It won’t have escaped your notice that there are a lot of websites out the re, all clamoring for our attention. So one of the most effective ways to stand out, from the very outset, is to have a distinctive and memorable domain name. Now, this may be easier said than done as so many have been taken already – as of March of 2020 141 million .com names had been registered along with 13.8 million .net names. But, while it’s going to be difficult, it’s by no means impossible if you follow these tips.
Make it short and memorable
Not everyone is going to find you through Google. Some people will have seen your website address on the side of your van or on a business card, so the shorter and more memorable you can make it, the better. But remember, the re’s more to making a business success than just a catchy title, as one of the earliest ever eCommerce failures, Boo, discovered at their cost.
Make it reflect what you do
While big brands can fall back on the widespread knowledge among the population of what they do, smaller businesses can’t take advantage of that level of familiarity. So, choosing a name that includes your business name and describes what you do will help. The re’s also a good chance that it will provide you with a unique domain name in the process.
Invent a word if you need to
It might be that The Best way to go is to invent a word. That way you’ll not run the risk of finding that the domain name is already taken – however, by now even this is a crowded area. Try to avoid making it too specific but give it the right tone. A great example is the webserver provider Verpex. It sounds like a tech company, which is also a little more technical and serious than others in the same general field like Squarespace and GoDaddy. The combination of their chose domain name, along with the quality of services they offer, definitely sets the company up as a professional and respectable service provider.
Use the right extension
When it comes to choosing the extension, or Top Level Domain as it’s more formally known, the general advice would be to go for .com. Yes, there may be 141 million other sites with the same extension but it is useful because it adds more authority to the site name than something like .biz – and it also rolls very neatly off the tongue when you’re telling someone your web address.
Buy up the variants and misspellings
People often misspell domain names or type in an approximation of what they think a web address might be. So, it would be a good idea to work out what variants they might use and ensure that they’re redirected to your actual domain name too. This should be easily possible through your domain registrar.
But, if, even after this advice, you’re still scratching your head, you can always use a little help from a site like instantdomainsearch.com itself a great example of telling it like it is!
