You’ve seen it time and time again. A domain name for a business you’re interested in, and you just cant seem to remember what it was. Was it a-r-renovations.net, or ar-renovations.com, or a-r-renovations.co?
How are people supposed to find you with a domain name that doesn’t make sense, is hard to remember, and creates no feeling or emotions?
A domain name is how consumers are going to find out more about your business when they are directly interested in what you have to offer. There are a few key points to consider when choosing that perfect domain name for your business. Lets give you a hand on choosing an effective domain.
The proper domain extension
First and foremost, try acquiring your actual registered business name as a .com. COM’s are the worlds most recognized top level domain extension. Since they were the first, and most marketed, people will always easily remember them. A second choice for a domain extension could include the newly released .co TLD. These names stand for the new breed of entrepreneurial spirit and the launch of great ideas, products, stories and beliefs. .Co’s are similar to the .com extension. Again, good for recognition and top of mind. If the goal or direction of your business is to stay local, pick up the local tld for your area as well. (IE. .ca for Canada, or .co.uk for UK). as well as the .com or .co. You never know when you just might decide to break borders. Something small like having a more universal name will aid in your credibility.
So our renovations company should consider the arrenovations.com domain, as well as the arrenovations.ca domain since they are now solely focused on the Canadian market. With a current connection stateside, they could easily setup an office in Chicago.
Size does matter when it comes to small business domain names, as does rememberability – the shorter the better
As with choosing a business name, your domain name should be easy to communicate, and easy for passers by to remember. Sure plenty of traffic might come through our beloved search engines (if your Search Engine Optimization is done proper), but having a domain name that is easy to communicate when out and about for not only you, but visitors of your website, will benefit you in the long run.
Our fictional company, AR Renovations, has a bid in for the small business domain name “renovator.com” (which is already owed, but on the market) as a way to help in the marketing and communication of their brand at trade shows. This is a much easier way to track their success at shows (We will discuss the benefits of website analytic tracking in a later article.) and communicate to potential customers. After all, upon meeting AR Renovations, which domain name are you more likely to remember? arrenovations.com or renovator.com?
Business name specific – does the domain name relate to your business?
If you are one of the lucky ones to be able to register a generic domain name, easy to remember domain name, or industry term domain name, like our imaginary friends at Peters & Sons Fasteners who use the domain nutsandbolts.com, good show. We also recommend nabbing your business name as well. Looks better for corporate papers. And for the extra $10/year or so, for the domain registration well worth it.
Create an easy to remember and easy to spell domain name
If you have a confusing business name, or want to have fun with your domain name, please rethink your strategy. Having domain names that are easy to spell and easy to remember will ensure the appropriate traffic is finding your website. I have seen plenty of real estate agents getting a little too creative with their domain names. While “”House4UinToronto.com” was an available domain name, it doesn’t mean that you should have registered it and put it in all of your advertising. How long will it take you to tell someone your web address vocally? “Please visit my website ‘House for you in Toronto.com’, to find out more about the properties you are looking for in your area. But please remember that it isn’t spelled the way you might think. Its House, the number 4, the letter U, in Toronto. “ Wow! What a mouthful. Too bad your potential client lost interest and glazed over. Instead, choose something like your name “BrendaFlowers.com”, or offer the owner of HouseInToronto.com who isn’t using the domain name a few thousand dollars for it. (We will cover domain name auctions at a later date.) Keep it clean and simple and easy to remember.
Create a meaningful small business domain name, something that evokes feeling for the consumer
Your brand is you. Ensure that the domain name you choose adequately reflects what you want to be known for. Whether it evokes a feeling or helps potential customers to create their own like “nutsandbolts.com” or “”BrendaFlowers.com”. These two domain names are relatively easy to remember and evoke a feeling for potential customers.
Best wishes on your small business domain name hunt!
StartupBackpack recommended these resources for small business domain name registration:
Domain name registration:
- GoDaddy.com
- Hover.com
- Domainsatcost.ca
* All of the above names and domains are for example purposes only.
Stuck on choosing a domain name for your small business? Is everything out there taken for you? Let the StartupBackpack team help!
