Choosing A Domain Name For Your Business

Things To Consider When First Starting Out

When starting an online business or offline business. You need to consider the fact that your going to need a website. A good domain name is important to your success. So before you register a domain, there are a couple of things to consider. If you've already have put a lot of thought into branding then it would be a good idea to just go ahead and register you name right now. Otherwise it might be a good idea to get all the information you need. Here are a couple of things to consider.

Have you chosen one specific niche/topic for your business
Do you know the keywords you will be using for your business
Do you know some of the main products that you will offer
Have you already thought about possible names for your business

Take The Proper Time To Think About Your Domain Name

One way you might be able to come up with a couple of possible names for your business is by telling a couple of people you know about your business. However consider a nondiscloser agreement if you have a really good idea. After you have thought about a couple of names it would be a good ideas for you to do a Whois Search and check to see if someone has already considered you business name. Make sure your name isn't already taken. If it is already taken, you will have to consider using a different name.

An Important Part Of Choosing A Domain

Your domain name is the name of your business online. If you're a business then it is important to make sure you get a .com extension. If you're selling something or a service then this rule applies. If you're a commercial website you shouldn't waste time with any other kinds of extensions. People will give you a lot more credibility if you use a .com extension. If you're another type of organization then you might consider using a different top level extension.

Your domain name (business name) must command confidence, reliability, strength and trustworthiness. Establishing credibility should be one of your first priorities when choosing your domain name. Remember first impressions last forever. Choose words that are straight forward and easy to understand. Words that represent the kind of business you're in. Your name should be memorable, easy to spell, and easy to remember. A couple of things to think about are that short domain names are better than long domain names. It isn't a good idea to use numbers in your domain name unless it's part of your branding. The same goes for percent (%) and plus (+) signs, and any other characters that might be easily confused.

A Domain Name Should Not Use Gimmicks Or A Sales Pitch

It isn't a good idea to use gimmicks in your domain name. You need to show trust and credibility so no gimmicks or sales pitches.

Make Your Domain Name Easy To Read

Even though some people are using them, I don't recommend using dashes. If you do end up using dashes you need to tell people every time you say the name of your website. One example of this is would be pet-store.com. You need to tell them pet dash store dot com, not pet store dot com. You should continue brainstorming and try to add an extra word, or different word before using dashes.

Registering A Domain Name - Webhosting vs. Domain Registrar

There are two ways that you can register your domain name, webhosting or domain registrar.

Webhosting
It's convenient but should should you decide to leave the webhost, you might not be able to retain your domain name. Make sure you read your ageement with your webhost before you decide to register your domain name through your webhosting. This is not always the case but have been known to happen so just be careful.

Domain Registrar
Unlike webhosting you have 100% control over your domain name. Changing your webhosting is as easy as changing your DNS (domain name server).