A domain name is a web address that points to an IP address, a server: your blog/website. Domain names have extensions at the end of the URL, for instance ?.com? (the very extension this website is registered with), ?.org? and ?.net?. Domain names have become a vital factor of brands in both the online and offline world, so they should therefore be considered greatly when starting your online business.
Having a good domain name for your website is surprisingly beneficial for your online presence, it will help your visitors to find your site easily, it is an important factor of ranking well in search rankings and lead the way towards improving brand recognition and buyer confidence for e-commerce/paid service websites.
What is a good domain name?
There are a set of factors that website owners consider, in order to judge whether or not a domain name is ?good?. I?ll list these factors and explain them.
- Is it memorable?
Will your visitors remember your domain name? If they don?t you may never see them again, unless they?ve jotted your website name down on a piece of paper that?ll take them ages to find when they want to visit your website. You definitely shouldn?t consider the letting that happen because that?s not good for your user experience at all; your returning traffic and word of mouth will be abominable.
What about offline promotion and sharing? How will you, or other people, tell people how to find your website? One character missed out could lead to that person, your potential traffic, never finding your website; for example, if I were to have named my website ?howtomakemoneybloggingontheinternet-theinternetlaboratory?, I?d probably never see returning traffic.
I think I?ve done enough of explaining why having a domain that humans can?t remember is bad, but how about explaining how to choose a memorable domain? There are numerous elements of memorable domains: firstly, don?t choose a domain with any spelling mistakes or abbreviations in because visitors will replace the spelling mistakes and abbreviations with their original form in the dictionary.
Secondly, restrict yourself from buying domains with extensions that aren?t .com, .org, or .net. I?ll explain in much more detail in no. 3, but in terms of memorability: people will assume it?s either one of those three most used extensions. The chances are that no one will remember your .biz domain.
Furthermore, don?t purchase a domain name that is too long. I?d say anything over 50 characters long is far too lengthy and oppose the value of having a human-friendly domain.
- Is it relevant?
The relevancy of your domain name is entirely important; for instance, if a website owner were to choose the domain ?lovelykittens.com? for a flowershop, it would destroy their online brand recognition completely. Unrelated domains appear as spammy, and do not build trust with your visitors.
Your domain?s relevance will be particularly helpful with ranking well in search engines. The domain name ?kittensarecute.com? will benefit your search engine ranking for the search term ?kittens are cute?. This isn?t an encouragement to spam your domain with your keywords, as that will ruin the credibility and memorability, as aforementioned, of your website.
It should only contain letters A-Z
Your domain name should only contain letters A-Z of the English alphabet, unless there are numbers that are essential to your branding. Companies that have numbers essential to their branding are 118, 128-reg.co.uk and so forth. The use of dashes is somewhat debated, but I think it can be used, but should not be used more than once to keep the domain memorable.
The reason that you shouldn?t use numbers that aren?t essential to your branding is that your visitors will not remember them, as they see no connection, or relevance, with the numbers and the website.
- What is the domain extension?
Are you considering purchasing a .uk.com domain? STOP. For a multitude of reasons, purchasing a domain that isn?t one of the following extensions: ?.com?, ?.net? or ?.org? would be a very bad move to make. Why is this, you ask?
Trust
Domains with the three extensions I?ve listed are normally identified by visitors as trustworthy. This is not to see that all domains with the extensions are trustworthy, but it will increase confidence in your website which is especially important if you?re run an e-commerce/paid service website, or give financial advice.
Memorability
As aforementioned in the second point of ?Is it memorable?? is that your visitors will frequently replace your extension with one of the three extensions (most likely ?.com? ? this is why I suggest you always buy a ?.com? domain) and this will utterly destroy the possibility of your website getting traffic from word of mouth.
That doesn?t mean that you can?t purchase domains with these extensions and redirect them to your main domain. Doing this helps protect your business? online presence. Please note that the advice given about extensions is not for government or educational websites.
Where do I get a domain name?
You can register domains at domain registrars. I?d suggest that you go with GoDaddy. They?ve provided me with a great user experience every time that I?ve used them (for the last six years or so).
It is always worth looking at domain names for sale, as a considerable amount of good domain names are available, for sale, in domain marketplaces. If you?ve stumbled upon a domain name and it has been registered, don?t hesitate to contact the registered owner of the domain and see if it?s available for purchase: check WhoIs for the contact information of the domain registrant.
Another way to grab good domain names that are registered is to see when the domain is due to expire (again, you can use WhoIs to do this) and try and renew the domain for yourself before the registrant does.
If you?d like help picking a domain name or feedback, don?t hesitate to drop a comment below. I?d love to help you, and if you?d like to discuss domain names with me, I dearly anticipate reading your opinions on the subject matter and writing back.
Source: http://www.theinternetlaboratory.com/branding/how-to-choose-a-great-domain-for-your-website/
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