Choosing A Domain Name For a Small Business Website
The is part one of the Key to an Effective Small Business Website series.
Choosing A Domain for an Effective Small Business Website.
A domain name is your business's address on the internet.
You want to own it (some businesses find themselves renting the domain from a web designer at high cost). You want control of it. A good domain name may even help your business. Many businesses are even using the domain name (complete with .com) as the business name.
Choosing a domain name for your small business should be fairly easy. We just want to make sure you do it right and don't make a mistake because your first choice is not available. This is a little bit different than choosing a domain name for a niche sit which I have also pointed written about on this blog.
I am covering choosing a domain for your business website early in this series.
The reason is because there are people out there buying domains simply with the plan of selling them at a profit sometime in the future. I do not want you to miss getting one because someone purchased it two weeks earlier just as an investment and not use. In some industries this is a possibility.
First rule – .com and only .com
Don't take a .net because your first choice is taken in .com but still available in .net. You will only be sending more traffic to someone else. Your customers will always assume it is .com if they are trying to remember. You will also often include your domain in advertising.
Second rule – do not use the free online tools to check if domains are available
Use the tool provided by your domain registrar and only search when you are ready to purchase it. Purchase the domain immediately. There are some sites online that use these searches to find prime domains for investment like I mentioned above. I have heard of more than one case where someone has checked for a domain and found suddenly purchased when they waited a bit before purchasing.
Search for the domain using your registrar's search. Purchase the domain as soon as you find the best one for your business. Do not wait. I get to the recommended registrars in just a bit.
Third rule – no dashes in the name
You can use more than one word. Just do not separate them with dashes. Dashes (or underscores) will make it nearly impossible to give out your domain name orally in person or on a radio advertisement.
Fourth rule – Be very aware of homonyms
2, to, two, or too? Again, you want to be able to give your domain name out easy and for it to be easy to remember.
Fifth rule – Don't be cute
This is your business website not a personal website. Be businesslike.
I suggest one of two options for your domain name.
First, your business name.
If your business name is short, easy to spell, and memorable take it if the domain is available. If your business name is too long, uses really long words, or hard to spell, look at the second option. Think about your customer. Would it be easy for them to remember and type out?
You have a bonus if your business name will also have keywords that people would typically type if they were looking for your type of business.
The second choice would be a domain name related to your business and area of business.
chicagoplumbing.com might be preferable to thomasscirrottoplumberextraordinaire.com even if the later is your business name. Using your business name will make it easier for people that are familiar with your business to find you.
However, using a locality and business type will help you get some additional search engine ranking for a phrase people will commonly search for. Many new customers you get from your website may very well be typing in the type of business you have and the city in a search engine. Using those terms in your domain name will help you rank a bit better. In the example in the previous paragraph, someone typing in "plumber Chicago" in Google is more likely to see chicagoplumbing.com in the listing than the second example.
This is only one factor, so do not be afraid to use your business name if you want. Just keep it in mind as an excellent alternative. It would not hurt to buy both domains. If your business name is not completely unique, you should buy the domain name for it even if you use the business and city domain. In my case, there were several other businesses with a similar name in the US alone. We were lucky to have the domain name. It has value far beyond the $10 annual fee should we decide to sell it.
Choose a good domain registrar
I recommend Namecheap as a registrar. My second choice is GoDaddy.com. GoDaddy is a bit better known but checkout with them is a maze of offers for all sorts of "extra" services that you do not need, want, or are usually free or cheaper anywhere else. Do not get hosting from Go Daddy! We will talk about hosting in a later article Getting your domain at Namecheap is simple. Create an account. Search and find the domain you want. Buy it. Namecheap may include a year of "whois" protection free. This will keep you from getting additional email spam.
I have used 4 different registrars online and these are the only two I feel good about recommending.
I have had friends purchase domain names and pay $40 and not get services they needed with it. A domain with Namecheap will be about $10 for a year. You may want to consider purchasing the domain for more than one year if you think your business will be around for longer than a year (I hope you are).
If you really want to use GoDaddy use my link, I'll get a commission. I recommend Namecheap and there is no commission or compensation for doing so. That is how much more I think Namecheap is better for you.
I think you are ready to go buy that domain name now.
We won't get around to using it for a bit, but buy it now. Once you purchase it you will have one less thing to worry about later. Just remember the details of your domain registrar account. We'll need to hop in later and tell them where you site is hosted. Till that time, your registrar will probably put a holding page on it.
If you have a bit of extra money, it would not hurt to purchase a spare domain. If you bought a domain with your business name maybe get the locality-business type name or the other way around. You may change your mind and there are some other uses for a second domain.
In the next post in this series, I am going to cover a subject even more important to your small business and its website than a domain name. Without it, you really do not have a reason to stay in business.
Till then, happy domaining.
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Comments on Choosing A Domain Name For a Small Business Website
Hi, my name is Connie at Network Solutions. It’s definitely important not to just check price on the domain registrar, but also their full suite of services. We don’t sacrifice price for quality, instead choosing to focus on providing great solutions like SEO and web design to help small businesses get jumpstarted on their web site. So in my mind, there is more to it than just flat out pricing.
One thing that should be mentioned is the length of time you buy the domain. The temptation is to only pay for a year. It is best to buy for longer periods of time so that you reduce your exposure to renewal problems.
Speaking of renewal, you don't want to allow your domain to expire. I've bought several live sites that the previous owner allowed to expire because they didn't setup auto-renew, provided incorrect information and so forth. Getting the domain back after expiration is an expensive chore.
