Home > Tips > eBusiness Tips > Choosing a Domain Name
Choosing a Domain Name
by Jerry West
Updated October 31, 2010
 Your domain name, or dot-com address,
is the way your customers and partners find you
in cyberspace, so you need to choose it carefully.
Having your own domain name, while not required on
the Internet, is one of the most essential things you
can do.
First, it builds credibility: "www.customcarpentry.com"
will always look better than "members.aol.com/~jim/carpentry.html".
Second, it is easier for customers to find you on the
web. Could you imagine giving someone on the street
that AOL address? You will look second rate at best.
Give them "customcarpentry.com" and it comes
across as a professional business.
Third, without your own domain name it can cause problems
if you move ISPs, as your email may not always properly
forward. With your own domain name, you have an email
address "for life".
Fourth, keep the name short. We know you can register
long domain names, but don't do it. The shorter the
better. There is a reason why art.com and business.com
have sold for millions of dollars. They are easier to
remember, less prone to typing errors and easier to
translate from print, telephone and radio advertisements.
We also suggest keeping the domain name as a close
match with your company name. We know that many of the
corporate names or abbreviations are taken, but do the
best that you can, remembering our guidelines.
Always use a dot-com address. There are many choices,
especially the new extensions. Don't do it. Alost everyone
associates companies with dot-coms. Take the old company
I worked for, Netgateway, for example. I can't tell
you how many times a client asked me, "Did you
get the e-mail I sent?" Come to find out they sent
it to "netgateway.com" instead of "netgateway.net".
There were also a few instances where sensitive documents
were emailed to the "dot com" address that
was received by an individual outside the company. This
caused many problems when Netgateway attempted to get
on the NASDAQ. Don't let that happen to your business.
Be careful of registering a Trademarked name that you
do not own. Legislation has been passed making "CyberSquating"
illegal. Be ethical in your domain name registrations
to avoid possible legal pitfalls.
For most of us, the domain naming process is an exercise
in frustration. With most of the good domain names already
taken, finding a name that works for your company can
be a tedious trial-and-error process. If you've ever
spent an hour drilling through names at a registration
site, like GoDaddy.com, you know how bad the process
can be.
As a result, many Webmasters are happy to grab the
first name vaguely like their company's name. That's
too bad, because it leads to a proliferation of bad
domain names.
For example, suppose you're the Webmaster for a company
called Three Letter Acronym, Inc. You'd like to register
the name "tla.com" but, like all the three-letter
combinations, it's already registered.
Hmmm. Aha! It looks like "tla-inc.com" is
available, so you grab it. Too bad, you just registered
a truly awful domain name. With a little more work,
you might have registered something better. Before we
look at what's wrong with a name like "tla-inc.com,"
it's worth asking whether your domain name matters at
all. It definitely matters, but in ways that you may
not expect.
The real value of a domain name isn't helping people
find your site the first time; it's helping them find
it the second time, after they forgot to bookmark it.
Odds are that most visitors come to your site from another
Web site, either by clicking on a banner, following
a link on someone else's site, or drilling through results
in a search engine. If they like your site, that's great,
maybe they'll bookmark it. Then again, maybe they won't.
Lots of people bookmark sites until their list of favorites
becomes a complete mess, and then they stop bookmarking.
To find your site again, these people have to remember
how they found it the first time. In a situation like
this, a good domain is worth a lot. In fact, it may
be worth more than you realize. The hard part about
domain name problems is that you can't tell when you
have them. You can't look in your server logs and see
the domain misspellings and mistakes that keep people
from finding your site. As a result, it's hard to put
a value on the business lost due to a bad domain name.
So what exactly is wrong with "tla-inc.com?"
Well, about the only thing that's right about it is
that it's available. In nearly every other way, it breaks
these basic rules of a good domain name:
| 1. |
Don't be
cryptic. Use the name by which people know your
company. In practice that usually means don't abbreviate,
unless the abbreviation is your company's trademark.
Since many hi-tech companies are better known by
their three-letter abbreviation, most of them are
forced to register an alternate domain. That's the
case with our mythical company TLA, Inc. If that's
the case, it's better to register "threeletteracronym.com,"
instead something like "tla-inc.com,"
or "threeletterac.com." At least visitors
have a chance of correctly guessing your domain
name if it spells out the company's name. If you're
not sure what people might guess, take a poll. Ask
your co-workers what domain name they'd expect your
company to have, ask your customers, ask your friends,
ask everyone you can. Also, keep in mind that domain
names can be 67 characters long. You should be able
to get your full company's name. Typing a long domain
name may seem undesirable, but if your company name
requires that extra space, it's worth considering.
The easiest way to follow this rule may be: consider
how your domain name sounds when you have to read
it over the phone to a customer. If you have to
explain special characters, abbreviations, or spelling,
then you've got a problem.
|
| 2. |
Avoid dashes. With the number of
good domain names dwindling, dashes will eventually
become commonplace, but at the moment they're anything
but that. People simply don't know that domain names
can include dashes. Wal-Mart, the big American retailer,
learned that lesson the hard way. The company first
launched its e-commerce site as "wal-mart.com,"
the company's official name. They lost millions
in sales before registering "walmart.com."
Now both domain names take you to the same Web site.
|
| 3. |
Register multiple versions of your name. When
you poll your customers and friends about your domain
name, don't let the majority decide your domain
name. Instead, try to register every name that's
mentioned. Someone, somewhere will use that name
to find you. It only costs $8.95 to register a domain
name, and that's not much of an expense to avoid
losing a customer. If your company's name is hard
to spell, register every common misspelling of its
name. Unfortunately for Wal-Mart, a domain speculator
has already registered "wallmart.com."
Too bad, since that's the way many people spell
the company's name. Register every domain people
might use to find your company. That includes products
and services your company offers. Then point all
these domains to your home page. It's easy to do.
Using a registrar like GoDaddy.com will allow you
to point domains. Just register the new domain through
their service; visitors will be automatically redirected
to your home page. Finally, no matter what your
name is or how many domains you've registered, it's
a good idea to support the domain name. Reinforce
it by incorporating it into your site's logo. In
addition, put your domain name on all company collateral
materials, like your business cards and stationary.
That last part is an easy step, yet it's surprising
how many companies forget to do it. In a digital
age, your company's Web site is its electronic business
card. |
There are several ways to register a unique domain
name. You can register your own domain name through
GoDaddy.com by clicking the image below:
................................................................................................
© 2000-2010, WebMarketingNow.com
Jerry West is the Director of Internet Marketing
for Web Marketing Now. He has been consulting on the
web since 1996 and has assisted hundreds of companies
gain an upper-hand over their competition. Visit Web
Marketing Now for the latest in marketing tips that
are tested and proven.
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