Finding the best domain name for your business website is an onerous task. Use the wrong name, and you can direct potential customers to the wrong place, lose out on free marketing and traffic, or even end up committing a copyright violation.
While overall web design and online marketing tactics are important, tour domain name is one of the primary ways that people will find you, so you need to make sure it’s a good one.
Use Your Business Name
The easiest way to direct online traffic and search engines to your website is to use your business name in the web address. In a perfect world, yourcompanyname.com will be available for you to purchase directly or acquire through a domain option. Consider these three best practices.
- Don’t substitute numbers or misspellings for words in your business name. Such idiosyncrasies are difficult for customers to remember when searching for you and hard to explain when talking about your business. Use the right verbiage, always.
- Try to use the “.com” extension for your domain name. Other extensions aren’t a detriment, but this is the most popular form of a web address.
- If possible, keep your domain name under 7 characters, or as short as you can, to make it easy for your customers to remember and to type into the address bar.
The experts over at SEOMoz agree: “Never choose domains that are simply the plural, hyphenated or misspelled version of an already established domain.”
Use Your Best Keywords
If your business name is not available as your domain name, you’re not out of luck. Using your business’ branded keywords can be just as effective as using your business name if done correctly.
- Use relevant, unique keywords that will immediately tell your customers who you are and what you do, and distinguish you from your competitors.
- According to Olgizenullari.com, “A good domain name is that domain name which brings you traffic,” so be sure that your domain is unique, easy to search for, and will lead customers directly to your business without extensive keyword searches.
- To avoid losing your new domain name once you’ve started marketing it, make sure it isn’t copyrighted. Check your preferred name with the US Copyright website before you make the purchase and save yourself from potential losses later on down the line.
Choosing a domain name that will lead customers straight to you is the most important part of your online branding and marketing. It has to be short, easy, and memorable. Customers should remember it, easily find it, and advertise for it through word of mouth marketing.
So, concentrate on finding a name that either utilizes your business name, or takes advantage of your branded keywords to bring traffic to your site.
Megan Webb-Morgan writes Resource Nation online marketing articles. She also writes about small business topics such as call center software and small business loans. Be sure to check out Resource Nation on Twitter.
Photo Credits
Flickr | Courtesy of author
