Four Things To Consider When Choosing A Domain Name

Picking a domain name should be easy, right? If you’re thinking of just using your business name, you should think again. A good bit of thought should be given to selecting a domain name. Picking a domain name is like getting married. You’re going to have to live with it until the end. I am suggesting four things to consider when choosing a domain name.

People that use your site will come to know it by the domain name. Repeat visitors will often just type in the domain name to get to the site. For example, do you search for “Amazon” when you want to buy a book or do you simply type in amazon.com? If Amazon were to change its domain name to Shop, there would be a lot of confusion. The same goes for your domain name. Once you pick it stick with it.

Domain Name Choices

Even if the obvious choice is your business name that might not be the best. There are four significant issues to consider.

1) Unwise Choice

Is there something about your business name that makes using it as a domain an unwise choice? This situation typically arises if you have a long business name or have plural words. “Johnson’s Tea Marketing Campaigns, Inc.” would be an awful domain name. Visitors would find it difficult to type.

2) Double Letter Problems

Double letter problems are a second issue that is entirely unique to the Internet. What if Brendas Software wants to use its business name as a domain? The “s” at the end of first word and beginning of the second can cause confusion. Is the domain name Brendassoftware.com or Brendasoftware.com? You don’t want to confuse your users.

3) Nature of Your Site and Search Engine Optimization.

The third issue concerns the nature of your site and search engine optimization. If you’re shooting for a particular keyword phrase, you may be better off using that keyword phrase in your domain name. Google, for instance, looks at the domain name when evaluating a site. If the words in your domain name are spaced with dashes, many believe it will help in the ranking process. This is why you see so many xxx-xxxx-xxx.com domain names on the net. If your business focuses on a very specific area, strong consideration should be given to using relevant keywords in your domain name.

4) Your Domain Name Should end in “.com”

Finally, your domain name should end in “.com” and not some other extension. The simple fact is that when people think of sites, they always type in .com. There are other extensions and .us, .net, .biz, etc., may seem unique, but it kills your traffic. People have been mentally conditioned to type in .com, so don’t select any other ending. If you do, a smart competitor will register the .com version of your name to get some free traffic. I’m sure you don’t want any of those unsavory sites doing that to you!

So, take a step back and remember these four things to consider when choosing a domain name.

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