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Articles Home | Choosing a Domain Name

Choosing a Domain Name

7.02.2004
by Nodus Design
nodusdesign.com

Choosing the right domain name can be critical to the success of a website. This article will discuss the issues you should take into consideration when choosing the name that will represent you on the web. Before you register your domain name or name your website, you might want to consider the following 7 points:

1. Your Domain Should Be Your Name.
Naming your site after your domain may seem obvious to some of you, but you'll be surprised to learn that not every website is named after the domain name even when the webmaster owns that domain name. Naming a site after its domain name is important, for the simple reason that when people think of your website, they'll think of it by name. If your name is also
your URL, they'll automatically know where to go.

2. Keep It Short.
When choosing a name you have to keep in mind that people need to be able to remember it and easily type it into their browser. Try to choose the shortest name that your customers and visitors will associate with your website but at the same time avoid picking an obscure sequence of letters which would prove hard for the user to remember.

3 Which Extension?
There are many different extensions available. For businesses, we recommend a .com suffix. It is the first extension that most people try when searching for a Website. Also, since it is one of the oldest extensions, .com shows that your business has a well-established presence on the Web. If your website or business caters to the local community it may be more beneficial
to have a country-specific domain because then people know they're dealing with a local entity, which is what they want. Another school of thought finds that ".net" and ".org" extensions are actually quite acceptable domain names. For some, the ".org" extension actually describes the non-profit nature of their organisation.

4. Hyphenated Names?
There are both advantages and disadvantages to getting a hyphenated name.

Advantages.
Search engines can distinguish your keywords better and thus return your site more prominently in search results for those keywords occurring in your domain name. In some cases it can provide a clearer explanation of what your site is about.

Disadvantages.
It's easy to forget the hyphens when typing a name and so the user may well end up at your competitor's site. When people recommend your site to their friends verbally, having hyphens in your domain name leads to more potential errors than when the name does not contain hyphens. It doesn’t look as good and is awkward to type.

5. Keyword or Branding?
Many of the most successful sites do not use keyword domains. They have chosen to go with a completely original domain, and brand it. A few examples are Yahoo!, Google and eBay. It's not that they don't know about search engine optimisation; it's just that they are putting more emphasis on creating a brand name around their business.

A keyword domain is a domain chosen to take advantage of search engine traffic. By choosing a domain that matches a keyword search, you are able to rank higher for targeted keywords and thereby benefit from added traffic and more potential for sales.

Whether you choose a brandable domain or a keyword domain is a choice you must make. If you have the budget necessary to brand your organization, we recommend a brandable domain. If, on the other hand, you're working on a shoestring budget, choose a keyword domain and let the search engines bring the customers to you.

6. Character Types.
Domain names can only use letters, numbers, and dashes. Spaces and symbols are not allowed. Also, domain names are not case sensitive. They cannot exceed 67 characters, including the characters in the suffix. A domain name may not begin or end with a hyphen. Be careful using the number “0” because it is often confused with the letter “O”.

7. Ask Around.
When you have settled on several available name choices, see what your friends and clients have to say. A name that may make perfect sense to you may be too hard for other people to remember. Is your domain easy to say? Is it hard to spell? Do you have to explain why you chose the name?

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