For many startups, an important factor in the success of a project depends a lot on the domain name they use for their website. There are a variety of good practices when choosing a name, and it is essential to apply them correctly to avoid later inconveniences. Here are some recommendations for choosing the right domain for your website.
Consider keywords.
When you start searching for your domain name, it will be helpful to have identified a list of keywords that describe the domain you are looking for. Once you have the list, you can start adding words before and after them to create good domain name ideas. For example, if you are in the business of offering photography courses, perhaps it would be interesting to have the word “photography” in your domain.
It must be original.
If you have a domain name that can be confused with other popular websites, it will bring you negative results. We advise you never to use a name that only includes a small modification, such as the inclusion of letters or characters. An example of a company that had this problem was the Flickr social network, which, due to the complexity of its name, many people tried to reach the website with the address www.flicker.com.
Make use of.com domains.
If you’re a well-known brand and you’re not expecting people to try to reach your website directly, you shouldn’t worry about this point. Otherwise, your extension should be the “.COM” domain if you want a big and important website. If you want to use another domain extension, it is important to have “.COM” and that this address redirects to your established domain. This point is critical because many users only know the extension “.COM”.
Make it easy to write.
As a rule to follow, if you consider that the URL requires thinking so that it is written correctly, due to the length, the spelling, or that the text is not easy to relate to the name, then it will be more difficult for you to have a successful branding or brand recall strategy. Sometimes we even talk about the ease of writing and avoid ” difficult ” letters to write, such as z, x, and q.
Make it memorable.
You should always consider that your domain is easy to remember. It will be easier to expand by word of mouth in this way. In addition, it will help you when it comes to being shared through social networks. Being memorable will also make the job of branding easier for your brand. Thus, all types of “offline” marketing will benefit since users will be more likely to visit you after seeing your advertisement.
Keep the name as short as possible.
Short names are easy to write and remember. Another important aspect that will help in SEO web positioning is a short domain name that allows you to view longer URLs after your domain. In addition, being short will have better reception on social networks and “offline” marketing.
Meets expectations
You have to consider that your name should express what you do. Think like a person hearing about your website for the first time would. Can he understand what your business is about before entering your website? That’s partly why domains like “www.gmail.com” did so well. Websites with a non-intuitive domain name, on the other hand, will have to spend money on branding so that people can associate the domain name with the company’s category.
Don’t infringe copyright.
While it is true that this mistake does not happen very often, if you do it, you are killing all the work you did in that domain. The copyright owner may also prosecute you for using their name without consent. Before investing time and money in your domain, you must be clear about copyright.
Differentiate yourself from others.
If you use a unique name for your domain, it will be easier to remember. You should always remember that a brand is much more than a combination of words. Perhaps Coca-Cola would not have fared so well if it had been called Black Soda. It’s easier to give fidelity to a name than a combination of words.
Conclusion
One of the most important points to consider when creating your business is the domain name. However, there would be no reason for you to make any mistakes if you followed all the best practices to choose the right domain for your website.
