How to Pick a Domain Name?
Domain name registration could be among the most crucial steps of creating your brand or business. The domain you choose to use is typically an initial thing a person encounters and can impact their perception of your website as well as your company’s image. A well-chosen domain could increase the interest of users and boost traffic to your site; however a rashly chosen domain name could result in exactly the opposite. So, how to choose a domain name?
While it’s not an exact scientific method, there are some tips to choose the best domain name that reflects and enhances your brand.
Domain names have an enormous impact on the internet in terms of click-through rates and range from search results to social media results to referring hyperlinks, typing in traffic, brand-ability as well as offline advertisements. There is a myriad of sites where your domain name affects your brand as well as your online marketing. And we should not be ignoring this.
Tips to Choose the Best Domain Name
1. Create It as a Brandable
The word “brandable” means it is when you look at your domain’s name it sounds similar to its brand. That means that hyphens, as well as numbers, pose a serious issue because they do not sound like an established brand. They can sound generic or a bit odd.
For instance, if were to design an online food site that contains food recipes, and sells food ingredients to buy a domain name, you’d have to take these tips into consideration,
- Food-shop.com could be difficult to label to say, mention, or recall.
- FoodRecipesIngredients.com has a brand name that is distinctive, however, it’s difficult to describe.
- FoodLab.com will be awe-inspiring because it has a scientific significance to it. It is highly brandable, distinctively memorable, and is distinctive.
2. Make It Sound Pronounceable
You may be saying domain name registration has nothing to do with the way you pronounce it. But the majority of people will be typing it out or clicking on a link.
It’s important due to “processing proficiency”. A bias in our cognitive abilities that humans are born with lets us retain (and have stronger associations with) things we can quickly think about and speak about. This includes pronunciation in our own minds.
It’s going to depend on the region and language that you’re aiming at.
3. Keep It Short
One of the domain registration tips that anyone will tell you is to keep it short. Length is important due to the processing fluency we have discussed previously.
The fewer characters a domain name contains the simpler it is to type it such as share, for example, and so on. A shorter length is more effective.
4. Bias toward .com
Why do we keep discussing .com? The internet has been around for many years. What is the reason why .com has such significance in the face of so many extensions for TLDs? The answer is the fact that it is considered the most trusted domain extension that you can purchase.
Cognitive fluency says that we select an easy thing that people are familiar with the domain, and .com is the main TLD. If you’re trying to create an appealing domain that will be successful, you need the .com. If you’re very successful, you’ll be required to take it all the way, that’s why we’d recommend grabbing it as soon as you can.
If it’s not available we would suggest using .net, .co, or any other TLDs that are known. These are the best options. A well-known TLDs could be something similar to .ca or.ca in Canada as well as .it for Italy.
5. Do Not Allow Trademark Infringement of Trademarks
You must be cautious since it’s not about whether you think your domain might be confusing. It’s if you believe that a judge in a particular location where a corporation might pursue legal action against you, could find your domain name confusing.
It can also lead to confusion about your brand, which can be difficult for your brand’s credibility. You should speak to an attorney or legal professional if you are experiencing legitimate worries. Trademark owners are able to sue a domain owner who is the owner of the domain legally and is employing it for business use which is a big no-no.
6. Make It Easy
A great domain name will give users a clear impression of what a website can be. Being able to glance at a domain’s name and think, “Oh, they probably have this in mind. It’s likely what this company is doing” is an enormous victory.
FoodLab.com for instance is very evident, and intuitively about food and anyone can determine that.
7. Use Broad Keywords
Keywords within a domain name could help in reducing cognitive biases of fluency, but also from an SEO viewpoint. Google has been swayed away from partial and exact match domains. However, the anchor text you receive from the people who link to your site can be helpful.
If you are able to get keywords mentioned within your website’s domain that will make it clear the purpose of your website and what it’s about, then do it. However, if you’re trying to get a keyword-rich or a domain that is targeted to keywords we’d advise staying away from them in the year 2021. They’re not as popular they did in the past and they have negative associations (with people as well as search engines) to avoid.
Consider Amazon.com or Google.com that clearly have nothing to do with the content. They’re very well-branded, however, they don’t have any keyword richness to them.
8. It’s Acceptable to Append or Change It
If your domain’s name isn’t available and you want to use it, take the initiative and create a suffix, or prefix. It’s okay to make use of an alternative TLD extension as we discussed above, and it’s acceptable to be more imaginative in your online presence.
9. Do Not Use Doubled Letters
Doubled letters in domain names can be a recipe for typos. Doubled letters are difficult to read and are even more difficult to write correctly.
If you make mistakes often enough, you could be the victim of someone squatting typos and taking your traffic. Also, spending just a few minutes more than you need to find out the correct spelling of your domain can be distracting.
10. Make Sure Your Brand is Protected by Having Multiple Domains
Have you heard the phrase “If the shoe is suitable purchase it with every color?” Well, if the domain name matches then buy it in each TLD.
If you do manage to get the desired .com address, you may want to consider buying alternatives and making redirects. You can go one step further and purchase the most common spellings of your domain’s name.
This is a good approach that can be applied to social media, too. Even if you’re not sure you’ll ever use Twitter it is possible to get a good handle if you can find one. You’ll be prepared should you decide to tweet and stop anyone else from using your username.
How Name Generators Help Us to Choose a Domain Name?
While there are generators that can assist you in finding great keywords and hashtags, there are tools that can help you locate domain names.
You could take some of the keyword phrases and brand-related terms you’ve come up with using the tips above and then add them to the domain name generator that will then use these words and other related terms to generate lists of domain names that are available.
Even if you do not pick the exact domain name by the name generator, it will assist your team to select a domain that’s perfect for your website or business. Here are a few of the most popular domain name generators that you can test.
1. Wordoid
If you have a particular word that you find yourself returning to, type it into Wordoid and it will provide you suggestions for words that are related to the word. Wordoid is also focused on domains with a minimum of 10 characters. However, it is possible to set a limit to characters between five and 15 depending on the length you have you want to achieve.
2. Looka
The Looka’s Business Name Generator can create a variety of business names based on abstract ideas (like the idea of creativity) or industry. It automatically checks whether domain names or social names are available and, if not, suggests alternative names. It’ll also provide some logo concepts to start getting your website online as fast as you can.
3. Nameboy
Nameboy is a trusted and popular resource for finding the original domain name. Input a keyword or two and Nameboy will provide a variety of distinct options to select from. Nameboy also has generators for brand names, blog names, trademarks as well as business names, and other names that may be used in conjunction when you lookup for a domain name.
Conclusion
There’s plenty of information to rely on to assist you in making the right choice. Keeping your domain’s name short and simple to remember will help you get on the right track. Once you have a domain name in mind, you are able to begin your process by buying cheap hosting for your soon-to-be website’s home.