There are a lot of nerves in choosing a domain name. Is it related to my brand? Should I put keywords in it? Maybe just a short name is enough? Plenty of doubts goes through our heads before we select the right domain name for us. So here we have 5 tips for choosing a domain name and making it a bit less stressful.
Stick with your offline brand
That is the easiest decision that you could make. If you already have a strong offline brand, and it is short and easy to remember, go with it. You will be surprised by how many top-level domains are there. If .com or the country code you want are occupied, you will be able to search between plenty of options of generic TLDs. There are some related to industries, other to products, and others completely random. You will be able to find an available domain, be sure about it.
Short is memorable
What is easier to remember, Hennes & Mauritz or H&M? The second one, of course! Make it simple for your clients. Eliminate any addition to your business name that might not be needed. For example, if your company is LTD (limited company), you don’t need to have it in the domain name. Choose wisely what to leave and what to remove. What you can shorten and what no, so it won’t be too different from the brand’s name.
Don’t imitate international brands
If your business is local and so far in your country, you still haven’t had arguments with big global companies about the business name, now be careful. The big companies could try to sue you, even if your brand is older. Skip the direct confrontation and evade this scenario. Instead, do a search to see if there is another internationally famous company with the same name. Think about if there could be a conflict with it and take your decision to proceed or change your domain name a bit.
Say it out loud
How does it sound? You need a domain name that is easy to pronounce, so people remember it easily too. Second, you want to choose a domain name that sounds beautiful. You can play around a bit with the name of your brand and see how it sounds best. Maybe use the H&M approach and shorten your domain name based on your company’s name.
Don’t limit it no a single geographical location
If your business has the potential for growing and starting branches on different markets, evade putting country-related keywords in the domain name. We don’t say don’t use ccTLD like .co.uk or .de. We recommend you not to add “uk”, “de” or another similar in the part of the domain name.
Example:
site-name.co.uk is good because later you can register site-name.de or site-name.eu.
Site-name-uk.com is not good because if you later register site-name-uk.eu or another, it will be confusing for your visitors.
Conclusion
The tips for choosing a domain name are almost as useful if you are starting a new business. So pay attention to them and find the right name for your business. There are already millions of sites, so you really need to find a way to make it rememberable and attractive. It is the only way that it can stick in the mind of the visitors.
