Choosing a domain name can be pretty tricky but with these tips we’ll make the process a lot easier.

What’s in a name:

Your business name is the all-important gateway to your business – it’s what you’ll be telling people everywhere, so first impressions count.

There are many ways to approach the style of the name you will use – will it be:

• Your Name

Using your name for example DavidBeckham.com is absolutely fine if you are the brand, like a sports person, athlete or singer.

• Business Name

A standard approach to choosing a business name is to let people know what you do in your name, you can add in keywords into it like LosAngelesDesign.com or have a play on words and describe what you do like Pinterest.com (Pin your Interests)

• Mean Nothing

Your business means everything but the name could mean nothing just like Skype or Haagen-Dazs there are so many companies that have built huge brands with a meaningless name – what can you come up with?

Have a think about which style of name you prefer for your brand.

Domain Extension:

When choosing a domain name you will have to decide on an extension, popular ones are .com

You can also choose country extensions such as .co.uk (UK), .fr (France) or .au (Australia) or you have .net, .info or .org but which one should you choose?

If you are working in a specific country and do not have any audience anywhere else then use a country specific extension.

For example a gardening company based in the UK probably won’t be jumping on a plane to mow some lawns in the U.S so they would be better off with a .co.uk extension

If you are talking to an audience who are worldwide then a .com extension is the way to go.

Keep it short and easy to spell:

When choosing a domain name try to keep it within 10 characters as anything more than that gets difficult to spell.

Facebook
Twitter
Snapchat
Instagram
TikTok

All these social media companies us quick snappy names that are very easy to remember.

Make it easy to say and remember:

Nobody wants to dislocate their tongue when trying to pronounce your domain name so keep it simple and easy to say this will also make it easy to remember.

Use keywords in your domain:

LosAngelesDesign.com has location and the word design so people will typically search those keywords in the L.A area looking for design services.

Think about Your Brand:

Write down words that you associate with your brand then split the words up and start to create quirky names using two half words.

You can end up with some great ideas.

Avoid Double letters:
To avoid misspellings try your best to avoid double letters within your domain name, if you misspell your domain name chances are other people will too.

The unfortunate world of SLURLS:
Be super careful when choosing a domain name and avoid slurls (a slur of a url) as they can be funny for the outsider but detrimental to your business – when you come up with a domain name, write it down in full. www.yourdomain.com

Otherwise you could end up on the receiving end of a dogey sounding website  – like these!

Who Represents – WHOREPRESENTS.com

Artisanal Cheese – ARTISANALCHEESE.com

Children’s Laughter – CHILDRENSLAUGHTER.com

Experts Exchange – EXPERTSEXCHANGE.com

Pen Island Pens – PENISLAND.net

Choose Spain – CHOOSESPAIN.com

Therapist Finder – THERAPISTFINDER.com

Mole Station Nursery – MOLESTATIONNURSERY.com

Use a name generator:

A great way to get ideas is by using a name generator if it doesn’t find your dream name it might just give you that little bit of inspiration you were after.