When setting up an online business you’ll need to create a website. In order to do that you must first register a site and so you’ll have to consider the topic of how to choose a domain name. Don’t rush this important step as it’s best to get it right first time.
If you choose the wrong domain name this could have a detrimental effect on the volume of traffic you attract to your website. Businesses use different approaches when deciding on a name. Some e.g. Virgin and Apple use a single word that isn’t directly related to their business niche. Of course, these are very large players and have big budgets to publicise their brands and attract visitors to their websites.
A different approach is to use relevant keywords as part of the domain name. This gives you an opportunity to be creative and to find a name that hasn’t already been registered (a problem when using single words). This is the approach I would recommend – use specific keywords that relate to your niche.
For example, if your website is about ‘roses’ then include that in your domain name. Go for keywords that have a lot of searches every month. This can be checked using Google’s keyword tool. It’s highly unlikely that ‘roses.com’ is available (it’s not!) but you can then try including additional words until you find a name that hasn’t yet been registered. Use words like ‘secrets, guide, tips”. For instance, at the time of writing I’ve found that ‘SecretsOfGrowingRoses.com’ is available and can be bought for less than $10. If your business was related to roses that would be a great name to have.
When choosing a longer name, a common question is whether the words should be separated by hyphens. People have different views on this, but personally I would avoid hyphens. I prefer to use capital letters at the beginning of each word – that makes it clear what the website is about.
Picking a domain name like “SecretsOfGrowingRoses.com’” can help with search engine optimisation (SEO). Search engines take account of all sorts of factors and by using frequently searched keywords in your URL, tags and descriptions, that will benefit your search rankings. By doing this you’ll get more visitors, and more potential customers, to your website.
Your chosen name should convey what your website is about and be easy to remember. A good yardstick is to think about humans as well as the search engines. Your aim is to make it easy for people to return to your website.
Another decision you will have to take is to choose an extension -.com is the most popular but there are many others, including.info,.net and.org. You can register as many extensions as you like (as long as they are available) but there is a cost associated with each one.
Your chosen name should then be registered with a domain registrar. You’ll then have the exclusive right to use it for a defined time period e.g. it could be 1 year, 2 years or longer. The name can be renewed on expiry. The domain name isn’t your property – you’re merely renting it for a defined period – it’s the same as if you were renting a house.
In summary, if you consider these principles when choosing a domain name you will be building a good foundation for your online business.