Tips on Choosing A Domain and Domain Name

Domain Name Authority Search Engine Optimization SEO Strategy Website Traffic

Choosing the right domain may not seem like much work. After all, your target audience will visit your company’s website regardless of its domain, right? It’s actually a little more complicated than that.

Your domain and domain name are both a key part of your company’s web identity. It can also affect your SEO rankings depending on the keywords used and serves as your audience’s first impression of your business brand.

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This requires lots of brainstorming and consideration so that you pick a domain and name that fits your business and its brand. Here are a couple of tips to choosing the right domain name for you and your company brand.

1. Keep it short and simple

When choosing a domain, you should consider one that is short and sweet. A long and complicated domain name can potentially lead to misspellings or mistypings. This, in turn, makes it harder for customers and target audience to find your company’s website—and you definitely don’t want that!

You can test this by asking a small group of people to write or type down your domain name. The more people struggle to spell it, the more you will need to break it down.

We recommend making your domain name around 6-14 characters long. If you can create a short domain name that’s brandable, use it!

2. Try to use keywords

Keywords are super helpful when it comes to SEO rankings, which can increase your website’s traffic. It makes sense to use them in your domain name, just to give it that extra push in your site’s search rankings. Remember to make sure these keywords reflect the overall core of your business and its products/services.

Avoid going overboard with the amount of keywords you usetoo many keywords stuffed into a title can cause it to become overly generic. This won’t make much of an impression on your customers and target audience.

If you decided to use keywords into your domain name, we recommend using your chosen keywords at the start of your domain name for more power in your SEO rankings. You can find the right keywords through planning tool such as Google Keyword Planner.

3. Avoid hyphens and numbers

Using hyphens and numbers in your domain name can make it confusing to type out on a search engine, even if the name you choose is short. Customers may not know whether to spell out the number or just write the numeral.

Same goes with hyphens. Imagine if YouTube or Facebook had hyphens in each name, like “You-Tube” or “Face-Book.” Neither are exactly memorable or impressive, and your potential consumers are likely to think the same.

So while a domain name should be short and sweet, it should also be impactful, consistent, and smooth—numbers and hyphens don’t really offer these qualities!

4. Research as much as you can

Millions of domain names are currently registered so it’s important to make sure your chosen domain name isn’t taken or suffer these consequences. This includes any trademarks, copyrights, or name usage by other companies.

We recommend using a domain name generator to help you come up with some unique ideas. Some awesome (and free!) name generators include:

  1. GoDaddy: To use this helpful tool, you must enter one or two keywords you would like to use in your domain name into their search bar. You can then filter through different available domain name choices, domain extensions, character length, pricing, and country/location.
  2. DomainHole: This website helps you to search and filter keywords, find expired domains, create new domain names through various tools, and save any filters, keywords, or domain names you’re working on.  
  3. Name Mesh: With Name Mesh, you must have a couple of keywords in mind before you can use it to your advantage. Once you decide on 2-3 keywords you would like to use in your domain name, you can enter them into the search bar to create a list of possible options.

5. Choose an appropriate domain extension

Domain name extensions are the suffixes you usually see at the end of web addresses, like “.com” or “.net”. Each extension can have specific uses, so it’s important to use one that works for your company and service/products.

The “.com” domain extension is by far the most popular extension because of how familiar and memorable it is. Its popularity may also make it tough to create a domain name that’s unique and catchy.

Other possible domain extensions and how they’re usually used:

  1. .co: typically used for companies, commerces, and communities.
  2. .info: informational websites
  3. .net: technical or infrastructure websites.
  4. .org: commonly used by non-profit organizations.
  5. .biz: business or e-commerce websites.
  6. .me: blogs, resumes or personal sites.

Depending on what your planning to use your company website for (and what you’re planning to show on it), you might find an extension that’s just right for both your domain name and brand.

Your domain and domain name will definitely have an impact in your overall business and website success. Make sure to perform lots of research and thought into your domain name before you reach your final decision.

Check out our blog, 10 Best Marketing Tools for Small Businesses to learn more about the best marketing tools you can use to help you reach your business goals.