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Domain Name InformationSeven Often Asked Questions Simply simply about Choosing A Domain Name
by:
Rupe Parnell
One of the most common questions I'm asked by my clients is "What domain name should I use for my website?". In response, I would-be recommend considering several factors. In the following article, I wish go through these factors in a question and answer format:
1. Should I choose a country code domain name (like .CO.UK or .CA), or a worldwide top-level domain like .COM?
If your target market is specific to one country, I would-be recommend exploitation a country code domain name, especially if you sell physical products that can only be delivered inside
that country. Galore folk I have spoken to tell me that they are often uncertain of wherever
online stores are located, and it is not until they reach checkout and are asked to pay in a foreign currency that they are not able to order the products in their buying basket due to the website not merchandising internationally. Having a country code domain name instantly lets your potential customers cognize that you are placed in the same country as them, and that your service is designed specifically for that nation.
Alternatively, if you have a website developed for the intention of sharing information, with little or no content which is only relevant in one part of the world, my proposal
would-be be to choose a worldwide top-level domain such as .com.
2. Should I break up words inside
my domain name with hyphens? Is 'widget-shop.com' better than 'widgetshop.com'?
There seems to be a general agreement inside
the search engine optimization industry that exploitation hyphens helps search engines deduce what the actual words inside
an URL are, therefore leading to those pages being graded higher in the search engine results. However, there is besides speculation that exploitation 2 or much hyphens inside
the domain name incurs a penalty. With this in mind, I would-be advise anyone who plans to obtain most of their custom from organic search engine results to use one hyphen in their domain name to separate their targeted search keywords.
However, if your business model is not heavy on search engine optimisation, my recommendation would-be be to not have any hyphens in your domain name, as the huge majority of computer network users intuitively enter domain names in their browser address bar without any hyphens. In domain name value appraisal circles, the non-hyphenated version of a domain name is normally considered to be of greater worth.
For search engine optimisation, studies show that one hyphen may give you an advantage, but on the whole I would-be recommend not exploitation any hyphens in your domain name.
3. Is it better to have digits (2, 3 etc.) or words for amount (two, three etc.) in my domain name?
Generally speaking, I would-be deter anyone exploitation word of mouth advertising from having any numbers, either as digits or as words, in their domain name. The reason for this is that a domain name should be easy to remember and easy to spell correctly. Lets say for example you had the domain name 'widgets4u.com'. If you meet person that is interested in your product, and tell them to visit your website, you are going to have tell them specifically that the 4 is numeric and the U is simply one letter. Otherwise, they may input 'widgetsforyou.com', 'widgets4you.com', 'widgetsforu.com' and end up at the website of one of your competitors.
If however you are prepared to accept this risk, in my experience the layman tends to instinctively put the numeric version of a number in a domain name. Therefore, use 'widgets2.com', not 'widgetstwo.com'.
4. How long should my domain name be?
As short as possible. Long domain names are harder for your customers to remember, take longer to type, longer to spell out (you may find yourself having to spell your domain name letter-by-letter to several clients) and besides may be harder to really fit onto your business cards, print advertisements and similar. I have one client whose business name consists of four words, two of which are tricky to spell. My proposal
to him was to use a domain name with the 1st letter of each word only, which has established really easy to remember.
If you are targeting specific search keywords, I would-be recommend that your domain name consists of those keywords and as little else as possible. If you were targeting 'purple widgets', my proposal
would-be be to use the domain name 'purplewidgets.com'. If that domain name is not available, I would-be recommend adding one extra word to the end. For example, I in person
have a web site which targets the search keyword 'weight loss'. As one would-be expect, 'weightloss.com' and 'weightloss.co.uk' were already registered - so I opted for the domain name 'weightlossweb.co.uk'. Choosing an accessorial word that begins with the same letter as your 1st keyword helps your visitors remember your domain name. So, going back to the purple widgets example: Alternative domain names could include 'purplewidgetpro.com', 'purplewidgetpower.com' and 'purplewidgetparadise.com'.
5. Are several domain name extensions better than others?
Yes. Generally speaking, the most desirable top-level domain is the .COM. Charitable websites may choose .ORG in order to declare that they are a charitable organisation, but there are presently
no restrictions on who can register .ORG domain names or what they need be used for - and galore commercial websites still use them.
My personal "league table" of favoured domain name extensions is as follows:
1 .COM
2 Country-code (.CO.UK, .CA, .IE etc.)
3 .NET
4 .ORG
5 .BIZ
6 .INFO
7 .NAME
I presently
have in excess of 300 domain names registered, none of which are .INFO or .NAME. I would-be only recommend that one registers .BIZ, .INFO or .NAME domains if they have a large website with a brand name to protect. For example, my business commerce name is 'Starsol.co.uk'. At the time of writing this article, 'Starsol.com' is presently
registered by a domain name squatter, who is asking for an exorbitant price. I have chosen to register 'Starsol.biz' to prevent a similar situation occurring in future. I feel it is really unlikely that anyone really types the domain with the .BIZ extension into the address bar looking for my website - but if I didn't register the name myself - person else mightiness and go on to use it for purposes that may harm my brand.
6. What simply about .TV and .WS?
Although they may be marketed as such, .TV makes not mean tele-vision and .WS makes not mean web-site or world-site. .TV is the country code extension for Tuvalu and .WS is for Samoa. Tuvalu is small island country placed in the Western Pacific Ocean with a population of about 11,000 in the Western Pacific Ocean that gained independence from the UK in 1978. Samoa, besides in the Pacific, gained independence from New Island in 1962 and has a population of about 180,000. If these countries are not your target markets, I would-be in person
deter you from exploitation their country code domain names.
Other similar domain names include .FM (Federated States of Micronesia) which masquerades as the TLD for radio stations and .CC (Cocos Islands).
7. Why do several domain name registrars charge much than others? Are their domain names better?
Perhaps surprising, this is a question I have been asked on several occasions. Simply like how several supermarkets which charge much than others for identical cans of fizzing drink than others, domain name registrars besides charge differing domain name registration costs. Though several domain name registrars may provide extra tools with domain name registration, a domain name registered for $8.95 a year wish activity in exactly the same way and one registered for $35.00 a year. If I may give my own service a plug here, Starsol Domains at http://www.starsol.co.uk/domains/ offers .COM registration for what I believe are several of the fairest prices on the 'net.
I hope this article has helped you in your search for a perfect domain name. I would-be like to add however, that with domain name registrations being so cheap, that registering multiple domains and redirecting them all to your one "main domain" may prove to be a really nice idea. If there is one domain that you wish be heavily marketing, I would-be powerfully
advise you to at least besides register the .COM version of that domain name too, and if you are outside the United States to besides register the relevant country-code version of the domain name. Galore of your customers may input the wrong extension once
looking for your site, possibly leading to you losing their custom to a rival of yours; or like my personal situation which I delineated earlier, may lead to a domain name squatter registering a domain similar to yours in the hope that you wish spend galore thousands purchasing it from them.
Simply simply about the author:
Rupe Charles stewart parnell is the founder and lead developer at Starsol.co.uk, a website development and management firm placed in Norfolk, England. Rupe specialises in creating professional grade PHP scripts, a selection of which are accessible free at Starsol Scripts at http://www.starsol.co.uk/scripts/
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