How to choose a domain name for your business

melanymaldena · Feb 14, 2016

Hi,
What do you take into account when choosing your domain name for your business? Do you go for ease for remembering for users? Do you try and get a similar one to a high traffic one? Do you stick only to .com or .net? Do you choose short domain names only?

ericplotz1 · Feb 14, 2016

Stick to .com for SEO and short names for branding purposes. I do not use exact match domain as I see know reason for them. If you use the keyword in the URL then you kinda shoot yourself in the foot.

Say I did a blog on hip hop music and named it hiphopmusic.com. Say my focus is "hip hop music". Many of my titles or categories may contain the word "hip hop music" in it already. So variations of my URL may end up looking like this:

Code:

hiphopmusic.com/hip-hop/10-best-hip-hop-songs
hiphopmusic.com/clothing/hip-hop-hoodie
and so on....

You see, the keyword just needs to be in the URL. And if you have the keyword in the URL twice this is considered to be an over optimization and may get hit by Panda. It gets really bad when the keyword is a phrase (2+ keywords). So no need to include it in the domain name when page titles and categories are going to include the keyword in the URL.

You also want to be careful that with your categories and page titles over optimizing the URL.

Cheers

velvet · Feb 14, 2016

Hi melanymaldena,

A keyword rich domain can help you, but what will help you the most is if you can localize it.

Adding a place name will help you immensely if you have a local site.

I have done the same for several local sites and have most of the top of the page for several search strings with very basic sites for small business.

A .com TLD is generally considered to have more percieved value, but I am not a believer in the value of trying to get a decent search engine position if your site, and competition is more general.

Plenty of people have been chasing their tail trying that.

In that case it is better to get something that has a ring to it, and describes what you do.

Hope that helps some.

cheers, Mal.

ulterios · Feb 16, 2016

Some of my main rules for choosing a domain name:

1. Use a .com unless absolutely impossible. Most people type .com out of habit!

2. I prefer a good name that is unique and brandable.

3. Stay away from anything that sounds cheap and low quality. (example. cheaponlinediscountshoes.xxx)

4. Make sure any domain considered doesn't have a previous bad history that might follow it. (Spam, porn, drug, etc.)

5. Make sure there aren't any possible Trademark issues, now or in the future.

jerryperes · Jan 12, 2017

The domain name you choose for your website is just as important as the name you choose for your business. After all, your website is the face of your online business. There are many factors when you choose domain name like Such as it should be easy to remember, should have best domain extension and search engine friendly.

Gecko · Jan 12, 2017

A real good point was made by @jerrypress in that the domain name that you choose for your website is just as important as the name that you choose for your business.

The domain name is what people are going to see, often before they see or know what the business name is or even what is on the site. You should always put a lot of thought into your domain name unless you are just using it for something that isn't important.

Of course a .com is generally considered the best extension but that doesn't mean you have to have one, especially when everything you can think of is taken.

As for the length of the domain, you should try to use one that is not overly long, hard to spell, doesn't go with the sites' topic/niche and preferably unique to your business that way there is no confusion between your site and others.

Bottom line is that you want to put some good thought into the name that you choose as it can be a part of your success or failure.

TheHost · Jan 15, 2017

- has to be a .com, local TLDs also work if you plan on going local
- brandable
- easy to remember
- must contain keywords if possible
- as short as possible

Do you try and get a similar one to a high traffic one?
Never, always try to be unique, you want the users to come to you not end here by mistake.

reddyash · Mar 29, 2017

I would always choose my domain name based on keywords. The second option will always be shorter names. First preference will always be .com.

rankmyhub · Apr 4, 2017

choosing a domain name is tricky and depends on various factors, we have a well written guide for consumers, who need to decide on what extensions or what kind of domains they need to choose for their website.

Simple rule of thumb

1) Try to get Top Level Domains they are .com, .net, .org, etc.,, depending on your niche
2) Try to get keywords in domain, if possible. Not mandatory, but having keyword have its own benefit
3) Keep the length of domain name short as a possible
4) Make sure that no other business or company is using same name, simple Google search will help you not collide with other business
5) Buying expired domains? Consult an SEO Expert and get your list reviewed before you go ahead.
6) If you are a big company, try to block as many extensions as you can for preventing brand abuse..This will keep flippers away.
7) Always register for long term 3 years is a good start. This will give googles trust.
8) Unless you are into other niches, keep the whois public, Google loves transparency. So avoid whois privacy, if you want Googles love.

Hope this helps you. Thank you!

hynds · Apr 10, 2017

I will consider some points below:
EMD, Extension (TLD is better)
Brandable
Shorter is better
Check its history, traffic, backlinks...
.
IMO

How to choose a domain name for your business

melanymaldena

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ericplotz1

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velvet

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ulterios

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jerryperes

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Gecko

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TheHost

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Gecko

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reddyash

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rankmyhub

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hynds

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