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10 Best Tips For Choosing a Domain Name

Do you need help choosing a domain name? SITE123 helps its users search for and pick the best domain names.

When you start your own website or blog you need to pick your domain name. The basic function of a domain is to establish an address for your website. In the physical world, your business address is composed of your street name, number, city, country and maybe a ZIP code or other code of the sort. In the virtual world, it’s just a domain.

Domain name is more than just an address for your website. It plays a role in your marketing, brand identity and your credibility. It's not something that you do in a few minutes. It takes a lot of thought and consideration as, often, it’s the first thing people will see when introduced to your business. Think you may need a hand?

Table of Contents:

1. Find “brandable” and “rememberable” names
2. Easy to spell and pronounceable
3. What is the best extension? Go after .com!
4. Short as possible
5. SEO-friendly domain name that clearly related to your business
6. Think locally
7. Be unique
8. Check social media
9. Avoid trademark infringement & confusion
10. Avoid hyphens, numbers or special characters

1. Find “brandable” and “rememberable” names

A domain name is the gateway to your business in the online world. Since you always want to keep the door open, a name that is easy to remember does it for you. A rememberable name that carries a strong brand brings you higher chances of having your customers come back in the future. Although it is not easy to find catchy, rememberable and brandable domain names, you have to insist on it… Use your creativity and give yourself some time and you will come up with a good name. A perfect example of both qualities in a brand and domain name can be seen in apple.com.

2. Easy to spell and pronounceable

An easy name is indispensable for a great brand identity. It must be easy to spell and to pronounce. Everyone hates having to say the name of that store or restaurant that almost no one knows how to pronounce. Not to mention when you can’t refer them to someone because the name is so hard that you can’t remember it. Stay out of that mess by choosing an easy name. Something like paypal.com is easy to spell and to pronounce

3. What is the best extension? Go after .com!

It is still the most used and most common extension. Besides commonality, it is what the average internet user would consider as more reliable as a domain extension for a business. However, for traffic purposes and marketing objectives, you can consider buying all the extensions for your name, including .com, .net, .info, .biz, etc. For instance, McAfee holds both mcafee.com and mcafee.net.

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4. Short as possible

Although you could, it’s better not to get a domain like www.comebuysometshirtsfromme.com. Think how hard it would be for someone to remember that. Would it look good and cause an impact if written on a card of flyer? Most likely not. And you would even have to deal with the fact that people might type it wrong, not reach you and give up. Let’s stop here because I think you get the point. Keep it short.

5. SEO-friendly domain name that clearly related to your business

Wait, SEO? Really? Yes. It comes into your website address too. Or do you think Google, Bing and other search engines would leave the most important part of your website, your domain, out of the fun? Of course, they take it into account. So what can you do? Take advantage of it, of course. Do some keyword research and insert something popular into your domain name. Use broad keywords that relate to your business segment. A popular keyword is “restaurant”. If you own a restaurant named “Red” get a domain like www.redrestaurant.com or something similar. This way you can combine the power of your existing brand to the power of SEO.

6. Think locally

Consider the traits of your business to choose a domain name that is in accordance. What is the reach of your business? What is your business vertical? Make the domain name intuitive taking some of these aspects into account and trying to incorporate them into your address.

7. Be unique

Everything we say here should be taken as advice. Only you will know what the best domain name for your business is. Every business is unique in many aspects and so is yours. Use your creativity to come up with a name that is remarkable, catchy, punchy and that has a particular sparkle. It has to be unique and represent your business in a special way. A unique name and domain name that can be mentioned here to illustrate the point is moz.com

8. Check social media

Do you already have your social media pages set up? If yes, what are their addresses? In this case, you should get a domain that is the same or similar. If you don’t have social media pages set up yet, make sure you check the name you are thinking of giving your domain across all social media platforms to make sure you will be able to keep the same name for all of them. For example: site123.com, www.facebook.com/Site123/, twitter.com/site123_com

9. Avoid trademark infringement & confusion

There are so many brands out there nowadays that before you get your domain name, you have to do a quick research to make sure no one else is using the same identity. Make sure there are no trademarks related to the name you chose. Another good thing to do is to check for similar domains and see if there won’t be any confusion related to businesses or website addresses.

10. Avoid hyphens, numbers or special characters

Not all the domains like site123.com are good. In our case, it’s ok to use the number in the domain name because they actually compose the name of our brand itself. So it’s more than natural that it makes part of our address. However, if your business name does not include numbers, hyphens or special characters, it’s better to keep them out as they may confuse users and end up looking bad.

Summary

Now you have the tools to choose the perfect domain that perfectly describes your business and supports you in terms of branding and SEO. The task of choosing a domain name involves a lot more than one may think at first but it can also be an incredible experience because you get to know more about your own business and brand in the process. Exercise your mind, creativity, analytical and research skills with the task of choosing a domain name. Only the strong will take on the full challenge. Will you?