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!
