than incorrect spelled words. And they are less confusing.
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Make it unique. It doesn’t have to be catchy, but catchy words have a tendency to be easily remembered. The idea is to have your domain name be easily associated with your company or product.
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Keep it flawless. Don’t let it be confused with or sound like someone else’s domain name. If a larger company has mycompany.com, it may be better to avoid a domain as my company.biz since the .com TLD is more popular. Visitors wanting to view your site may, out of habit, type the .com and, unknowingly, visit the wrong site to make their purchase.
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Strive for clarity of meaning. Make sure it can’t be taken to mean something else. Using more than one word and trying to come up with a catchy name could unknowingly result in an inappropriate name. For a fictitious example, take the first letters of a company’s name that offers consulting services (as Arco Solutions System). It’s a crude example, but worse things have happened when trying to register a domain name.
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Have it represent your business. At first, TLD’s were to be used to categorize the type of business as: .com for commercial, .biz for small business, .org for organization, .edu (restricted use) for US education system, etc. However, there was little control over their use at the time and the .com became the most popular and most sought for TLD. There are other TLD’s and new ones are being made available.
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Keep it protected. If your budget allows it, you might want to consider registering your name with several TLD’s. It can prevent another company from copycatting your name and lead visitors away from your site. For example, you want the domain name, example.com for your website. You may also consider example.org, example.biz, and/or example.net to help protect your domain from being confused with other closely related domain names.
