Your website is your business’s online identity. When people want to learn more about your business, it’s one of the first things they check. Learning how to choose a website name that helps your business is one of the most important things you’ll have to do when setting up a website for your business.
Like many of the other decisions that you have to make as a small business owner, picking a domain name that works to propel your business forward isn’t as cut-and-dried as it might seem. Many businesses have made costly mistakes because they didn’t take the time to learn what sets a name that works apart from a name that doesn’t.
Lucky for you, We’ve already done the dirty work for you. All you have to do is put what we’ve found into practice.
Keep It Short and Simple
We’ve all seen them before: domain names that just seem to keep going for miles. Throw in a few hyphens and numerals and you’ve got a recipe for a domain that no one can remember.
It’s best to keep things short and simple. What do I mean by that? Glad you asked!
According to Gaebler, domain name length has a correlation with website popularity. While correlation doesn’t necessarily mean causation—wealthy companies can afford short domain names, which can cost millions, as well as allocate more funds for marketing—their findings do suggest that simplicity is a factor in choosing a domain name that works. There is no magic number, but shooting for 12 characters in your domain name will help ensure that things stay simple.
A few other tips for keeping your domain name simple:
- Avoid hyphens
- Try not to use numerals
- Make the domain easy to pronounce (because voice search is huge right now, and it’s only going to get more popular)
Give Your Business Room to Pivot
Want to know why learning how to choose a website name is important? It can help your business adapt. Keeping your domain name simple can also have another advantage—room to pivot. Your business’s future market might not be the same as your business’s present market. Just look at companies like Nintendo, Starbucks, and HP. When choosing a domain name, make sure you don’t pigeon-hole yourself to a specific market. You never know where your company might take you, and if you don’t want your Google rankings to suffer when you make the change, it’s best to choose a name that is versatile.
Business Name Branding
Smart business owners like you know that branding is everything (O.K. not everything, but it’s important). Brand-centric domain names tend not to be too focused on keywords or too descriptive of a niche. These types of names are easy to remember and thus easy to find online.
Research Possible Names
The last thing you want to do when choosing a domain name is to pick one that is similar to one already in existence. When business owners pick a name without properly learning how to choose a website name first, they run the risk of:
- Trademark infringement
- Negative associations with domain name history
- No social media name availability
Once you’ve come up with a few options for a domain name, check that it doesn’t violate any trademarks. If your domain name was previously owned, do some research on the brand or people that were associated with it in the past. And make sure that you have a clear path to creating the social media profiles you need to increase traffic to your page.
Ready to learn how to choose a website name?
Want to learn more about coming up with the best domain name for your website? Talk to us!