Choosing your perfect domain name is a challenging task. The right name for your site will affect your overall online presence as it is associated with your brand and might indirectly affect your search rankings.

Whether you are using a website name generator or taking advantage of your own creativity, use these basic principles:

Keep It Short And Simple

Why? People do not like typing long words. They also tend to misspell words and forget things. Keep that in mind. Your domain name is the main piece of information that you will utilize in your online marketing. It is visually more appealing to have a sweet short domain name in all of your promotional materials, posts, emails etc. Your website’s name should be simple, memorable and not too long.

Avoid Hyphens

Why? First, hyphens are elements of “not-so-simple” spelling. People misplace and forget them most of the time. Second, if you are concerned about your search presence, you should know that search engines might associate hyphens with spam and your site will lose credibility.

Do Some Research

Why? The last thing you want is changing your domain name after having established reputation online. Make sure your site’s name is not under someone’s trademark. Also, avoid domain names similar to your competition.

Use Keywords

Why? Even though keywords in the domain name haven’t been claimed traffic generators officially, domain names with keywords might affect your overall SEO. Use keywords wisely and don’t just stuff your website name with keywords.

Target Specific Areas

Why? If you are doing business in different geographical areas, it is helpful to register your brand with some country specific domain extensions. First, users feel more comfortable if the site is associated with the area they are in. Second, it helps search engines associate your site with a certain geographical area.

Be Unique

Why? Having a domain name that is catchy, reflects your brand identity, is easily memorized and not duplicated is essential.

Be Relevant

Why? Words have power and trigger certain connotations. Make sure the words in your domain name do not contradict your business, industry, values and simply do not carry any negative implications.

DOT COM Still Rules

Why? The .com extension has always been the most trusted and established extension. Make sure you get your domain name with .com extension first. After that you can claim specific geographical extensions, industry specific extensions (.realtor for example) and other new extensions that might help establish your brand (.bmw for example). Those new extensions still generate debates of whether they affect search rankings or not.

Choosing the right domain name for your site requires industry knowledge, creativity, SEO expertise and basic understanding of brand building. Make sure you get expert help with your domain name if you have any questions or concerns.

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