by David Lim
The domain name of your business is your identity on the web. To your customers, your domain name represents you and your business. So, do take the time to carefully select a domain name that is fully representative of your business and all that it is.
To help you out, I have outlined a few guidelines below that should prove useful.
Your Domain Name Must be a Dot Com
The ".com" is still the standard for top level domain names and, unless you have a very good reason, your domain name must end with a ".com".
An exception to this rule is if you have a business that serves only a specific country. In this case, it might be a good idea to use the top level domain for that country.
Your Domain Name Should Also be the Name of Your Website
If you are just starting your Internet business, then this is probably the one rule that you must follow. Select and register your domain name, and that domain name will also be the name of your business.
There may be instances in which you have an existing offline business, but the domain name for your business has already been taken. In this case, you would have to make some hard choices:
Change the name of your existing offline business to a domain name that is available.
Buy the domain name from the existing owner.
Get a country specific domain name, if available.
Get a domain name in one of the hundreds of new top level domain names.
Get a domain name that is nearly the same as, or maybe even very different from, the name of your existing business.
Your Domain Name Should be Catchy, Short and/or Easy to Remember
Consider a domain name like "KellyBooks.com".
Think you can remember it? Maybe.
Now imagine that you have been surfing the web for the last hour looking for a certain book and have been encountering names like "ExcellentBooks.com", "YeOldeBookshop.com" and "TheBestBooks.com".
Do you think "KellyBooks.com" will stand out? Probably not.
Now...how about a bookshop by the name of "Fatbrain.com"?
Bet you can remember it. It'll probably stick like a leech to your mind. I think you'd be hard pressed to forget it.
That's the kind of name you want for your site.
Look for Unintentional and Inappropriate Words
Consider the domain name, ExpertsExchange.com. It's probably a website in which experts exchange opinions or information. Probably a site that you would click through to if that is what you are looking for.
However, in Google search or a directory listing, there will be no capitals and the domain name will look like this, "expertsexchange.com". Other than being a laughing stock, I'm guessing that your site will lose quite a few visitors as they would think that your site is not what they are looking for.
So, before registering that domain name, be sure to take a second look to make sure that there are no unintentional or inappropriate words hiding inside.
Make Sure it is Easy to Pronounce and Easy to Spell
A general rule of thumb is that you want a domain name that you can convey over the phone without having to spell it out and without any explanation.
For example, the domain name, "Rooms4you.com", would be a nightmare to convey over the phone while "RoomsRental.com" would be a breeze.
Try For a Generic Name
Generic domain names would be domain names like the following:
business.com
lampshade.com
parrots.com
stationery.com
Generic names are great because surfers may type it in without ever knowing about your site. More traffic for you. :)
Practically all generic names would already have been taken but you can try for generic names that may not be in common use but is very common within your field of business or expertise.
And, while the ".com" domain is still the de facto standard, you can still consider generic domain names in a lot of the newly released top level domains.
Avoid Trademarkes or Brand Names
Don't use a trademarked name or brand as your domain name or as part of your domain name. Although you may have a legitimate use for the names, a court case is surely the last thing you want to deal with.
Try to Start the First Character of Your Domain Name With "A"
Not always possible but do it if you can. Or at least try to get the first character as close to "A" as possible. In fact, it would be even better if you can start with a digit.
Why the fuss with the letter "A"?
Well, it will elevate your listing in the directories. Under each category, sites starting with digits will be listed first, followed by an alphabetically ordered listing of the rest of the sites.
Sites starting with "A" will be very close to the top of the list.
David Lim is the webmaster of http://QuittingYourJob.com, a business resource for the entrepreneur looking to start, or grow an online home-based business.
This article may be reprinted freely, provided no changes are made, and provided the resource box above follows the article.