subject: Secrets To Choosing The Right Domain Name For Your Online Business [print this page] The domain name you choose for your online business will serve as part of the identity for your business brand. It will be the name that people associate with your online business. In case you are unsure what the heck a domain name is, it is the address that people type in to access your website such as www.yourdomain.com.
Choosing your domain name is an extremely important step in building your business and driving traffic to your website. Most online business owners make the mistake of choosing their name before they have set up their website or have done any planning for their online business. Instead, you should have already planned out your business and set up your website before choosing your name. Here are a few more secrets and tips on choosing the right domain name for your online business.
Complete Your Keyword Research
Do your keyword research and carefully choose the keywords that you are going to use to drive highly targeted traffic for your website. This is an important step before choosing a domain name since the chances are you will be using some of these words to choose your name.
Plan Your Website
Create a detailed plan for what you plan to accomplish with your website and some of the goals and objectives you want to achieve. Plan the layout for your website and design the content. Once you have an idea of what you want to achieve for your website you can start thinking about a name that reflects the content and purpose of your site. This is a plus with the search engines since they read the domain name first and then compare the content with the name.
Keep It Short but Descriptive
Choose a domain name that is short and easy for your visitors to remember and accurately describes what your website is about. When possible include keywords in the name from your research that your prospects are using to find you. Make sure the keywords fit in naturally with the name you choose and avoid overstuffing the name with keywords. The search engines will penalize you for this.
Make It Easy to Spell
You can choose a domain name that is memorable but if it is difficult to spell it may cost you traffic to your website. Make sure the words in the name are easy for your visitors to spell when they type in the address to access your website.
Use .com When Possible
Most people identify with a ".com" name so if possible choose a domain name that is available with a .com extension. It also avoids confusing your visitors if you use ".net" or ".org." Dot com at the end of your name tells your visitors that you are a business just like ".gov" automatically indicates a government website.
Avoid Abbreviations
With the increased use of chat and social networking abbreviations have become the norm however they do not work for domain names. Abbreviations such as "4u" instead of "for you" are not effective in a name and it looks unprofessional. Remember you want your domain name to tell your visitors what to expect when they arrive at your site.
Check Your Spelling
Check your spelling before you buy your domain name. Although people type in misspelled words it makes your business look questionable if people see misspellings in your name.
The tips we have described here are steps that people usually skip when they choose a domain name. Knowing this inside information will put you ahead of the game when you go to choose a name for your online business.
