When you give out an address that’s unclear and complicated, don’t expect your guests to be able to find you easily. Obviously it’s not really your fault you live on a street that people misspell even if you spell each letter out, but you get the point. It’s the same thing online where your domain name is your address. Ask anyone for tips for choosing the perfect domain name and they’ll all say: keep it short, clear, memorable, and on brand. And in some cases, you may need to keep it local (.com.au for Australian businesses as an example). They are right.
It’s crucial for the domain name to be memorable, to clearly reflect your brand, to convey trust, and to tell your audience the brand’s purpose. To help you pick the perfect domain name, use these tips gathered from marketing experts.
1. Make it easy peasy. It’s a good domain name if it’s easy for your audience to remember and type. Here are some points to remember:
- Shorter domain names are easier to remember and to type.
- Slang, complex words, and intentional misspellings are difficult to remember and type; avoid them.
- Avoid acronyms, numbers, and hyphens because they are confusing.
Choose words or phrases that are easy to pronounce because if they can pronounce it, they can type it.
2. Make it targeted. It’s wise to include the name of the city in the domain name, especially is the business is local. This makes it easy for your local customers to remember and find. For instance, if you are an SEO optimisation or SEO digital marketing company located in Sydney, try something like SEO Sydney dot com.
3. Make it clean. Make sure that the name you picked is not taken by another company, trademarked, copyrighted, blacklisted, or penalised. In addition, double or triple check the domain name’s meaning in other languages. You don’t want to be entangled in a legal/cultural battle before you even launch your site. Use reputable domain history check sites and tools for due diligence checks.
4. Make it appropriate. Use an appropriate extension for your business. .com is undoubtedly the most popular but there are other extensions you can use .net, .co, .biz, etc.
5. Make it yours. In relation to #5, it’s also advisable to buy all the domain extensions appropriate for your brand as well as misspelled and AKA versions of your domain name, just to be safe. You could go overboard with that, as there are almost unlimited variations now. So just try and keep that under control.
6. Make it aligned. Choose a catchy domain name that reflects what you do and that your target audience could immediately associate with your brand. For this, try keywords that describe the business and what it offers.
7. And finally, one of the best tips for choosing the perfect domain name: make it brandable. A domain name that builds strong brand value over time is a wise investment, indeed. What makes a brandable domain name? The two main components are:
- Relevance – something that rings true to the business’ core values
- Credibility – something that sounds trustworthy, professional, mature
Just as you would put in considerable time, effort, and money in finding the perfect address for your home; choosing a domain name requires careful planning and thought. Follow these tips for choosing the perfect domain name and you can have one that’s memorable, has a good history, speaks to your target audience, and tell the world exactly who you are as a brand.