Domain names are an important part of your website. Not only do they help to improve branding and recognition, but they also play a role in your site’s SEO (search engine optimization). In order to rank higher on Google, you need a domain name that is both relevant to your site’s topic and easy to remember.
When choosing a domain name, be sure to consider the following factors:
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Relevance: The domain name should be relevant to your site’s topic. For example, if you own a pet store, you would want to choose a domain name that is related to pets, such as “www.pets.com”.
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Length: The shorter the domain name, the better. Most people prefer domains that are no more than 10 characters. Any shorter is optimal, although domain names can be up to 63 characters in length.
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Understandability: Be sure that your targeted audience will easily understand the meaning of the domain name. If your site’s content is highly technical or specific to a certain region or culture, try to keep it simple so that everyone can understand the purpose of your website.
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Memorability: The easier a domain name is to remember, the better chance you have of increasing traffic and conversions over time. Try using acronyms that describe certain aspects of your site or business, but avoid using any contextual words that people would not commonly associate with your site’s topic.
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Correct spelling: This may seem obvious, but many people forget that domain names need to be spelt correctly in order to direct real traffic to their site. Making mistakes with your spelling will cost you valuable SEO points, which is why it’s recommended that you spell check your domains before purchasing them.
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Availability: This should be the last factor you consider when choosing a domain name. Once your desired names are available for registration, you can move on and choose from one of these options. Otherwise, you may find yourself settling for a less than ideal domain name once other factors have been taken into consideration.
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International availability: If your website targets customers worldwide or if a part of your business will take place at an overseas location, remember that not all TLDs are created equal. Extensions such as .com are available worldwide, but other TLDs will be region-specific. If your site targets people in China, you may want to choose a Chinese TLD such as .cn or .com.hk.
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Language availability: This applies only if you want customers from all over the world to be able to find your website. If you want those from outside of your home country to visit your site, then try looking for a TLD that is more popular globally speaking so as not to limit yourself too much.
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Keyword availability: Try searching for both singular words and phrases to see whether they are free of charge or if they have been reserved by another user.
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Brand availability: Chances are high that others may have already chosen your brand’s name as their domain extension. If you want to avoid any legal disputes over who owns the rights to the name, then try to avoid any domain names that share the same brand name as your business.
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Age: Here we’ll be speaking about the issue of branding and marketing. As time passes, older domains can quickly become more valuable than newer ones because they have a stronger historical presence on search engines such as Google. Choosing an old domain is therefore one way to impress your target audience with your reliable brand image.
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Personal preference: This is another important factor that makes choosing a domain even more difficult. Many people like owning personalized domains that they will not want to part ways with once they’ve settled on their final choice. Unfortunately, this also means that finding the perfect match may take some additional time and effort before you settle for something less than ideal.
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Common words: You should also avoid choosing common words that will be difficult to remember or spell. Nobody wants to type in a string of foreign characters each time they visit your website, so consider registering an easily accessible address instead.
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Number availability: People may not want to use numbers as part of their domain names because numeric domains can seem cold and harsh. Then again, there are some successful websites operating under numbers only. If you’re interested in the idea then it might be worth trying to find a numerical version of your desired domain name.
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Initials/Abbreviations: If the business has initials that it uses regularly, then this could make for an ideal choice when deciding on domain names. There’s nothing wrong with choosing an acronym as a domain extension, but just keep in mind that your audience will need to know what each initial or abbreviation means before visiting the website, otherwise they may become frustrated and leave.
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Adjective availability: In order to stand out from the crowd, you might want to consider choosing a unique domain name that conveys a sense of excitement and energy. Many sites on the internet have failed because they have chosen generic names that don’t tell visitors anything about them or their brand image. By using adjectives in your new domain name, potential customers will already know what products or services you offer before even visiting.
Finally, make sure that the desired domain extension doesn’t already have a website attached to it. You may have brainstormed the perfect name, but if it already exists then your dreams of owning that exact domain are over unless you’re willing to cough up some cash in order to buy it off its current owner.
At present, there are thousands of generic TLDs (gTLDs) available, which can make choosing an available alternative quite difficult. To help with this, many web hosting companies now offer hundreds (or even thousands) of domain name alternatives that are provided by different extensions. This decreases the likelihood that your chosen domain name will be unavailable and can result in a better overall outcome for you.
For many of us, selecting a domain name for our site is one of the most difficult parts of website creation. After all, it’s not just about picking something that sounds good or looks pretty—it also has to be relevant and easy to remember so you can improve your SEO rankings on Google.
If you have any questions about this process or if you’re looking for someone who will be able to tell what kind of domain name might work best for you, feel free to contact the Sotavento Medios team today!
