A domain name serves as the first impression of your website. If you don’t choose wisely, you could lose business from potential customers before they even click on your page! Here are just eight tips for choosing a domain name that will improve your traffic, boost your name recognition and improve your sales.
1. Know Your Demographic
What does your average customer look like? What words and mental images will best elicit a response from them? Make sure your domain name speaks to the right genders, age groups and income levels. You won’t attract the 50+ crowd with a juvenile name, and you won’t reel in the women with something sexist.
2. Break Out the Thesaurus
Instead of naming your website Headphones.com, look for related words and synonyms that you can compile in a list and play around with until you find a winning combination. For example, you might experiment with different combinations of “audio,” “tunes,” “ears” and “music.”
3. Avoid Numbers
When it comes to domain names, numbers are more trouble than they’re worth. Consider a site named TwelveMonkeys.com. If a customer hasn’t seen it written down, only heard it spoken aloud, will they go to their address bar and type TwelveMonkeys.com or 12Monkeys.com? Will their mistake take them to another site entirely?
4. Beware Translations and Double Entendres
Many companies have learned the hard way that their brand names mean something entirely different in another language. The same goes for names without grammar or capitalization. Before you start advertising ThePenIsMighterThantheSword.net, realize that most people will only see it as thepenismighterthanthesword.net.
5. Keep It Short and Sweet
Speaking of long URLs, this is a common mistake among first-time bloggers and ecommerce website designers. The longer the name, the more likely people are to misspell it or misremember it. You also increase the possibility of typos with every additional letter.
6. Beware Copyright Holders
You don’t want to run afoul of an existing business. In fact, you should avoid any domain name that even remotely sounds like another brand. For example, Monsterz.com might not technically infringe on Monster.com, but you’ll lose a lot of customers who are sloppy typists.
7. Think Outside the .Com
When looking to purchase a domain, .com is only one option of an extension you can use for your website. They come in everything from .info to .me and .io, so if you’re looking to give your domain name that extra “pop,” consider using a non-traditional .io domain extension.
8. Request Feedback
Don’t be afraid to ask for feedback once your site is up and running. If visitors are having difficulty finding your site or remembering your URL, it’s better to know in the early stages of your launch. That way you can improve it before your business goes nationwide.
These are just a few tips for choosing a good domain name. If you’re serious about representing your brand in the best possible way, make sure you pick a URL with value, creativity and memorability.
