| Domain Name | Most companies spend a lot of time, effort, and money on creating their brand and choosing a company name, the next, or parallel step for new companies is choosing and registering a domain name.
This is important today, especially since it has become difficult to obtain .com domain names
Choosing a domain name should be a major part of the company’s branding process. This will eventually affect the addresses of social accounts, marketing campaigns, and more.
This article will help you choose a domain name for your business or startup.
Choose the extension .COM
Although there are a large number of top-level domains or TLDs, most people prefer .com because if someone knows your brand name, they are likely to assume that your site name ends in .com.
Also, on search results pages, people tend to choose sites ending in .com because they are used to it. So, try as much as possible to use your brand name with the .com . extension
The above is relevant for both international and US websites. However, if your company is local, such as in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, or Jordan – consider using local extensions, such as .sa, .eg, or .jo.
Because people are more likely to search for local businesses with local country extensions. For example, if you are in Dubai and looking to buy something from Amazon, it will automatically open www.amazon.ae, not Amazon.com
Use your brand name
It’s helpful if your site address is unique – like Google, Skype, and Zynga – so your site will stand out from the rest. If your company or brand name is unique, and the .com extension is available.
That’s great! But do not forget that in addition to standing out, you should make sure that the domain name is expressive and relevant to your target market.
Use your target keywords
A) Small and medium enterprises:
Using a keyword that describes your business and project can be a huge advantage. Instead, try not to be generic. For example, the title “LeoCarwash .com” is better than “Carwash .com”.
It is likely that this keyword will help you improve your ranking, plus you will use a unique name that will eventually become your brand. Alternatively, don’t make your site’s domain name too specific – who knows…
You may decide to expand your business in the future and sell other things. For example, don’t choose a name like “ShellyCupcake.com,” even if you’re only selling cupcakes at the moment.
Choose “ShellyBakery.com” or “ShellySweets .com“, as you may sell a variety of sweets in the future.
B) Sites working with Amazon:
If you are looking for a domain name to promote an affiliate site with Amazon, you might consider using a domain name that matches the products you sell.
For example, the title “buy cheap rugs .com” matches a search term that can help improve your site’s ranking for certain keywords.
But in reality, this could be wrong, as people tend to view such domains as suspicious.
Make your domain name short and simple
It is a long-known fact that short URLs are better for search engines as well as for users. Furthermore, it may be beneficial to use a domain name that is easy to read, pronounce, and memorize.
Say your site name out loud – what does that sound like? Is it attractive? or complicated? Choose the simplest option.
It is also easy to share short URLs via social media, emails, marketing materials, etc. Don’t use dashes (-) in your site title – it will make the title long, complicated, and difficult to type.
Also, don’t use misspelled words, for example Mississippi, bizarre, and glamorous.
Register similar domain names
If your budget allows, consider buying the same domain with .net, .info, and other popular domain extensions.
This way, if your brand expands, no one will be able to take advantage of your brand by buying other extensions.
Look for the legal repercussions
Before finalizing your domain name, make sure that you are not using a third-party trademark.
Do a simple Google search, and if a brand name comes up, do some research on the size of that brand’s business.
If the trademark is large, there may be legal implications. And if it’s a small business, it may be unwise to use the same domain name (depending on the physical location).
Under no circumstances may you use a well-known brand name in your site address (eg Intel or Adidas).
Verify that your domain name is not already on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon, Snapchat, Instagram, Pinterest, etc. So you can achieve consistency across all digital platforms.
Check domain name history
Run a “site: website name. [TDL]” search on Google to ensure that the domain name is not currently indexed on Google.
You can use the Internet Archive (which contains more than 20 years of documented network records) to see a domain’s address history.
Know more- All you need to know about Cloud Computing in 2022