How to Choose the Best Domain Name for Your Website

Before launching your site, you will need to have decided on your address: the door upon which all users knock to visit you.  Therefore it’s of critical importance that you choose the best domain name you can find.  But how do you do that?  Read on to find out.

Choose Your Website Name

It might seem obvious but, where possible, your domain name should be the same as your website/company name.  For example, if your company is called Green’s Grocers, there’s no sense in choosing www.freshfruitandvegetables.com.  You want your domain to be synonymous with your company’s image.

Long or Short?

This is a problem a lot of companies face.  They may feel that their company name is simply too long to use as a domain name.  Domain names can be anything up to 67 characters but some argue that shorter domain names are easier to remember whereas others think that longer domains (i.e. not acronyms) are easier to remember.  The bonus of going for a longer domain is that the likelihood of it still being available to buy is greater.  Really, it’s up to you.  You could be greensgrocers.com or gg.com but in actuality, gg.com is probably already taken and your customers are more likely to remember the former choice anyway.

Hyphens

Sometimes if the domain you want has already been snapped up, the next move is to hyphenate: www.greens-grocers.com.  The trouble with doing so is that people often leave out hyphens by accident and therefore end up at your competitor’s site instead.  Try using your locality: www.greensgrocerslondon.com for example.  There are plenty of ways around this problem.

.com, .net or .org etc.

If you’re running a small, local business, it’s actually better to go for a country-specific URL – though you may wish to buy up the .com address too if it’s available.  Most domain extensions are perfectly acceptable though so perhaps ask the advice of your web designer or friends in the know.

Whatever you do, get your domain sewn up today!  It’ll make the design of your site a whole lot easier and no one will be able to snap it up from under you once you’ve settled on a design and started creating the site.