Selecting Effective Domain Names
Posted: March 17, 2009 » by Lead Architect » in Domains; Tips and Support
Domains are cheap and easily obtained. You don’t want just any domain name however. The trick is to select one that properly represents your brand, helps you compete in search engines, and is easy for users to remember.
- Domain names have two audiences: web site visitors and search engines.
- Use words bunched together for visitors (ex: sterlingpetsitting.com). They are easier to remember and look nice in advertising copy.
- Use words separated by dashes (-) for search engines (ex: sterling-pet-sitting.com) and additional brand capitalization. - Choose domain names based on what customers will search for (ex: company name, industry terms, services, locality, your name).
- Buy more domain names than you think you need. Worst case scenario: you keep them out of the hands of the competition.
- Make the domain as easy as possible to remember and type.
- Consider buying names with common misspellings (ex: Double character words (where the letter ending a first word is the same as the letter beginning a second word, like in the case of a company named “Project Trailblazers”) are often mistyped. The smart strategy is to purchase two domains: projecttrailblazers.com and projectrailblazers.com).
- Buy similar names for redirection (ex: sterlingpetsitting.com, sterlingpetsitting.net)
- Avoid trademarked names or names similar to existing companies.
- If a specific domain name is already taken, try making a purchase offer. This can be done officially using a purchasing or backordering service or can be done unofficially by contacting the domain’s administrative contact.
Domain Standards
- Domains can contain letters, numbers, and hyphens.
- Domains cannot begin or end with a hyphen or use spaces or special characters. e.g. @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) ? “
- Names can be 2-67 characters in length (not including the ‘www’ or ‘http://’).
- Names are not case sensitive. (sterlingpetsitting.com is the same as SterlingPetSitting.com)
- Names can be registered for 1-10 years.
Need help in your domain name selection? Contact us with your list of possibilities and we’ll happily give you our opinion or suggest other possibilities.