5 Key Tips to Choosing a Great Domain Name

If you’re setting up a new business, buying a domain name might not be your first priority as you plan the various other areas of your business operations. However, despite its low priority, it is one of the things that can have a big impact on the success of your business—or certainly how your online marketing performs.

With a price that typically ranges from a few dollars to maybe $15 per year, buying a domain name isn’t expensive or time-consuming. But, what should you know about buying the best domain name for your business?

Here are some pointers to help you choose the best domain to support your marketing.

Best Practice: Your Domain Should Reflect Your Business Name

Your domain name is going to represent your business website. Choose a name that is relevant to your business and website content. Doing so helps with visibility in search results. If you have unrelated domain and business names, it can be confusing for your customers. An unrelated domain name can also make it more difficult to find/remember your site and/or email address (assuming it reflects your domain name…)

It Should be Easy to Remember

While there are a lot of determinants to select a good domain name, try simply correlating it with your business and keeping it easy to remember. The easier a domain name is, the more traffic it will generate.

Complex names might pique your customers’ curiosity, but it is less likely they’ll be able to recall it the next time they want to visit your website or refer it to others. Tip: avoid using hyphens in your domain. People generally don’t remember them.

Make it Short as Possible

Lengthy names can be tough for your visitors to memorize and type. Make sure you choose a shorter, easily-spelled domain name that’s easy to pronounce, read, spell and that it makes sense to your customers.

DON’T make the same mistake I made years ago when I selected NewParadigmMarketing.com as my domain. It is long, and as I have since discovered, many people don’t know how to spell “paradigm.” Worse, many don’t even know the word when they see it. But, with a domain that is now 18 years old, it is too late in my case!

For example, if your business is Joe’s Plumbing, then “JoesPlumbing.com” is probably a good choice.

Include Important Keywords if Possible

When selecting a domain name, you might think ahead about online marketing. If it’s possible to include main keywords, this can help your site rank higher in search results and generate more traffic. Using the Joes Plumbing example, if Joe is targeting Santa Rosa as his primary market area, he could add geo-localized keywords. JoesPlumbingSantaRosa.com has a better chance of ranking higher in Santa Rosa area search results. Yes, it does add to the domain name length. But, the domain is easily heard, read and spelled by prospective customers—which is half the battle!

Shouldn’t I Have .com in My Domain?

A dot com domain is still the most recognizable. That said, most people are now aware of the fact that there are MANY domain extensions: .net, .org, .biz, .info, etc. So there is little or no downside to choosing the domain name of your choice regardless of the extension following the dot.

Almost any type of domain name is possible, including “vanity” (custom) domains. There are also thousands of new extensions that allow you to customize a domain name to better connect customers with your business or make a statement. Examples include: .rocks, .travel, .music, .media, .marketing, .salon, .consulting and many more.

Even our plumber friend Joe could get on the bandwagon. Now it is literally possible to register the name joes.plumbing!

For an exhaustive list of possibilities, check out this source: https://www.key-systems.net/en/blog/list-of-domain-extensions

Tip: from personal experience, it saves time and makes things easier for your web designer (and probably cheaper for you) if you register your domain at the same place as you maintain your other Internet accounts.