Choosing a Great Domain Name For Your Business

The domain name of your business is what makes you unique online! You should choose a domain name that is easy to remember, possesses a brand value, has a trust factor associated with it and, the last but not the least, keyword-rich to score well in the search engines like Google and Yahoo. Your business domain name is also hugely important for your business correspondence, especially via email.

A long name can cause communication problems, particularly if the domain name is too complicated and difficult to memorize. Here we offer you some tips on how to select a well-meaning domain name that highlights the nature of your business or brand name:

1. Keyword-rich or an exclusive domain name? If most of your business activity is going to be online, then it is vitally important to research popularity and competition for keywords built into your brand name. Try to use the most frequently searched and (among those) least competitive terms in your tentative domain name. To find such keywords, it is imperative to do some research using various website tools (like Google Adsense Keyword Tool e.g.) BEFORE launching your online business. Your target keywords should satisfy all the criteria we listed above plus bring the highest volume of traffic over a month.

2. Use your company name only if your brand is FAMOUS. That is right. If your business name is well known and overwhelms the name of products that you sell, then by all means choose the company name as the domain name for your business. For example, if your company name is Xerox, you should definitely go for Xerox as your domain name, because most people often call a photocopier Xerox, rather than the other way round. However, this is not a typical example, as most start-up and developing businesses are not so well known. If you are one of those, then you should better go for a keyword-rich domain name. An alternative, of course, is to go for both keyword-rich and brand-descriptive domain. Yet another option is to buy two domain names, one that reflects your brand name and the other containing keywords or key phrases related to your product.

3. Keep your business domain name as short as possible. Bear in mind that the shorter your domain name, the easier it is to remember. If you choose a domain name that includes a popular lingo, it’s even better! However, these days, as you will find, most popular two-word domain names are already taken. An alternative here is to hyphenate two-word phrases. SEO experts will tell you that with regard to Search Engine rankings having hyphenated multiple-word terms in a domain name is almost as good as having them one after another without hyphens, and that is probably true. However, the downside of using this strategy is that people may remember names, but often forget to type hyphens, and therefore, if you site has the same terms as an unhyphenated one (e.g., cheapholidays.com and cheap-holidays.com), they will likely to go to your competitors website. So you should undertake a thorough study when choosing your domain name. Eventually, it is one of the most important things that will dictate the success of your business.

4. Always go for Dot.com:  If your website is E-commerce or any kind of online business, it’s always beneficial to go for domains with .com-extension, as when people type a domain name in the URL-filed of their browser WITHOUT an extension, it will automatically lead them to the domain with .com-extension! To reserve a good domain name and protect it from competitors, it is also a good idea to buy the same name with other popular extensions like .org, net, .biz. However, if you decide to buy only one extension, by all means go for .com!

5. Register related domain names: If you think that in the future you may have a great number of visitors arriving at your website through word-of-mouth promotion, then you should think about registering similar domain names that will re-direct visitors to your main URL (e.g. travelonholidays.com and traveltoholidays.com). There are domain speculators who register domain names hoping that some day they will be able to sell them for a profit to someone who really needs a particular domain name. So if you think up a few really nice domain names related to your business, you should consider registering them as well.

6. Bide your time: You should not select a domain name in minutes just because you want to get done and over with it. A rushed decision may cost you a great deal. Have patience and invest enough time to research and think up a domain name that you believe will suit your business best. It is also a good idea to discuss the clarity and attractiveness of a domain name with family, friends and close colleagues to see whether you really found a good name for your business. Oftentimes, a layman advice may turn out to be the most valuable!

REMEMBER: There are no hard-and-fast rules in selecting the best domain names and it’s often a subtle balance between the guidelines we give you here and your gut instinct.