Picking a domain title
should be brain friendly, right? Why, Ill just utilize my business
title
. Not so fast, Sparky. A dazzling bit of thought should be given to selecting a domain name.
A Cautionary Note
Picking a domain name is like getting married. You are going to have to stick with it till the bitter end. People the make use of
your website
will come to know it by the domain title
. Repeat visitors will often simply type in the domain name to get to the site, better known as type in visitors
. As an example, do you search for Amazon when you want to buy a book or do simply type in amazon.com? If Amazon were to change its domain name to Desert, there would be a lot of confusion. The same goes with your domain. Once you pick something, stick with it.
Your Choices
Well, the apparent choice is your business name
, but it can not be the best. There are four significant issues to ponder.
First, is there something about your business name
that makes using it as a domain an unwise choice? This situation typically arises if you have a long business title or have plural words. Halstatts Ripn Marketing Campaigns, Inc. is going to be a horrible domain name. Clients are going to find it difficult to type in such a domain name.
Double letter problems are a second issue that is entirely unique to the Internet. What if Sams Salon goal to use its company title
as a domain? The s at the end of first word and beginning of the second can cause confusion. Is the domain name Samssalon.com or Samsalon.com? Confusing your users is a bad way to run a page
.
The third issue concerns the nature of your website
and search engine optimization. If you are shooting for a particular keyword phrase, you may be better off using that keyword phrase in your domain name. Google, for instance, looks at the domain title
when evaluating a site. If the words in your domain title
are spaced with dashes, many believe it will help in the ranking process. This is why you see so many xxx-xxxx-xxx.com domain names on the net. If your business focuses on a very targeted area, strong consideration should be given to using relevant keywords in your domain title
.
Finally, your domain name should finish
in .com and I dont want to hear any argument or see any rolling of the eyes. The simple fact is that when people think of sites, they always type in .com. Yes, there are other extensions and .us, .net, .biz, etc., may seem unique, but it kills your visitors
. Pavlov and his dog experiments had it right. People have been mentally conditioned to type in .com, so dont select any other ending. If you do, a smart competitor will register the .com version of your title
to get some free visitors
. If you are really lucky, a porn site will do it!
Take a breath before you select a domain title
. Like a spouse, it may be either a sizeably successful
or bad choice.