A good domain goes a long way. A well thought out domain name establishes credibility and authority for a business. Additionally, a properly designed domain name pushes brand identity and promotes the reach of a business.
The goal when picking a domain is twofold: be memorable and reduce the likelihood of typos and misspellings. A good domain name is going to be recognizable, and easy for visitors to find — so here is a checklist to help you craft the best domain for your new business idea.
The Do’s
- Keep it to one or two words
- Short and sweet is best. Data shows most domain names rest between 6 and 14 characters.
- Get a .com
- Domains that end in .net, .co, and so on, are often used by spammers and can cause distrust with consumers.
- See if the domain has a past history
- Often, domain names have been used before. If the domain you are seeking is available, it is worth the effort to see if it was used in the past. Recycled domain names can sometimes carry a negative past history that may affect the new site’s success.
- Read your domain name aloud
- It may look good in the search bar, but how does it sound out loud? Can the name be broken up in a way that doesn’t reflect your business properly? An example would be itscrap.com. It reads aloud like, “it’s crap .com,” but the original site was supposed to come across as “IT Scrap.” The IT company eventually changed its name.
- Think about SEO
- If your business only operates within a specific geographic area, it could pay sizable SEO benefits to include the location in your domain name. A great example would be a realtor in Seattle who could buy the domain – SeattleRealEstate.com
- Watch your hosting company closely
- Sometimes hosting companies are slick about adding unnecessary fees and services for your domain’s functionality. GoDaddy is notorious for upselling on things that aren’t needed, such as certain shopping cart options.
- Make sure the business owner is the owner of the domain name
- This can lead to a lot of confusing and fighting over legality. Just make sure the business owner also owns his/her own domain name.
- Get private registration services
- They are usually free! This way you also avoid a slew of companies looking to bombard you with sales calls about SEO and website services for your newly bought domain.
- Grab any related domains
- By buying related domain names closely associated with yours, you can redirect those sister sites to your primary domain name. This can help increase visitor traffic.
The Don’ts
- Mix numbers and words
- A domain name like fun4thefamily.com is going to cause confusion and typos.
- Include hyphens, abbreviations, or homonyms
- These elements are going to result in far less traffic for your website. Keep it simple and straight forward for people typing in the search bar.
- Use some of the most misspelled words
- Americans are poor spellers. Avoid using words we just can’t get right.
- Try and piggyback off similar-sounding websites
- Don’t attempt to buy a domain like Zahoo, and get traffic from Yahoo. Or don’t try and buy PopeyesBurgers.com. By looking to gain web traffic from larger domains you’re possibly infringing on copyright issues and just being tacky.
Need Help Planning Your Domain Name?
At Venta Marketing, we are helping businesses meet their goals head-on. As leaders in the digital marketing industry, we know what a great domain looks like. Contact us today to inquire about how we can help your business grow!