How to Choose a Domain Name

Choosing a domain name is an important part of establishing your website. Above all, you want your domain name to be compatible with your business, industry and company name and easy for customers to remember. Yet, so many new website owners miss the mark when it comes to their domain name.


First of all, get a domain name that matches your website name or vice versa.

The best domain names are those that a customer can literally guess what it is. For example, an ideal domain name for a company called West Texas Saddles would be westtexassaddles.com.

If you’re the owner of West Texas Saddles and your domain name is saddlesforyou.com, your domain name is working against you. More than likely, customers will search for westtexassaddles.com and land on another site. Obviously, you do not want your customers to accidently land on competitor sites.


If a domain name that matches your company and website name isn’t available, you have a few options.

First of all, you can rename your website and business based on a domain name that is available. If you’re looking for an affordable route, this is the way to go.

However, if you’ve already invested money in establishing your brand name, you can offer to buy the ideal domain name from the owner. It may come at a cost, but it would be worth it and it’ll save you a lot of headache in the future.

Alternatively, if the name you want is already taken, you might be offered a few alternatives that include dashes and other variations on the name you want. They might seem like a tempting and easy fix, but there’s a catch.

These alternatives might include dashes, extra words, or even plural versions of your requested name. When using dashes in your domain name, it’s hard to emphasize a dash. Oftentimes, your customers will forget the dash and land, yet again, on a competitor’s webpage. This is definitely something you don’t want. Unless a dash is something that would naturally appear with the words in your domain name, avoid dashes.

Your alternatives might also include words like MYwesttexassaddles.com or THEwesttexassaddles.com. Again, because they’re so close to your desired domain name, you might be tempted to bite. However, if you’re going to use these alternatives, it’s important to advertise ‘the’s and ‘my’s along with your company and website name. Otherwise, customers will likely forget to include them in your domain name and once again, they won’t be able to find your site or they’ll end up on a competitor’s webpage.


Domain names should also be short.

Domain names can be around 67 characters long but when it comes to establishing an easy-to-remember domain name, shorter is always better. If your company or website name cannot fit into 67 characters, you should probably change your company name.

When choosing a domain name, make sure it’s compatible with your company and website name so that customers don’t have to work so hard to remember it. Keep it short and simple so that customers don’t get fooled over dashes, extra words, or other creative variations on your domain name. A good domain name will effortlessly and easily direct customers to your site without a hitch.

 

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