Domain Name Choice-How to Choose a Domain Name

Making an intelligent domain name choice is more important than you might think. Your entire marketing strategy and the effectiveness of it hinges, at least in part, on your domain name choice. When youre making your choice, consider the following:

Your domain is a brand? Yes, its a brand. And that means that the name you choose needs to be allied and consistent with any other names, brands and marks you use. It makes little sense to go to www.eatout.com and have the first page read Eat at Joes! Either make it www.eatatjoes.com or change the page title! It also means that you need to invest value in the brand just like you would any product or service. You wouldnt pick a brand name casually, so dont be casually with your domain name.

Long or short? Technically, domains can be as long as 67 characters. The rule of thumb is: Either as long as its clear. Chances are most catchy short names are already used or parked so youre going to have to have a longer name. Many people argue that long names are actually easier to remember. Whatever your domain name choice, its probably a good idea to avoid abbreviations. Using www.bif.com probably isnt a good moniker for blogging is fun why not just use www.bloggingisfun.com?

Quirks? Dont add hyphens, articles like the or a unless you intend to invest heavily in building a brand around them to avoid confusion and cement the quirk into the minds of the consumer. The rule is simple: keep it simple. Dont use www.my-web-site.com when www.mywebsite.com is available. Dont use www.aquiltshop.com for a business named The Quilt Shop just because someone in Mumblefritz, Arizona has already taken the name.

.COM or what? And then theres the question of the TLD (top level domain). Every business wants the .com but, in reality, .net or some of the newer extension may do just as well. Ideally, if you can get the .com, go for it, but you may want to get the .net and with it also. If you cant get the .com make sure you understand who has it. If theyre a direct competitor, you may want to look at a completely different name. Lastly, avoid making a domain name choice in another country simply because its the name you want. Only use that if you truly have an international dimension to your business.

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