How to Choose a Domain |
Topics Discussed
1. Naming Considerations
2. Which TLD?
3. Multiple Domains
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Selecting the right domain name is probably the most important thing you can do in establishing your presence on the Internet. If you or your company is considering making a website at some point then you should register your domain name today. Over 60,000 domain names are registered per day and so if you decide to wait you may find that your domain name has already been taken.
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One of the problems with registering a domain name these days is that the most popular .com and .net domain names have already been registered. When people discover that their first choice has already been taken, they will become discouraged and put little thought into their domain name registration, regretting their choice later.
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Domain names may not be very costly or difficult to register but there are some very important implications of changing your domain name later, especially for a business.
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1. Advertising and print material created with a domain name
2. Customers associating a domain name with company
3. Loss of your search engine ranking
For these reasons, it is crucial to register the absolute best domain name available the first time. This guide is indented to help you with this process to make sure that you are absolutely satisfied with the domain name you register.
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| Naming Considerations |
Shorter domains name are usually better as they are easier to remember however there are some caveats associated with this rule. The main problem is that most short domain names that use a combination of common words are already taken. It is usually better however, to use a longer combination of words that are meaningful to your organization then it is to use an acronym. For example if your organization name was "The Bird Watching Club of Greater Vancouver Regional District" you would be better off registering "vancouverbirdwatchers.com" then "tbwcogvrd.com".
Hyphens or numbers should typically be avoided when selecting your domain, unless they are a part of your organization name, as they make remembering the domain much more difficult and increase the likelihood of someone making a mistake when entering the domain. Additionally, adding hyphens and numbers to your name make it appear less professional.
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