Good Works Grapevine

Lately, I’ve been working with clients looking for domains for their websites. Some of the ideas that have been passed around have been creative to borderline scary. Here are a few quick tips to keep in mind when choosing a domain name for your business or organization…

• Keywords - Try to include a relevant keyword in your domain. This will increase your rankings within search engines. It may be difficult, but its worth doing if you can.
• Branding - Do what you can to find a name that matches your business name or brand. If you are branding yourself, I highly recommend purchasing your name (i.e. www.bethjbates.com). This will increase your SEO as well as promote your personal brand.
• KISS - Keep your domain as short and sweet as possible. The rule of thumb used to be less than 13 characters, but since domain sales have become a booming business, its a lot harder to find concise keywords. Avoid hyphenating your name if you can. Try to choose a domain that you can easily verbalize either in a conversation or on voice mail. If you have to continually spell it, you may want to think again.
• Be Memorable - Don’t let the guidelines deter you from being creative. If the obvious domain isn’t available, think of something that will grab the attention of your clients or constituents. There is a pizza place around the corner called Anthony’s, but their domain is “nobodydoughsitbetter.com”. Hard to spell but kind of catchy.
• Extensions - There are so many extensions available now that it’s hard to know what to choose. If you are a commercial business, do what you can to get .com. If you are a non-profit, I recommend buying both .com and .org.
• Register Your Domain Now - Even if you are still planning your website, buy your domain(s) now. If you don’t - it may be gone.
• Consider More Than One - Consider purchasing common misspellings, alternate spellings, an abbreviated domain, etc. You can point them to the same website.

With some thought and a little luck, you’ll find a domain that is effective, simple and creative!