How to choose a domain name for your website

To get found on Google and other top search engines, you need your very own domain name.  So how to choose one?  Here are some pointers:

1) Choose a domain name that has your business name in it, or an abbreviation of your business name.  For example, if your business name has “palo alto” in it, you could abbreviate that as “pa” – making it even easier to type in too, shorter.  It is a good idea to get both domain name versions – the long and abbreviated – if possible, and do a domain redirect to your website.

2) Try to avoid using hyphens (” – “) in your domain name, unless it is in your business name.  They make it harder to tell others what your website domain name is, and increases the chances of them going to another website instead of yours.

3) Try to choose a “.com” domain name – they are easier to remember and most people think of .com when they think of domain names and websites.  An exception to this would be organizations and non-profits, which should use a “.org” domain name.

4) Try to keep it short.  It is like the “KISS” concept, of keeping it simple.  The shorter your domain name the easier to remember, and the easier to type in.

5) Usually best to stay away from misspellings, or shorthand versions of words (like “u” instead of “you”).  You might lose traffic to other similar domain names otherwise.  Or you can do a lot more marketing and advertising.

6) If you don’t have a business name yet, and choosing a domain name, try to make it creative, easy to remember, short, no hypens… all the tips above, and also make it clear what your website is about.  You don’t have to necessarily include adjectives that you want your website to target for seo – your content and page links should do that anyways.

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