With such a huge growth in the number of websites and the
resulting difficulty in finding an available domain name, it is
tempting to grab the first one that sounds like it might do the
trick. However, a small amount of homework will pay big
dividends – follow the ten steps below to obtain the optimal
domain:
1. AVAILABILITY If it’s not available you can’t have it – simple!
2. COPYRIGHT Ensure that you do not breach copyright or infringe
trademarks with your choice of domain.
3. EXTENSIONS It’s widely acknowledged that the best TLD (top
level domain) is .com. However, in the UK, web users are more
than used to .co.uk so this is equally acceptable for UK
websites. If .com isn’t available and you use .net instead (for
example), check that .com isn’t either a competitor or that the
..com site content is acceptable! Always try to get the .com,
your country TLD or .net in that order. Web users are still not
used to .biz or .info.
4. BE GREEDY! If more than one TLD variant is available, buy as
many as you can afford and set them all to point to your
website. This is a form of brand protection and prevents
unscrupulous competitors trying to cash in on your hard-earned
web traffic.
5. BE MEMORABLE Make sure that potential web users will remember
your domain name and that they can spell it properly.
6. BE PRONOUNCABLE Try telling people your web address over the
phone – can they understand what you tell them? Or do they give
up and try someone else’s website.
7. BE DESCRIPTIVE If you are a new business, very few people
will remember or search for your domain name if it is your
company name. Try choosing a domain name that is descriptive of
your products instead e.g. cheap>.com. Try
testing it with a hyphen as well as using just one word.
8. OFFLINE MARKETING Use your domain name in your offline
marketing literature and ensure that it is as visible as
possible. However, if your domain name consists of more than one
word, that isn’t hyphenated, try using capital letters e.g.
which is easier to read – littlefishwebdesign.com or
LittleFishWebDesign.com? Domain names are not case sensitive so
your clients will find your site whichever version they use.
9. BUY YOUR DOMAIN FOR LONGER Search engines are now looking at
less obvious information such as how long you have bought your
domain name for. Domain names owned for less than two years are
though to be penalised, so buy your domain for as long as
possible.
10. OWN YOUR DOMAIN NAME If you use a web designer or third
party for your domain names, ensure they are registered in your
name and that you have a signed agreement with the company that
they will release all the details (including password) to you,
quibble free, if you choose to move to another design or hosting
company.
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