These days it’s harder and harder to find an iconic, easy to remember name that also happens to be available, and with over 252 million domains registered online, this problem isn’t slowing down anytime soon.
This being said, choosing your domain name is now more important than ever – it’s your businesses identity on the web and must fit your business as well as being easy to find and promote.
Here are our top tips to choosing the perfect domain name for your business.
Simplicity is key
A critical part of success online is having a domain name that is simple to type. Using slang terms or words with multiple spellings (i.e. exercise / Xercise) can make your path all the more harder, as potential customers will find it tough to find your website.
We understand that the majority of the common terms and phrases will already be registered. But fear not – think outside the box and you will ultimately find the right domain for you.
A good tip is to brainstorm 5 or so keywords that best describe your business to help you find the right domain. For example, if you’re launching a bodybuilding-related domain, you might start with words like “strong, lift, muscle, weights, power” then play around until you can find a good match.
Keep it short
It’s easy to see why you don’t want your domain name to be too long – not only do words in long domain names become difficult to read, but also the domain names are easily forgotten altogether.
For example, look at youtube.com – then imagine its domain was youtubevideonetworkingchannel.com
See what we mean?
Keep it between 1-2 words if possible as it will be easy to read and much more memorable.
Avoid Numbers & Hyphens
Numbers and hyphens are often misunderstood — people who hear your website address don’t know if you’re using a numeral (5) or it’s spelled out (five) or they misplace or forget the dash. If you need these in your domain, register the different variations to be safe.
Target Your Area
The majority of fitness businesses base their services in one particular area and, if that is the case with your business, then you should consider including your city in your website domain. This will make your website much easier to find for your target audience, rather than received nationwide enquiries that you cannot turn into leads.
Make it easy to remember
As mentioned earlier, there are millions of registered domain names, which means having a catchy memorable name is essential. Once you’ve come up with a name, share it with your friends and family to get their opinion and let you know whether its appealing to others as it is to you.
Choosing your domain name extension
Extensions are suffixes, such as .com or .net, at the end of web addresses. These can have specific uses, allowing you to choose the right one for your business. Obviously the .com domain extension by far the most popular, but in this day and age it can be quite tough to get a short and memorable .com domain name.
The new generation of domain extensions — like .photography, .nyc and .guru — offer you a great opportunity to register short and highly relevant names.
Here are some other top extensions and how they’re often used:
- .co : an abbreviation for company, commerce, and community.
- .info : informational sites.
- .net : technical, Internet infrastructure sites.
- .org : non-commercial organizations and non-profits.
- .biz : business or commercial use, like e-commerce sites.
- .me : blogs, resumes or personal sites.
Final Thought
We know how exciting it can be to get your business online, but we do recommend you taking time in choosing your domain name. This will be the forefront of your business online and you will want to make it both appealing and memorable as well as ensuring it links in with your business services.
If you would like to speak more about getting your business online, book in now for a FREE consultation with web expert Andy Bradbury. The quick 15-minute consultation will show you exactly how we can help your business grow online.
