Things to keep in mind when choosing a domain name for your business?

Who would have thought how difficult it would be to choose a domain name these days especially with all the newly available extensions! Are you ready to ignore .com extension and go with other extensions?
I am working around the words "web design" but I think that's a bit too broad? Should I prefix with my name or go way off the mark and try some other angle? What is your your expertise?

In my opinion domain name matters, because it represents your whole website. But extensions doesn't matter too much. Either it is .com or .net or something different, the main thing is SEO of any website.

@Mujkanovic
This is the advice we provide to our clients

When choosing a domain name, you will want to make sure you choose a name that not only fits your business, but also works from a marketing and promotional standpoint.

Follow these suggestions to ensure you are registering the best Domain Name possible for your business.

1.) Avoid using numbers and hyphens
When registering a domain name, avoid using numbers and hyphens. This will help avoid any confusion when your domain name is spoken or heard. For example, if you were to register 123domain.com, you will have to explain whether or not the 123 is spelled out or not.

2.) Avoid using slang in your domain name
When registering your domain name, avoid using slang (ex: u instead of you) or words with multiple spellings (ex: express vs. xpress). This will help reduce the chances of your potential viewers mis-spelling your domain name, ensuring your website is easy to find and remember.

3.) Target your audience
If your business is local, consider including your city in your domain name to make it easier for local customers to find and remember your domain name. Example: ModestoCarRepair.com

4.) Describe Your Business in your domain name
Try using keywords that describe your business and the services your business offers. For example, if you’re a car repair shop in Modesto, think of registering a domain name like CarRepairinModesto.com. Not only will this help prospective visitors identify with your business when they see your domain name. In addition, using keywords in your domain name will also have a slight seo (search engine optimization) benefit.

5.) Keep Your domain name as short as possible.
Keeping all of the above points in mind, when registering your domain name, make it the objective to keep your domain name as short and memorable as possible. If your domain name is too long and complex, you risk the chance of potential visitors mistyping or misspelling your domain name.

A good domain name can describe exactly your service or your product and be easily remembered by your audience. Personally, I prefer .com extension.

It is recommended to choose the domain name as the last step on branding your business and not the other way around. You should think about what makes your business special, different from other working in the same sphere. It should be unique, but not too complicated to remember.
Lots of good .com domains are taken and if you get out of good ideas you can go with other extensions.

Hey Mujkanovic,

Choosing a domain for a website is an important task in which various factors influence. These factors do not depend only on the domain, but it can help a lot by generating organic traffic to the page. In any case, this is not the only aspect that should be taken into account.

Many companies want to have a website, but they are not clear about which domain name to buy, or which will be more convenient for them. Here I will give you some advice on the criteria that should be considered when choosing a domain name for you website.

Here are some tips for choosing the domain name for your website
There are several factors that should be taken into account when choosing a domain: your brand name, keywords...for which users will type on browsers.

1. Must include keywords.
It is not essential (may be the name of the trademark), but the positioning of a website that includes a keyword will be improved and higher than competitors on search engines and that can be very helpful to increase organic traffic, that is, the one that arrives directly to the main website.

2. It is easy to remember.
There are names that can be good for SEO, but difficult to remember because they are excessively long. Ideally, they have about 10 or 15 characters at most in this aspect, although a longer one can also be chosen but you have to think that people do not just come by Google, some have to write it in the browser.

3. I would not have to include hyphen.
In the industry where there is a lot of competition, it has a way to buy domains with a hyphen ("-") between words, since it is very difficult to find a keyword that is free. That, however, not good for your brand a bit more because it is not easy to type or remember with these domain names like that.

4. .com are more recommended.
There are many types of domain extensions but the most advisable for a web today is using .com. If you want to focus on any countries, you should find an extensions relate to that country. The .org may be the most appropriate for an organization and .net perhaps but it is preferable for a network website.

5. It should not be confused.
There are some companies that follow an undesirable positioning strategy. It consists of imitating the name of a known company under small changes. For example, gooogle.com, with three "o". There are people who are wrong to type it and it is going to stop there, but it is not the most adequate at all. You must first distinguish yourself and give a professional online image.

6. Do not include too many words.
You can include up to 60 characters, but it is not at all advisable to reach so much. The best is a combination of two words, at most. Bet on the simple and think of your customers.

Hope it helps!

I would go for a dot com, any day. New TLDs tend to have lots of spams. For eg .xyz are often used by malicious hackers to host malwares. Other new TLDs needs more time to become popular.

Go with a unique name, with domain name recommendations as made above. All the best!

Also consider your keywords when purchasing a new domain name. If you do web hosting, for example, it can make sense to have "hosting" in the domain name. Or maybe your keywords are your city, or country, or your target focus.