Choosing an Ideal Domain Name – Some Rules to Follow

The domain name you choose for your website will play a bigger role in its success or otherwise than you can possibly imagine. Sounds scary, but the good news is if you follow a few simple rules, you won’t go making the same hideous mistakes as so many others are making every day.     …and here they are:1 – Short and SweetThe longer and more complex your domain name, the lower the chance of anyone remembering it. So, if for example you were thinking of www.flowersbypostinthemanchesterarea.com, you might better off going with www.manchesterflowers.com or something shorter still.2 – Easy to TypeIn a similar vein, the domain name must be easy to type and difficult to get wrong. You can kill your chances of winning traffic by using too many abbreviations – www.cars4u2day.com – for example as they’re way too easy to get wrong. Likewise, don’t make up your own spellings to try and look good as it will work against you for sure.3 – Include KeywordsObvious of course, but you should be doing your best to ensure that your domain name describes your business and what you do. If your business takes care of car repairs in London, you’ll do much better with www.londonautorepairs.com than www.jimfixesit.com.4 – Try Not to Use NumbersA number can be typed as a numeral or a word – this is something that cannot be conveyed when simply speaking the name of a website so leaves the visitor wide open to getting it wrong. So if possible, don’t use numbers at all.5 – Make it CatchyThere’s a difference between catchy, cliché and downright corny, but in all three cases there’s a good chance the domain name will be memorable – that’s precisely what you’re going for. It’s only when a site name is memorable that not only will a visitor know how to find you again, but also tell others to give you a try.6 – Think LocalTry to be as specific as possible location-wise, as opposed to just using a generic name. For example, www.glasscleaners.com doesn’t tell you anything at all about the area it serves, whereas www.salemglasscleaners.com lets you know exactly where they work.7 – Foil CopycatsChances are they’ll be cheap enough, so for the sake of protecting your brand it’s a good idea to also buy a few extra domain names that are almost identical to yours. It’s so common for cheats to set up near identical websites to those already running and use a domain name that’s just a single letter different or spelled wrongly, in order to dupe people into using their services instead.8 – Don’t OffendAnd finally, it’s perfectly simple to use your domain name to make something of a joke of any given subject and end up offending thousands of people that would otherwise have used your services. As such, it’s a good idea to avoid anything crude, questionable or in any way likely to be deemed offensive or annoying – it’s just not worth taking the risk!