Is your company ready to conquer the web? That is great news! But before you take the plunge, there is on last thing to do: choose a domain name. As the DNA of your website, it will follow you in all your digital activities, so don’t choose it at random!
To help you make an informed choice, our experts have taken a close look at the question, and today give you their top tips for choosing the right domain name for your company.
- What is a domain name?
- Why is choosing the right domain name important for your business?
- Our best tips for choosing your domain name:
- Get started now!
What is a domain name?
All these questions may seem complicated, but in fact, it is quite simple: your domain name is your address on the web! In the real world, your company has a postal address that clearly indicates to your customers the location of your premises and enables them to find you easily. Well on the internet, it is your domain name that plays this role: it determines the location of your website and enables internet users to find it. It is made up of a word (a proper noun, a brand name, a string of characters, an acronym, etc.) and a domain name extension, which indicated the namespace (.FR, .CA, .ES, .COM, .NET, etc.)
Obviously, to work, your domain name must be perfectly unique and belong to you alone.
Why is choosing the right domain name important for your business?
It is not the first time we have told you, but having a website is essential for your business! But for your website to fulfill its role and propel your business successfully on the web, you need a carefully chosen domain name, perfectly suited to your business and in line with your field of activity. Otherwise, the consequences could be disastrous for your digital business.
Nevertheless, choosing a good domain name will have many positive impacts on:
- Your brand image
Taking care of your domain name also means taking care of your brand image! Would you trust a cosmetics company whose URL contained a domain name like “cosm&.it”? No? Well, the same for your customers! Don’t forget that your company will forever be linked to your domain name, so choosing a good one is an opportunity to capture the attention of internet users, and express your company’s values or mission in a relevant and subtle way.
- Referencing your website
A well-thought-out domain name can help your website rank higher! Think about including a keyword in your domain name to improve your ranking in search engine results and have a positive impact on your natural referencing (SEO)
- Personalization
Your domain name is unique and specific to your company! This is a great opportunity for you to personalize it to your image: take advantage of it to show that you are local company, or to signify that you hold strong ecological or social values. This is all the more important as your business e-mail addresses will also include your domain name.
- Minimize the memorization effort for your visitors
The more powerful your domain name, the better your visitors will be able to memorize your website URL and quickly identify your company on the web! So, it is important to choose a domain name that is easy to remember.
- Credibility
A personalized domain name is an excellent way of enhancing your company’s credibility by giving it a more professional appearance. In contrast, free domain names offered by various online platforms can give an impression of amateurism.
Our best tips for choosing the right domain name!
Now that we have convinced you of the importance of a good domain name, it is time to choose one that is perfectly suited to your business! To help you make the right decision, we have put together a list of our best tips for choosing the right domain name;
- Choose a domain name that contains your company name
This is probably our most important tip! Choosing a domain name that contains your company’s name will give you greater visibility, not to mention making it easier for your customers and potential customers to identify your company at a glance on the web. You can also opt for a domain name containing keywords relevant to your business.
- Keep it short and memorable
The shorter your domain name, the easier It is to remember, and therefore the more easily your visitors and customers will remember it. As far as possible, it is best to avoid numbers, special characters or hyphens, which woold complicate your domain name unnecessarily and coold be confusing for your customers.
- Be unique
A good domain name is unique and not easily confused with another. Make sure your domain name does not resemble that if another company, especially if you operate in the same sector! You risk losing potential customers.
- Think mobile browsing
An ever-increasing proportion of Internet traffic now comes from mobile devices (Smartphones, tablets, etc.) Thin about this when choosing your domain name, so that it can’t easily fall victim to autocorrection, for example.
- Choose the right extension
When it comes to extensions, it is not just a question of trends! Be aware that a poor choice of extension coold cost you sales: do not miss this opportunity to increase your company’s credibility with a relevant, trendy and credible domain name extension. If your company offers local products or services, it may be a good idea to choose local extension (like .ca, for example). On the other hand, if your company targets international customers, the .com extension is a good option! Similarly, while the .net extension was very fashionable a few decades ago, it associated now (sometimes wrongly) with fraudolent or at least unserious business.
- Pay attention to the legal aspect
This is an essential point, unfortunately rarely mentioned: before you decide on a domain name, make sure it is not a registered trademark! Otherwise, you risk legal action.
Get started now!
Congratulations! You have reached the end of our article on domain names. You now have all the information you need about domain names. You now have better understanding of what a domain name, its importance for your company visibility and reputation, and you know all the secrets to finding the one that best represents your business.
Now all you have to do is to get started, choose the perfect domain name and conquer the web!
Already have a domain name? You might be interested in our tutorial “How to transfer your domain name”!
