Choosing the right domain name is one of the most important steps to ensuring your business’ online success. Your domain name matters immensely for branding purposes, direct traffic to your site, referral traffic to your site, and many more reasons! If you are just about to launch a new website for a business, or even for a personal blog, read on to find out how to pick the perfect name.
1. Make Sure the Domain is Consistent with Your Brand
The first decision you will have to make is if you are simply choosing your already existing brand name as the domain. Plain and simple – (i.e. Target.com, Nike.com, etc.) Or, are you going to choose a more creative domain that incorporates some keywords with the brand name – i.e. JuicyCoutureClothing.com instead of just JuicyCouture.com). Either way, make sure that your domain accurately represents your brand, what you are selling, or what your business consists of.
2. Keep it Short and Sweet
Consumers are bombarded enough as it is with brand names, keywords, and marketing info. Make it as easy as possible for them to remember and type in your domain name. The shorter, and catchier you can make it – the better.
3. Make it Catchy
Have a marketers mind – stand out from the crowd. You know those songs or jingles you just can’t get out of your head? Or those infomercials that you know every word to? That’s how you want to think. There are so many domain names out there, in the same industry, try to be different. For example, there are millions of ecommerce women’s clothing websites out there: Tobi.com, Modcloth.com, ASOS.com (what do they all really mean?). The one that sticks out in your mind because it’s so out there? NastyGal.com – that domain will make people wonder and click
4. Use Keywords if Possible
Making your domain name SEO friendly will have huge advantages for your site traffic. While keeping it as short and easy to remember as possible, including a keyword with your brand could help drive organic search traffic to you. For example, if you are selling eco-friendly pool cleaning products, you might want to choose something like “GreenPoolProducts.com” or “EcoPoolSupplies.shop”. This way, you will be returned high in the results for someone searching “green pool supplies”, etc.
5. Choose the Right Domain Extension
Get a TLD extension that suits your idea for the domain, it’s no longer necessary to pick your TLD from a few generic extensions – (like .COM or .NET) For example, let’s say you’re a local coffee shop looking to increase organic search traffic on Google. Choosing a name like “SeattleBrewCoffee.Shop” is likely to be much less competitive, capture more local searches, and increase the visibility of your site. New TLDs are growing and being added everyday. There is a large advantage to being a first mover on an enormous up and coming trend like unique domain extensions (i.e. .CITY, .CASH, .CLUB, . HEALTHCARE). You can even find registrars that sell new TLDs for lower prices than anywhere else, like Domain Cost Club.
6. Be Creative
Sometimes the domain name you want just isn’t available – get creative and choose something even better! Your favorite domain name being taken may actually give you a reason to think outside the box and choose a name that sounds even better and stands out from the rest.
7. Make it intuitive
Make your domain easy to type – don’t use purposeful misspellings. This info is also useful for choosing your brand name in general. Many people think it’s clever to purposefully misspell a word similar to their brand name in order to be unique, but this can sometimes confuse consumers, and make it difficult to remember. For example, go for “ExpressPizza.com” over “XpressPizza.com” – who knows if there is already a Pizza shop that spells it correctly and receives some of your traffic!
8. Don’t Choose a Name Too Close to Someone Else’s
Taking the time to research and make sure that your name isn’t one letter off from a competitor is going to do you a lot of good in the future. Making sure your domain name is original enough to not be confused with another brand or company will not only increase legitimate traffic to your site, but may also help you avoid any legal issues.
9. Don’t Use Random Characters
Using things like dashes or hyphens can get tricky. Generally, someone is not going to take the time to remember where a character other than a letter goes within your web address. Make it easier on them and just leave it out – EVEN if your first choice of domain names was taken, and this is the only way to get it. Refer to #6.
10. Purchase Multiple Domains for the Same Brand
Don’t let someone infringe upon the brand you’ve created for yourself by creating a very similar domain name with a different extension or misspelling. Buy all domains associated with your account to prevent any confusion and/or fraud.
11. Try Rhyming or Alliteration
This might help you take care of some of the tips above. Rhyming or alliteration makes the human mind remember more easily, and makes a brand name catchier. For example, doesn’t Dancepants.shop or DanceDivas.clothing have a nice ring to them for a website that sells dance clothing and costumes?
12. Take Timing into Consideration
Search for some domains/terms and then take a break for a bit. Performing multiple searches spread out over a day or two might help to generate ideas instead of sitting down and attempting to search for and purchase all at once. Keep in mind though, if you find a great domain it may not be available the next time your search for it.
13. Don’t Forget About a Blog!
Blogs and content marketing are one of the best tactics out there right now to drive traffic to your website, and nurture leads into making a purchase. Sharing of useful information through blog posts is the best way to gain a potential customer’s and move them down the sales funnel. Once you find the best domain name, make sure you purchase a blog at your domain to go along with it! The perfect domain name goes hand in hand with making your website easier to find, and increasing traffic. In conjunction with a well-written blog of the same domain, you give yourself and your business the best chance at being a successful online brand. Be sure to buy your domain at DomainCostClub.com so you’re able to get at-cost pricing on the registration and future renewals. You don’t want to have to worry about high priced renewals next year when your successful site is up and running!
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