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DOMAIN NAMEAre you a small business owner? Planning to take your brick and mortar business online? Want to compete on a global scale with the industry giants? Thinking of a creative domain name for your new website? If it’s a ‘BIG’ yes to all the questions, then this article is a must read for you!
To take the digital world by storm, first you need to make sure that your target market and search engine spiders can find you on the web. This calls for the ‘right domain name’.
According to a survey, there were 246 million domain name registrations across all top level domains in 2012. This figure depicts the outrageous intensity of the global competition and demands for a domain name that is chosen intelligently so that it does not fade away amidst the competition.
1. DON'T UNLEASH YOUR CREATIVITY, SHOWCASE YOUR DEXTERITY
When it comes to domain name selection, play it safe. Use your dexterity more than your creativity. Incorporate your brand name in your domain URL especially if it’s unique for example like zappos.com or Windsorsmith.com.au. Don’t go creative with the spelling as it can be difficult for the people to remember and find you on the web. Windsorsmith is a popular Australian footwear brand. Had they gone creative with their domain name and tweaked the spelling a bit to look more edgy it would have been difficult for their customers to find them online.
2. TRY TO STICK WITH ".COM" EXTENSION
According to online statistics, there were approximately 100 million dot com domain names in 2012; this number is expected to grow this year. You need to jump on this bandwagon and create a domain name with a ‘.com’ extension. The reason to stick to ‘.com’ instead of a .net or .org extension is that since your business is new in the online world visitors will search for a ‘.com’ website. They assume you would be on the ‘.com’ extension. And besides studies show owners of different domain extensions often lose their web traffic because they are not on ‘.com’ extension. Right now you’re competing for online visibility and heavy traffic so choose a domain name with a ‘.com’ extension.
However, if your business is based outside the US, then try using a geographical top level domain like .au for Australia, .ca for Canada and .uk for United Kingdom.
3. HYPHEN AND NUMBERS IS A NO GO ZONE
For new businesses, number based and hyphenated domain names is a no go zone. Avoid it! This is because 9/10 people don’t type hyphens or numbers. Let’s suppose your domain name is greeting-cards7.com. Here you are bound to lose web traffic as it is hard to remember and confusing. Your potential customers will usually end up typing greetingcards.com and as a result land on your competitor’s site. If the website is appealing your potential customer will be captured by your competitor, which is something you definitely don’t want!
4. AVOID CHOOSING A DOMAIN NAME BASED ON INDUSTRY KEYWORDS
Search engine optimization is not a new term for online businesses. From startups to small enterprises to large corporations, all spend a great deal of time on working on their SEO strategies to boost their online presence.
Though strategies that can optimize your online visibility are important but this does not mean that you keep your domain name after a highly searched industry keyword. It’s important to understand that a URL with an industry related keyword does not guarantee a high search engine ranking which people usually assume it does. In fact it only conveys that you are willing to compromise on your business identity for a mere ranking. Note: If you do choose to use a keyword, you should check with the your state's Secretary of State and/or attorney to see if you need to register a DBA (doing business as) application form, to keep it legal.
Keep these tips in mind and we are sure you will come up with a memorable website domain name that is easy to type and land on for your potential customers!
