Choosing a Good Domain Name
Choosing a Good Domain Name – How do I choose a good domain name? When choosing a new domain name for your site, you may want to consider the following:
- Country-specific or international: If your business is only active in a single country, it may be adequate to use a country-specific extension such as .us, .co.uk, or .ca. If you’d like to appeal to a global audience, it is best to choose a generic extension such as .com, .biz, or .info.
- Importance of Keywords: If search engines are a major source of traffic to your site, make sure that your domain includes one or more of your principal keywords as this can help you get a good ranking on these terms.
- Commercial or informational: If you intend to sell products on your website, it is important to convey a professional image. Usually, this means a short, brandable .com domain name without hyphens or numbers. If your site is informational only, consider a .info or .org extension.
- Target User Group: Different domain names will appeal to different groups. For example, a B2B site will generally do best with a descriptive domain name so that a visitor immediately knows what the site is about.
- Risk for Traffic Diversion: Choosing the wrong domain name can result in thousands of lost visitors due to mistypings. To reduce this risk, avoid hyphens, numbers, misspellings, and exotic extensions.
- Length: Shorter domain names are better if the domain name is going to be typed-in often via direct navigation. A shorter domain means reduced risk of typo errors, easier memorability, faster type-ins, and more flexibility in promoting the domain.
