By Louise Savoie
Have you been asked about how you got your name? We all have the background stories behind our names. From the most romantic to the trendiest name of your birth year, your parents decided to give you the name you proudly carry today. They recognize that your name is going to be the identity you’ll carry for the rest of your life, and will be remembered by those who come after you.
Your company’s domain name (the words that come after www. in a website) is like your name, except that it’s the name bearing your company’s identity in the World Wide Web. The real challenge is this: domain names have to be unique. While it’s true that there are existing domain names that are similar sounding, it also comes at a cost for them as clients tend to confuse one with the other. Hence, having the most unique domain name can be very beneficial to the business or product that you represent.
When choosing the ideal domain name for your business website, I would like to recommend using the following tips.
1. Think Unique
As previously mentioned, your website’s domain name has similar impact with your personal name. The more you unique it is, the easier for people to remember it. Think of Lady Gaga vs. Jane Doe. The former is as unique as it sounds while the latter is as common as it appears. Identify the uniqueness of your product or business, and consider this for selecting the domain name.
Take with you the kind of brand you would like people to remember you by and this can guide you in creating the unique domain name your website ought to have. Ensure that the name you choose, aside from its uniqueness, can also be easily associated with the product or service you’re selling.
2. Think Long Term
When your domain name is unique, it can also withstand the test of time as more and more people can retain it in their memory. Thinking of the long-term impact of your domain name can help you reconsider the names you’re thinking to take.
Changing an existing domain name can be costly when the time comes. So when you’re still planning the name for your website, make sure that it’s something that will not bring confusion in the long run, especially if you can foresee some changes happening in the years to come.
3. Think of Your Business Name
As far as uniqueness goes, integrating your business name into the domain name can help. Sometimes the best domain names are the most obvious, so don’t overlook the power of registering domain that simply includes your business name.
4. Think Easy
Domain names can also make their mark on people’s mind if it can be easily read, pronounced, read, and spelled. It will be ideal if your potential customers do not have a hard time typing your website because they can easily identify the spelling.
Think of Twitter or Snapchat. These are familiar words that may be invented, but can be easily spelled even at first hearing. With a domain name providing this ease, you’re also giving your clients a better chance to gain access to your website.
5. Think Short
Aside from considering the ease of spelling and pronouncing your domain name, it’s also very helpful to keep domain names short. The goal is to create a domain name that doesn’t exceed 14 characters.
However, in today’s Internet era, when many business entities are into creating an online presence through their websites, there’s a good chance that the shorter domain names have already been taken. That’s okay, you can still come up with other choices that may not be necessarily shorter, but still easily remembered, spelled, and associated with your unique brand.
6. Think of Pronunciation
As previously mentioned, domain names can be the entry point where clients can get to know your product or business. Aside from it being easy to spell, it should also be easy for the mouth and tongue to say. Remember that not all users are savvy online. As a result, they might not know how to verify a domain name through Google, and will simply type the domain name in the way they have heard it pronounced. When your domain name is very easy to pronounce, you can have better chances of having a very unique domain name.
7. Think Keywords
To aim for the uniqueness of domain names, consider using keywords, which bear the unique elements of your business, product, or service. In using keywords in the domain names, I recommend placing it before the name itself. This way, clients can potentially remember the effectiveness of the name you selected. However, you have to be careful in using keywords as they can also result to generic names, which is not ideal in achieving that unique identity.
8. Think of Characters
When you plan for unique domain names, exclude numbers, special characters, and hyphens in creating the names. These characters can possibly cause confusion when your website is going to be introduced the first time. As people pass the word around, it will be easy for them to simply inform the others about the name of the website, rather than on explaining if the “e” is replaced by “3”, such as, “YummyTr3atPizza.com.”
9. Think Original
Keep in mind that domain names ought to be unique and representative of your brand. You would want to use names that have not been used by any group, business entity, or even approved for trademark. You can face legal consequences when you reuse names of already trademarked entities.
There are also online tools you can use to verify the similarity of names. However, starting with a quick search on social media can give you a start to identifying the originality of your domain name.
10. Think of Domain Name Tools
As you start creating your website, you also have to consider what domain extension should be appended in your chosen domain name. There are many domain name extensions available, including .net, .org, .gov, .edu. However, the most popular and frequently used is .com, which is also what I highly recommend when it comes to formulating your domain name.
Additionally, to ensure that you don’t have similar domain names from existing websites, use tools such as domain generators. This way, you can come up with the credible and unique domain idea you ought to have.
What do you think of these tips? If you find this helpful in selecting the best domain name for your company website, don’t forget to share it.
