As we enter a new year, many of you are choosing to start a business as part of your new years’ resolutions. Before you start on your website, you need a domain name to point to it. Let’s go over some quick tips to keep in mind as you decide on your new domain.
Always try to use .com as your primary domain extension
While there are many fun types of domains nowadays (.photo, .pizza, .store as examples) these are not the most effective in terms of being memorable or professional. Being that .com is the most memorable, it is also the most trustworthy.
These new, fun extensions are hard to remember due to their length and can open doors to user errors later. For example, if you own a pizza shop and your domain is http://tasteofitaly.pizza then users may make the mistake of typing .com as a habit which would then result in them seeing an error page instead of your website.
Remember to stick to what works! A good, old-fashioned .com is always going to be the way to go in terms of business.
Use a Branded Domain instead of an Exact Match Domain
A branded domain is simply one that contains your company’s name; it helps people remember your company’s name if it is within your domain name already. Exact match domains on the other hand contain the exact keywords people are searching within it instead of your company’s name.
For example, if you own a plumbing company called On Call Plumbers but the domain commercialplumberhouston.com this would be an exact match domain. Because many people would assumingly be searching Google for the keywords “commercial plumber Houston”, this website would probably be the first one to come up. However, this is not the case at all; in fact, Google has made changes to its algorithm over the years that penalize exact match domains to keep the playing field fair.
In addition to ranking penalties, exact match domains are not very professional looking in terms of branding. When branding your company, it should remain consistent everywhere including your website and domain name. Going back to the previous example, how professional does it look to say your plumbing company’s name is “On Call Plumbers” and it is located at the domain commercialplumberhouston.com instead of oncallplumbers.com?
Additionally, creating a domain that only emphasizes on one aspect of your business will make it harder for you to change it later if necessary. Let’s say you own a computer-focused electronics online store called ComputerCity.com and decide you want to start selling TVs later. The name ComputerCity.com is no longer relevant and you may have decided to change the name; to do so, this would require you to buy another domain that includes the modified name. Keep in mind you cannot modify a domain name once it is registered; changing your site’s domain name requires you to purchase another one (if available) and redirect the old one to the new one.
The most important thing about using a branded domain is that is unique; if it is catchy and memorable, many people will remember it without having to write it down. In the business world, being unique is what separates your company from all your competitors!
Research and ensure another company does not already own the domain name you seek
In fact, researching your company and domain name should have been the first thing you should have done before even purchasing one! Before you even started researching the domain name you have chosen, did you check to make sure that there isn’t another company out there that has your company’s legal name?
A simple Google search of your company’s name will help you find out if there are other companies out there that may have your name already. When performing a Google search for your company’s name, make sure to put it in between quote marks (“”) to perform an exact match search for the words you are using.
If you find out that there are no other companies or organizations using your company name, then now it is time to find out if your domain is available for you to purchase and register. Many of the website hosting companies you know about such as HostGator and GoDaddy have a section in their websites that allow users to search for domains they wish to purchase; if they are not available, then they will offer you alternatives that you can purchase instead. When looking at alternatives, make sure to take the next set of tips in mind before choosing them.
Things to avoid
Just because the alternatives to the taken domains are available (and probably cheap) does not mean you should plump for them. For instance, avoid any domains that hyphens in their names as hyphenated domains are often associated with spam. Domains that have hyphens also open doors for typos, which can either lead your possible visitors to an error page or to a competitor’s site!
Also avoid domains that have double letters, as this can also open doors for typos! Take a look at this fake domain for example: salesseminarssuccess.com. Do you see how many times the letter S is present AND close to each other? Very easy for the average user to misspell this when typing it, costing your website a good number of visitors!
If the domain you want to purchase is available, act quick, and buy it right away!
If you wait too long to buy the one you want, someone else can purchase it! Many people worldwide are actively seeking a domain, and the better it is the better the chances of it being bought.
What is even worse is when a domain reseller (usually a marketing company) buys up a desirable one at a cheap price then tries to resell it to the public for several thousands of dollars! Do not let this happen to you, if you see your dream domain buy it right away!
While using your .com domain is your primary one, buy out the other variants!
Is your domain also available as a .org, .net, .co, or any other extension? We recommend that you buy these other variants as well, then have them redirect to your .com domain. This will help reduce user error rates (typing .org instead of .com, for example) and point users back in the right direction.
Additionally, this will prevent other people from stealing your domain (but with a different extension) and pointing it to their website. Your domain is your brand, don’t let other people steal it!
Look for misspellings of your domain and buy them!
Remember when we mentioned earlier that you should never use double letters in your domain because it can cause users to mistype it? Well, you should consider buying out any variants of your domain that are misspelled already and have them redirect to your primary one.
For example, YouTube is normally accessed at www.youtube.com, right? If you type in www.youtobe.com (note the misspelling), it points back to the original domain which is youtube.com. If you do this with your own domain, you are helping get more traffic to your own website versus losing visitors who simply click away due to a “not found” message.
Make Sure Your Domain Matches Your Social Media Handles
To ensure consistency, you will want to make sure that the URLs to your social media pages contain the exact name your domain is using. This helps people memorize it easier and look it up without hassle. Your social media handle is the username that both appear in the URL to your profile and appears after the @ symbol.
For example, our domain is creativitydesigngroup.com and our Instagram handle is @creativitydesigngroup. The direct URL to our Instagram page is https://www.instagram.com/creativitydesigngroup. We attempted to ensure that our own domain matches this social media handle; sometimes this may not be possible, however, we recommend that you try to do this whenever possible.
Facebook alone gets 2.7 billion visitors a month, and people will most likely check your Facebook page first before they even visit your website! If they know your website name is the same as your social media handle, then all they have to do is search you up by your website name! Of course, this does not apply if you have to use a different handle due to it not being available or allowed.
Lock Your Domains After Purchasing Them
This is an extra step you should take to ensure that your domain does not get hijacked; should your account with your registrar be hacked and an unauthorized user tries to perform an unauthorized transfer of domain ownership, this step will ensure that such a transfer fails!
Many domain registrars have a feature that allows you to lock it using Registrar Lock status, and this can be done in most cases by simply clicking a button like the one pictured above.
Registrar Lock status prevents hijackers from stealing your domain by preventing any unauthorized transfer of ownership; additionally, any changes to registration info or the DNS configuration cannot be changed.
Make Sure Auto-Renew Is On!!
Usually, when you purchase a domain name, you can choose how long you want to keep it active (one year, two years, etc.). Because these time periods are usually long enough for someone to forget, it is important to turn auto-renew on!
Auto-renew ensures that your domain is renewed when its registration expires, and the registrar automatically bills your credit/debit card; no action is required on your part. If you forget to renew your domain due to the lack of auto-renew, your website will go down automatically upon expiration!
Additionally, if you forget to renew then a domain reseller could end up purchasing it immediately and attempt to sell it back to you for a very large amount (usually in the thousands)! Do not let this happen to you, make sure your domain is always registered and renews automatically to avoid these problems!
Conclusion
You should now have an idea of how to choose the right domain for your website in addition to some tips on keeping it safe and secure! Business owners, are you ready to shine in this new year as you take care of all the groundwork like getting your website going? We are here to assist you should you run into any problems. Contact us for a FREE consultation today by clicking the button below.