One of the most important pieces of real estate that small online businesses can have is their website. While having social media profiles such as Facebook business pages or twitter handles for your business is smart, entrepreneurs do not own these sites. For instance, Facebook can remove a business’ page at any time of their choosing if they think it violates one of their policies. Therefore, for this reason, it is important that business owners create a website for their businesses. One of the most important aspects of a website is the domain name. Consequently, just as entrepreneurs are expected to take the time to carefully select a proper business name, they should do the same for their company’s domain name. The domain name is used for identification on the internet, so it should be easy to find and it should match the business it represents. Below are 5 tips that business owners should employ when deciding on a domain name.
- Make the Domain Name Easy to Type– Using names that are easy to type is crucial because it increases the chance of being found easily online. Persons also should avoid using slangs or even words that have multiple spellings which may affect their ability to be found by customers.
- Use Keywords in the Name– The use of keywords in the domain name will help with the search engine optimization (SEO) efforts that drives organic traffic to the site. Therefore, business owners should always include keywords that are associated with their business in their website’s title. For example, if an individual has a business that is focused on grooming dogs, the person’s domain name can be doggroomers.com. From the onset, such a name clearly indicates what the business is about.
- Use the Proper Extension– Depending on the type of business, different domain extensions may have to be used. Whereas the typical domain is .com, there are a number of other domain extensions that can be used such as .org, .net, .info, .co .bi among others based on what the domain name and by extension the nature of the company.
choose the right domain name for your small business
- Keep the Domain Short– When determining the best domain name, it is important that the name that is settled on is short and easy to spell because using lengthy, complicated names have a many disadvantages. Names that are long and difficult to spell increase the likelihood that persons will have trouble memorizing and spelling it which in turn will directly affect the traffic that the site will most likely receive.
- Protect your Domain– Protecting a businesses’ domain name is quite important. To illustrate this concept, a real life example from a popular figure Sara Palin will be used. Unfortunately, she learned this lesson the hard way. She purchased the domain name sarahpalinchannel.com. However, Steven Colbert purchased thesarahpalinchannel.com where he makes a mockery of her because as the owner, he can basically do what he wants on the site. The lesson here is to buy different extensions of your name, misspelled versions of your name, and other versions of your name if necessary. Taking such an approach will help prevent competitors from purchasing and tainting the brand’s image. Plus, protecting the domain makes it easy for customers to find the business.
The domain name is an important part of a business, and to reemphasize, entrepreneurs should spend the necessary amount of time to ensure that they have a proper domain name that fulfills the criteria outlined above. Additionally, other useful tips about domain names can be obtained from sites like godaddy.com.
After choosing the right domain name, ensure you are not making these mistakes when naming your business