When starting a new online business, choosing the right domain name is a crucial part of your success. If you choose the wrong domain name for your website, going back can be a hassle, so selecting the correct one is very vital.
Is it really important to think thoroughly about your domain name? Yes, it is. A domain name is a key element of your website so it is crucial to choose a domain name that matches your business.
This article focuses on 10 tips and tricks to choose the best domain name for your online business no matter what you run.
What is a domain name?
In simpler words, a domain name is your website name, that is, the address using which the internet users can access your website. Domain names are used for finding and identifying devices on the internet.
Internet uses IP addresses which is basically a series of numbers that is difficult for humans to understand. To eliminate this difficulty, domain names were used to identify the devices on the internet rather than using an IP address.
A domain name is any combination of letters and numbers along with the use of various domain name extensions such as .com, .org, .net, and many more.
After choosing the favorable domain name, you must register it before you can use it. A domain name typically costs you $10-$25 per year.
Why do you need a good domain name?
Domain names, as I have already mentioned, are the most important aspect on the web developed even before developing a website. Here are some of the reasons why should you use the best domain names for your website:
First Impression
When your visitors first visit your website, your domain name is the first thing that they will see. A good domain is what leaves an either good or bad but lasting impression and the bad impression can send your visitors running.
SEO
Previously, having an exact match domain (EMDs) used to be necessary to rank your website higher in the google search engine. As now it is no more necessary, however, having keywords in your domain name of course can still help in your SEO ranking.
Defines your brand
Your domain name is actually your brand name and choosing a domain name is actually a branding opportunity. The right domain name can increase your brand recognition resulting in enhancing your site performance in terms of the number of visitors and revenue.
Different TLDs
A TLD stands for Top Level Domain, which is the last part of the domain name, that is, after the dot. For example .com, .org, etc.
IANA or Internet Assigned Number Authority has recognized three types of TLDs and they are:
gTLD or Generic Top-Level Domain
gTLD contains the most recognizable top-level domains. Some of them are:
- .com
- .org
- .net
- .biz
- .info
sTLD or Sponsored Top-Level Domain
sTLD contains the top-level domains that are sponsored by a specific entity such as government, business, or other groups. Some of the most common sTLDs are:
- .gov
- .edu
- .mil
- .post
- .travel
ccTLD or Country Code Top-Level Domain
ccTLDs represents the top-level domain in specific countries. Some of the ccTLDs are as follows:
- Nepal – .np
- USA – .us
- United Kingdom – .uk
- European Union – .eu
- Germany – .de
- France – .fr
10 tips for choosing the best domain names for your website
Here, we are going to discuss the tips and tricks to help you choose the best domain name for your website as per your requirements.
Use the correct domain name extension
There are several domain name extensions that you can choose from original extensions such as .com, .org, and .net to niche extensions like .blog, .food, and .photography.
However, it is always recommended to choose a .com domain name extension. Although using new domain name extensions such as .blog but .com is the most credible and established among all.
Also, the new domain names are untrustworthy so choosing something that is less popular is not a good choice.
According to the Domain Name Stat, almost 43% of all the domains on the internet have .com extension, and the #1 reason for that might be the extension being most familiar and easy to remember.
Also, most of the people who are not tech-savvy tend to type “.com” instead of any other domain name extension.
Use keywords in your domain name
Keywords play a vital role in the domain name and can improve your SEO. along with quality content and good user experience, using keywords on your domain name can help rank your website higher in Google.
However, finding a keyword to target your audience is an extremely tough task to do as most of the keywords are already taken. Using the correct choice of keyword for your website domain name helps you in a great amount
Use brandable generic names
Your blog name stands for your brand name which should be unique so that it can stand out to the user’s minds. Your domain name should always be the name of your actual brand names such as amazon.com, microsoft.com, and many more. And amazon.com is much more brandable than OnlineBooks.com.
Keep your domain name short
Although the keyword in the domain name is very crucial, you shouldn’t go overboard with the length of our domain name. Your domain name should always be short and memorable so that your visitors remember your brand name easily.
Normally, it is always recommended to keep your domain name less than 15 characters to prevent users from entering any typos with longer domains which can lead to a loss of traffic.
Make it easy to type and pronounce
You should always remember the fact that your users are just normal people sometimes so normal that all they can do is type and pronounce simple words.
On top of all that, your domain name should be easy to share when writing as well as speaking. If you are trying to make a professional website, then the domain name being simple is extremely important.
Avoid hyphens, numbers, and doubled letters
Creating a domain name with hyphens and numbers can be a sign of spam domains, that is, something you would not want to be associated with.
As we have already gone through with the fact of the domain name being easy to type and pronounce, including hyphens comes in the way. Also, it is never a good idea to add doubled letters as it increases your chances of losing traffic.
Leave room to expand
Choosing a domain name that is related to your industry is always a smart choice so that your user can understand what is your website about.
As much as it is important to choose a domain name to represent your business, you do not want to use long term options.
For example, a clothing brand might choose a domain name like readymadetops.com, but in case they want to start selling pants and accessories, the domain name might prevent you to do so.
Check if it is trademarked
You should check your domain name before you register it to find out if there is already a domain registered under the same name.
You need to perform a trademark search through a simple Google search and checking the name’s availability on social media like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.
Choosing a similar domain name will cause severe legal implications causing you to lose a lot of money.
Use domain name generators when stuck
There are more than 360 million registered domain names available all around the world which implies that most of the good domain names are already taken.
Searching for a domain name for your website manually is a headache and time consuming as well. This is where you can use the domain name generators that you can find online such as Nameboy to search for new and interesting domain names. These tools are free and automatically search your defined keywords and find hundreds of domain names for you.
Get a free domain with a web host
You can find a number of web hosting companies that offer free as well as paid domain names for your website after you choose a particular plan on their host.
You can take full advantage of this offer especially if you are starting a new website. The web hosts that offer a free domain name are as follows:
- Bluehost
- iPage
Final Thoughts
If you are a beginner in the blogging industry and you are starting your blog for the first time, then this guideline on how to choose the best domain might be helpful. This article gives you an overview of how to go through each small step and detail of choosing the best domain name specifically for your online business. A few minutes read in this article might help you to choose the best way to represent your online presence in the world.