So you’ve decided to get your business online – excellent idea! But it’s not as easy as you thought, and the first stumbling block you may have hit was in choosing a domain name for this shiny new website of yours. If your business name is short and sweet, you may be all set: shortandsweet.com, boom, ready to go. But that’s not always the case, and things get more complicated when you’re trying to match a catchy web name to your existing branding. In addition, there are other things to consider that you might not be aware of if you’re not a super-techy type. So here are a few tips to get you on your way. (By the way, if you’re even closer to the beginning of your journey, most of these points will also apply to choosing a name for your business itself….)
- Don’t make it too long or too complicated. Complex things are not only harder to remember, they’re harder to type. You definitely don’t want someone ending up at your competitor’s site because of a typo! Along the same lines, shorter is easier for people to remember, as well as more likely to be “catchy” and repeatable. Underscores and hyphens in particular are best avoided.
If possible, use keywords from your industry in your domain name. Think of what someone might assume about your business based solely on the name. Then try to choose something that makes it clear what visitors to your site can expect. You should also consider search terms someone looking for your type of business might use.
If you’re really stuck, use a name generator. Bustaname.com and nameboy.com are two of the many tools out there designed to help you generate a name for your site or business. Try them out, even if it’s just for fun. Both sites also show the availability of each name suggested (see #6).
Know which extension is appropriate for your business. Of course, .com is the most common, and you probably want to purchase the .com version of your name even if you’re going to use something else in your main marketing materials (see #7). Generally meant to imply a business, usually a for-profit, .com is the extension that most people will automatically assume is the right one when they try to remember your web address. There are, however, a myriad of other possibilities available on today’s web market. Here are just a few, along with the type of organizations usually associated with them:
- .org non-profit and/or non-commercial enterprises
- .info informational sites
- .net technical companies or sites
- .biz similar to .com, but less commonly known
- .me usually for a personal blog or resumé site
- .edu available only for educational institutions
- .gov available only for U.S. government sites
- .guide, .coffee, .healthcare, .legal, .services and a whole mess of other extensions now available to differentiate specific niches. I recommend being careful with these since they are not as well known yet. But they could be a great way of indicating your niche if one applies to you.
You can find a complete list of possible domain extensions at this wikipedia link.
Say it out loud. Some things look good on paper, but when you try to verbally tell someone where to find you on the web, it’s not as smooth-sounding. Are there ways someone is likely to misspell or otherwise incorrectly understand your domain name?
Check to see if the name you’re considering is available. You can use just about any domain name registration or hosting site to find out if xyz.com is already taken. If it is, some sites will suggest slight changes to the name you searched, or tell you what other extensions are available (xyz.net or xyz.biz). Sometimes a name is not available, but is for sale: there are people/companies who buy up great-sounding names in order to make a buck selling them to you for more than the usual cost of free-to-not-much. Be sure you click on them – they’re not always unreasonable, and may be worth it if you’re really set on a particular name, especially if it matches your branding perfectly.
Check to see if variations of the name you’re considering are available. Domain names are relatively cheap to register, and often a host will offer one name free with signup (that’s because it’s the hosting that represents the ongoing profit for them). Choose a name that is available in both .com and .net, then register at least those two versions and redirect the extras to your main site. Again, this reduces the chance that your customers will end up on a competitor’s site instead of yours. This also avoids problems if you become wildly successful and someone tries to buy up your domain name in alternative-extension versions to either sabotage you or to extort you into buying them back.
Research the use of your chosen name on social media and elsewhere. You don’t want to find out after you choose your domain name and register it that there’s someone else on Facebook (or LinkedIn or Etsy or whatever is most relevant to you) using that name. Check before you make your final domain name decision. KnowEm.com is a great tool that allows you to “search over 500 popular social networks, over 150 domain names, and the entire USPTO Trademark Database.” After you’ve registered your domain, be sure to go back and secure any other accounts you think you might need or want.
Test it out on friends and colleagues. It never hurts to get some feedback before you hit the BUY button.
Don’t wait too long before you decide. I’d hate to have you go through all that work, find the perfect name, mull it over, test it on your buddies, and then discover when you go back next week to register it that it’s been purchased in the meantime. It’s a fast-paced business world: choose carefully but don’t dawdle!
Best of luck with this first step in getting your website up and running! If you find yourself overwhelmed at any point in the process, contact Day2Day and I’ll be glad to help you out.
