Choosing a domain name for your website is a very important decision. Your domain name will help you brand your business; therefore, it needs to be a name that can relate with your business. More importantly, however, it needs to be a name that you will be happy with in the long-term.
Most people don’t know the latest trends when it comes to domain names. They may also not know that there are things they should not do when choosing a domain name. Consider these tips when choosing a domain name.
Use relevant keywords
You should select a handful of keywords that greatly describe your business and website. Try to use those keywords to make the name of your site. For example, a site that specializes in stock finances may have the words stocks, financial, advice, options and other relevant keywords in the domain name.
Two strong keywords are usually all that is needed to make a domain name authoritative. However, many sites incorporate three or even four strong keywords.
Do not use hyphens, numbers or special symbols
If you plan to sell products from your website, you are going to want a domain name that is both professional and easy to remember. If you use numbers, hyphens and symbols in your domain name, it will be hard for customers or clients to remember the name of your website.
Many new site owners make this very mistake when choosing a domain name. The common reason why they do this is because the name they wanted was already taken. Therefore, like email accounts, they simply choose the same name and add numbers, hyphens or special symbols to the name.
Do not use misspellings
Though it may seem trendy to use misspellings in your domain name, it is very risky. Some site owners are very smart about their website promotion and marketing methods; therefore, using risky techniques may not seem so scary to them. However, if you are just starting out in the online business realm, you should not use risky methods.
Misspellings cause confusion, especially to conservative customers and clients. They may not be able to pronounce your site’s name or remember it for future reference.
Create a unique name
This will probably be the hardest tip for you to incorporate. There are millions of websites on the Internet. Therefore, there is a good chance that your site’s name will resemble another site’s name. This may be unavoidable, but there are certain things you can do to minimize the negative effects.
First, find very popular websites that are within your site’s niche. Once you discovered the most popular websites, take note of their domain name. You do not want your domain name to resemble the popular sites’ domain names. It is all right if your site’s domain name resembles another unpopular site, just not a popular site.
Do not use short adjectives
Have you ever seen sites that started out with words like “hot,” “quick” or “top?” Do not use these short adjectives for your domain name. Not only is this technique overused, it is also has a negative reputation. Many spam sites start out with these short adjectives. The quality sites that use short adjectives drown in the sea of spam sites.
Make the name relevant to what your site accomplishes
When you hear domain names like AutoTrader, WebMD and Radiorage, what type of sites do you think these names represent? You probably have a great idea of what type of site AutoTrader is. You need to create a domain name that people will instantly understand; they should immediately know what type of website that name represents.
Conclusion
Hopefully these tips will help you in your journey to choose a domain name. They should give you a great idea about how to choose a name and what to avoid.
This guest post is written by Ethan Steadman from Amazing Domains. When looking for a domain name, UK based providers can be a virtual treasure trove!