Domain names - how to choose the right one 15 June 2005
At first sight it may seem that choosing the right domain name for your online business or web presence is straightforward. However, keeping in mind a few simple pieces of advice will help your domain name work for your business and not against it.
Keep it short
Keep your domain name as short as possible. Think of simple easy to spell names that are easy to remember. Using visual language such as 'black cat' can help but if your company doesn't have a huge advertising budget it's a good idea to have something that relates to your business.
...but not too specific
As your business grows and develops there will probably be new products or services that you want to offer. In order to be able to do this and attract customers to those new services it's wise not to choose a domain name that's too specific. www.finacialservices.com has more expansion potential than www.small securedloans.com.
Acquire as many TLDs as possible
TLDs are top level domains such as .co.uk, .com, .org etc. It's a good idea to control as many TDLs as possible for the same prefix e.g. blackcat.com, blackcat.net, blackcat.co.uk etc. The reason for this is to guard against someone else coming in at a later stage and capitalising on your brand name using another major domain name type.
Forget about symbols
Domain names can only contain letters, numbers, and dashes - spaces and symbols are not allowed. Also, remember domain names are not case sensitive.
Think about mistakes
When typing in web addresses into a computer many people hit the wrong keys and misspell domain names. Therefore, it might be worth considering acquiring similar domain names to your with misspelled words - then use these to create sites that auto-forward to the genuine article.
Choose a single, reputable supplier
Choose an established and reputable firm to register your domain - problems or name loss could seriously affect your business. Also, if you do choose to buy several domain names with different TLDs or variations in spelling it's a good idea to keep them all with the same domain name company, this way it's easier to mange renewals, update contact information and keep on top of general administration.
