A domain name is the www. address that people find your website by. It is usually in the format of www.yourwebsitename.com. There are many domain extensions, that’s the suffix that appears after the name, and you need to consider which kind will suit your type of website best. ‘.com’ is the most popular and is short for company although it is no longer used solely for companies. There are country specific domain extensions, such as ‘.co.uk’, ‘.es’ or ‘.eu’. There is also ‘.info’ for an informational website, ‘.org’ for organisations, ‘.me’ for personal sites and many more. Quite often if a domain name isn’t available with the first choice of extension, the website owner will go for the same name with a different extension instead.
As there are millions of websites online already, it can be very difficult to choose a domain name for your website. Most of the good names are already taken, and unless you have a very unusual company name or product, most of these kind of names are already taken as well. You will need to do some research, and check out the names you short list on a website registrar such as Namecheap.
Choose several ideas and then check their availability and amend your choices as necessary. Once you know which name you want, don’t buy it immediately as a domain name can be cheaper if bought along with a hosting package, find out about that in our next tip.
The following are a few ideas and tips on how to choose a domain name for your website.
- Choose a name that reflects your company or business, it can even be your company name. e.g. mycompany.eu
- Your domain name doesn’t need to be your company name, it could be the type of product you sell. e.g. whitekitchengoods.com
- It could also be made from a particular phrase you’d like to be found for in search engines. e.g. costumesforhalloween.co.uk
- Your domain name shouldn’t be too long, remember you have to tell people your web address, or have it printed on stationery. It should be easy to remember for a potential customer. Funny or quirky can help as well. e.g. sweetsrus.com
Don’t forget to check if the domain name you desire is available at a registrar. Go to their website and type in your choice and it will list the domain name along with many extensions showing you which ones are available. You may need to revise your list, but you are sure to find something to suit you.
This is part seven of a twenty four part series of tips provided by cannedSunlight Web Design Costa Blanca to celebrate the run up to Christmas. You can view the other tips here: Tip 1, Tip 2, Tip 3, Tip 4, Tip 5, Tip 6. Come back tomorrow for further tips and advice on how to get a great website that works for you or your business.
