Many people make a very quick decision about the domain name that they choose. This can work for some, if they are fortunate, but for others it can be a disaster. Once you have a domain name, you cannot really change it because you could lose touch with anyone that is familiar with it. This means that it is a really important decision to make and certainly one that you need to give a lot of thought to. Some people buy a selection of domain names so that they can see which works and link them all to the some website content. This used to be a way of getting higher in search engines, but is now recognised by search engines as a way of trying to cheat the system and they will punish sites that do it. Therefore it is important to have one good domain name.
Link to Business Name
You need to think about whether you put the business name in the domain. If you already have a strong brand and you have many customers who are familiar with your business name then it could be wise to include it. However, if it is too similar to other business names, very long or somehow inappropriate then maybe not. F you business name is not well known and does not really explain much about your business then you may like to choose something a bit different.
Link to Business Role
Some companies choose a domain that identifies what their company does. This means that if people are interested in a business that does a specific thing, then they will be likely to come across it. It can be possible to include both the business name and the role but it may not always work. It is wise to not have a domain that is too long as people will be less likely to bother to type it in and be less bothered to remember it.
Branding
It is really important to have a domain name which fits in with the branding of your company. You need to consider how the company wants to be portrayed and whether the domain will work with that. It will really stand out if the domain does not seem to work. It may not be easy to get the domain you want either as someone else may have bought it and this could lead to you having a reduced choice of name. However, you need to make a well informed decision and give it a lot of thought as it could be vital to the impression that you give online.
Recognition
It is really important to consider how well your domain name will identify you as a business. You want to make sure that when people see the domain they will know who it is for – if they know of your company. It can be good to make sure it illustrates what you do as well so that anyone seeing it will immediately know whether that domain is something they will be interested in clicking or not. That is a lot of information to get into a small name but it is really important. It could make a huge difference with regards to how many people then decide to visit the site.
Extension
As well as the main part of the domain, it is important to consider the extension as well. Many people just use .com but this may make it look like the company is American or worldwide. This may be what you want to achieve of course. However, it may be more appropriate to use one that identifies which country you are based in. Of course if these extensions have already been taken you may opt for something else which has not been, but will allow you to have the domain as close to what you wanted as possible. You need to be careful though as if someone else has the .com site and you take, for example, the .info people may get confused between you. This could be a good thing if you take traffic aimed at them, but it all depends on the nature of their business.
Foreign / Slang Meaning
It is really important to check as well as you can, that your domain is not a slang word or means something different in a foreign language. It is possible that you may have chosen something offensive, rude or worse and so it is wise to just check on this one. You should be able to use translation software to check the meaning in all of the countries that you are likely to get traffic from. It may take some time to do this but could make a big difference to the reputation of your business.