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Connie – I completely agree that price is not the only factor. I have experienced a registrar with problems and that is why a quality registrar is a must. A $6 domain is no good if you cannot renew it properly
Frank – An excellent point! I can't believe I forgot that. Purchasing more than one year is something you defiantly should do, especially if you plan to keep your business running longer than a year (I think that is what most are working for anyway).
In addition to avoiding extra renewal problems, I have heard some say that Google likes domains that are purchased for several years. Google at least does prefer older domains.
I will sometimes volunteer to help people find the right names for their websites – I have about 7 sites now – the first few have terrible names,
(like itmightbelove – way too long!) but now i'm starting to get pretty good at it!
bustaname.com and makewords.com are 2 really good places for some inspiration.
I agree with the .com only, too. It means you have to be more creative since most of the "good ones" are taken or sitting empty hoping someone will pay thousands of dollars for it – but people will take you a lot more seriously.
Chelle – itmightbelove.com is not bad! I have much worse ones.
It is not something I would recommend for a business, but it is great for a site like yours (very nice btw). If I knew then what I know now…
To the lay person, choosing a domain name can be confusing, this article contains some useful tips which some people will no doubt find useful. Another useful blog post I found on the matter can be found under the title What's in a Name. Check it out.
Keyclickss last blog post..How Do Search Engines Work?
Other lawyers I know in Austin were really jealous of the name of me website "Austin Counsel", but they didn't have to deal with the fact that most people want to spell "counsel" as "council" so I had to do a lot of repeating when I gave my email address over the phone. Oh well, I still like it!
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The point about choosing a .com is pretty good but it is important to remember that it is near impossible to find a good, short .com. Using a dash in the domain can help allow you to get a better name when the non dash version is not available. Maybe it is worth suggesting to register the domain if it is something you might use.
When people search for a website, they will not remember the .net and the first place they will check is the .com adress. When they do not find it there, they will hardly ever think of using .net or .com with a dash. If you still decide to use one of those two you should be certain the .com adress isn't in use. Otherwise it will result in a lost visitor and maybe even a potential client.
This is true but I would think that a lot of searchers would go to an engine if they are really interested in what the site has to offer. Assuming the site has a decent amount of content, the site should show up on the first page of results, assuming they know the domain but not the extension.
Well, i think that no matter what the name of your business is, your domain should always be the main keyword you're targeting. This is an easy way to get a good amount of traffic during the first few months after going live. This tip is mostly useful for MSN and not so much for Google.
In my opinion you should buy your companies name as your domain name and purchase either a preowned domain name or a new one with niche keywords. The company name would go on business cards and be fowarded to the actual site run on the keyword riche domain name. This way you extend your brand in the real world and attack your niche in the virtual world.
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Business name can make or break a business. One should really be choosy in choosing a business name because it is lifetime.
Informative post, great tips and guides in choosing domain for business.
In my part we used godaddy.com and they offer great services.
Looking forward for more of your interesting post.
Best Regards,
Craig L.
National Merchants Corp
I think I probably chose the wrong name for my site (psp-repairz.co.uk), it has got 1 unwanted symbol (The hyphon) and a z instead of an s on the repairs which puts me down a bit on google
If the first choice is taken in .com but available in .net I will never ever take it. .com or nothing is the way to go!
I agree with the Second rule, this is a very important one: Use the tool provided by your domain registrar and only search when you are ready to purchase it. Purchase the domain immediately.
One time I search for some domains on domainsbot.com and I just wait 10-15 mins while I transfer money to my Paypal account and the domain was registered in that short period of time.
Also when use domains to buy hosting accounts make sure that you own the domain before buying the hosting acount. One time I buy the hosting without registering the domain (yeah I know my mistake :S) , and after I buy the hosting account I tried to register the domain and was already registered.
Awesome article. I was doing extensive research for domains and i like your point ".Com and Only .Com" because i had selected few .net domains too. But i now i got it and do not want to follow my rules. Thanks for such a nice explanation and domain selection tips.
I have had that happen to me too. The domain was free so I decided to look at some cheap domein resellers. At the time I found the cheapest it was already registered
Its fact that people tend to use website with .com very much rather than very much but i did see .com has more preference than .net domains, so i would prefer .com.
I don't mean one can not go for .net but its good to choose, .com.
If you are starting a business, you may want to check out the available domain names before you settle on a name for your business. It's a lot easier to tweak your business name before you have it set in stone in legal documents, business cards, etc.
It is getting tough to find a good short domain name that ends in .com, but as you say it is absolutely necessary. Even I automatically assume a business is .com and do not ask just type it in to go there.
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I still think that you have to have a real world brand and a virtual world brand.
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I think that 4th rule isn't the best one. Using dashes can help in search engine results ranking and you really rarely advertise on the radio. The best thing is to buy both – with dashes and without.
Dashes will not help with search engine rankings. The SE's can read the words without the dashes. They do help readers when looking at a search engine results page, but other than that no real help.
i have a knack for coming up with good domains… (my website on the field is not included) but coming up with a domain name and developing it are two different things
I think your domain name should be creative and yet not to long. Your name needs to be catchy, but also easy to remember at the same time.
Good guidance about choosing domain name for small business. This information is very helpful for domain selection. Thanks.
I would say agree that if you're intentions for a website is strictly for a business, and is a website that you will be giving away the name to people on a daily basis by telling them like "go to this website …" then yes indeed a .com is the best choice and you don't want dashes because it will confuse them. Just imagine how you would tell people in person if they asked for your website name as a good way to know what domain you will register.
Till then,
Jean