A domain name is your web address, such as www.bigforkweb.com. It will be attached to all of your brochures, business cards, postcards and any other marketing materials for your company. Your domain name is an important part of your company branding and is often the first impression of your website.
Your domain name should be:
- Short and Sweet
It is a good rule of thumb to keep a domain under 20 characters. The shorter, the better. - Easy to spell and say
A good domain should be easy for your target audience to pronounce and spell. Otherwise, they may try to look for you and end up on the wrong website because of a spelling error. - Descriptive
When people see your domain name, they should be able to tell what they are going to find when they go to it. - Memorable
Your domain should be easy to remember and impactful or catchy. - Legal
Make sure you are not in violation of someone else’s trademark. - Unique
Make sure your domain name does not closely resemble a competitor’s domain. You do not want users accidentally going to your competitor’s website.
Types of Domains
Choosing a domain name should be part of your business goals and marketing plan. You can choose a domain that is your company name such as www.bigforkweb.com or one that includes keywords such as www.montanawebdesign.com.
Company Name Domain
Keep in mind that some people type in your company name when searching for your company specifically. If you are planning on marketing your company name well and think you will get a good amount of traffic from users typing your domain directly, you may want to stick to using your company name as (or in) your domain name.
If you are starting up a company or are thinking of a name for your blog, you may want to think Google. Companies like Google, Yahoo!, Squidoo and Boing have what are called brandable domains. Smashing Magazine defines a brandable domain as “establishing a distinct identity and communicating indirectly to evoke interesting ideas and feelings.” These website names are not only memorable and fun to say, but very easy to find in search engines if the user is searching for that particular company. There are not many other words or companies that include the character string squidoo!
Keyword-Rich Domain
If you do not plan on marketing your company name heavily and need your domain name to help users find you in search engines, you may want to go with a keyword-rich domain. Remember to keep your keywords under 20 characters so a user can still type in your domain with ease.
In the past, not all search engines have been able to separate out words in a domain strand. To show search engines the breaks between words, we separate words with hyphens (www.web-design-montana.com). There is still some controversy with Google’s abilities to separate out words, but it is starting to look like it is safe to lose the hyphens. You will not cause any harm by using them if you prefer hyphens, just keep them to a minimum. Spam sites are notorious for using a lot of words in domains separated by a lot of hyphens. So keep hyphens under 4 or 5 to not be perceived by search engines as a spam site.
You should use a hyphen when a strain of words put together can have 2 meanings: cargofast.com could be, car-go-fast or cargo-fast.
Extensions
There are several web domain extensions available. The most common are .com, .net, .org, .info, and .biz. The most common and most preferable extension is dot com. Because of the growth of the web, it is not as easy to get a dot com that fits all of the above definitions of what a domain should be. If a dot com is not available in the domain name you want to use, you may want to think about a dot net. Many non-profit organizations use dot org. Some believe dot biz will become very popular in the future for business sites. You can purchase multiple extensions of the same domain (website.com, website.org, website.biz) and forward them all to one primary domain. Work with your web provider to make sure this is done correctly.
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