Your domain name is a huge part of your online identity. It’s how your business is recognized and identified. Without it, everyone looking for you would have to type in the exact IP address of your web page. Seeing how these digit sequences are completely random, it would make things extremely difficult. On the other hand, this simplification is not the only thing your domain name is good for. It can also affect the way people perceive your business. Because of this, here are some practices, you might want to look out for when looking to choose a perfect domain name.
Avoid Complications
The first thing you need to keep in mind is that, although some people bookmark or write down your domain name, a lot of them will try to memorize it. This is why you need to keep it simple and easy to remember. For example, using numbers in your domain name can cause a lot of confusion. Sometimes, people won’t be able to remember if it’s written in letters or numerals and will try to guess. Failure on their first guess (since it’s still 50/50 chance) might cause some frustration and this is kind of negative emotion you don’t want associated with your business. Similar goes with a hyphen. A lot of people won’t know whether they should type it in or not and, even if they do know, they might wonder where it’s supposed to go.
Using an Extension as a Part of the Phrase
While some wouldn’t even think about using anything else than .com, others consider various TLDs in the search for a perfect extension. For example, numerous companies including Mercedes-Benz turned to the .me domain because they recognized its creative potential. Apart from making your domain extension into something meaningful like in the aweso.me, it also gives you various options through the cunning wordplay. Examples are numerous and some of them are: assist.me or finance.me. Needless to say, both your SEO efforts and your digital marketing in general can only benefit from this practice.
Being Descriptive
There are always those who choose to make a domain name into something meaningful, like we already discussed, but what about making it practical by using your keyword. For example, if you’re in a home renovation business, why not make your domain name similar to homerenovations.com. This simple trick can make your business much more visible on social networks. If, however, the name you intend to take is already taken (and chances are it is), you can enhance it a bit by adding your location or narrow down your area of expertise a bit.
Do Some Research
Finally, you want your domain name to help you out and not to cause you even more troubles. This is why you always need to keep an eye out for any copyright infringement. Before you opt for one particular domain name, make sure to thoroughly research if there are some other companies using it. Getting yourself dragged into a lawsuit over a domain name you can easily modify is never worth it.
Conclusion
Having read all this, you can see that choosing a perfect domain name takes a lot of work and careful consideration. In fact, it’s not dissimilar from coming up with a good name for your company. Keep in mind that the way it sounds may have an impact on the disposition people have towards you. All in all, this is never a decision to be made lightly.
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Dan Radak is a marketing professional with ten years of experience. He is currently working with a number of companies in the field of digital marketing, closely collaborating with a couple of e-commerce companies. He is also a coauthor on several technology websites and regular contributor to Technivorz.
