FIND A DOMAIN NAME: FIVE RULES
The task of choosing a domain name can be overwhelming. It’s like opening a box of chocolates with various flavours, textures and tastes. They all look inviting in their own unique ways, but which one to go for?
Your domain name is your identity on the web. You want to make sure that you choose a name that is not only relatable to your business but is memorable and easy to promote.
Domain names have a massive impact on click-through rates all across the web, on social media, type-in searches, brandability and offline advertising. There’s a huge risk in picking a domain name for your business.
Here are some rules to follow to ensure you select the right domain name:
1) Make it brandable.
Brandable means that when you see a name, instinctively, you relate it to that business. Hyphens, capitals, and strange variations of a brand name can confuse readers and make them question the direction of a URL.
Let’s say our business was selecting a domain name for the first time:
- www.marketing-online.co.uk is directly related to marketing (with key terms included). However, it would be hard to brand, say, or remember. Google may also flag this as a spammy tactic used to rank for ‘online marketing’ keywords.
- www.Big-foot-digital.co.uk does include the name of our business and is unique, but is quite challenging to say.
- www.bigfootdigital.co.uk is perfect because it’s easy to say and remember and is highly brandable.
2) Use keywords.
Sorry. I know we’re making things confusing, but stick with me. Using keywords in your domain name does sometimes give you a boost in the rankings. This works well if your business name features keywords you want to rank for. Only then can you get away with including them in your domain name, as it’s highly brandable.
Take our domain of ours, www.londonseoagency.com. Our brand name is the London SEO Agency. This makes link building, keyword research and optimisation far easier. When building links for this as a new domain, it’s possible to vary the anchor text while still using our chosen keywords:
londonseoagency.com
www.londonseoagency.com
londonseoagency
However…
Keyword-rich domains have trained Google and searchers to be suspicious. They are seen as a direct attempt to rank for chosen keywords. If you make it clear that your brand name is your keyword, don’t worry. Otherwise, steer well clear of this as an optimisation technique. It doesn’t hold the same weight as it once did.
3) Keep it short
The shorter the domain name, the better.
Shorter names are easier to read, pronounce and spell. These URLs don’t need to be shortened for social media sharing and search results. This will help create a smooth user journey for your audience. People won’t have to use a shortened URL that will potentially confuse them and leave them unsure about the domain name of your website.
4) Opt for a .com domain
There are many TLD extension options these days. We still prefer using .com or .co.uk where possible. These extensions are most frequently found in the search results. Therefore, people are used to seeing them. If you want to build a brandable domain that is instantly recognisable, always go for .com.
Because .com domains are the most common, they are often taken. Keep in mind your chosen domain name. The name you want may not be available with the .com TLD, so it’s a case of weighing up the strength of the options available.
5) Avoid trademark infringement.
It’s not always a case of whether your domain name is confused. It’s more about whether a company could take legal action against you for selecting a domain name owned by another.
Do your research before hitting ‘buy now.’ Don’t select a domain name easily recognised as another company. For starters, it’s not great for the brandability of your business. And second, well, you could end up in a lot of trouble with the law, and that sucks.
We hope this has cleared up some common questions surrounding domain name selection. Don’t forget to bring up the topic of domain name selection with your consultant on your next call.
