How do you choose the right domain name for you?

Your domain name is where people go to find your website as well as what your email addresses are. It’s just as important as your business name and you want to get it right. Here are some things you should consider when choosing a domain.

1. Keep it short and easy to remember

This is especially important if you have printed collateral with your web address on it. Things like business cards and brochures, or even a business car wrap, that your clients will use to locate you online. Your domain needs to be easy for them to type into the address bar of their browser so they don’t end up on a competitor’s site because of a misspelling.

2. Keywords or Business Name?

Having a domain that matches your business name is looked on favourably by Google but if the domain with your business name is already taken you can consider using keywords.

3. Consider all variations

This is an important thing to keep in mind when you’re selecting a domain. If your domain name is going to be made up of multiple words, such as Web Ideas, see what they look like as all one word in all lowercase. Make sure that no other words can be made from the combination and put a hyphen in to break up the words where necessary. A good example of this is a business called Pen Island. Put those words together and you’re not likely to think of a shop that sells custom pens.

4. Register multiple domains

If your domain has common misspellings, or you’ve got a hyphen to break up words, we recommend getting those domains registered to you as well as your main domain that your website and emails are on. If you wouldn’t want your competitors to own a domain name you should register it for yourself. We can set up redirects for all of your domains so they come back to your site.

5. Choose the right domain extension

A domain extension is the .com section of your domain name. For most of our clients we recommend a .com.au domain extension because this indicates that you’re an Australian company and gets picked up in Australian search engines. This is because you need an ABN to be able to register so it provides verification of your Australian status. But if you’re an international business a more global extension may well meet your needs better. 

6. Make sure it’s easy to pronounce

Because your website will be passed on through verbal mediums as well as written you want to make sure your domain name is easy to pronounce and that you don’t need to spell it out every time. Test this by showing your friends, family, and staff and asking them to say how they read it, or saying it to them with them writing out how they would spell it.

7. Is the name you want available

You could think of a great name, or want your domain to match your business name but it might not be available. This happens when someone else has registered and paid for that domain name. To find this out you need to do a Whois lookup which can be done through a number of sites. For .au domains we recommend checking the au Domain Administration’s website. 

If you’ve decided on a domain name, have a few that you want to register, or would like to discuss domain name options, the team at Web Ideas can help you. We offer domain name management and will register your domain and manage its renewal every 2 years so that you don’t have any issues with your domain expiring.

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