What should I consider when choosing a Domain Name?

Domain Name Planning

Choosing the right domain can easily affect the way your business fares online.  The funny thing about domain name is that it’s probably the one thing people will keep the longest among all their related online activity, yet more often than not, it is the step for which they invest the least amount of time and thoughts.

Before choosing a domain name, you should ask yourself the following questions.

• What or who am I trying to brand?
• Is the name easy to remember?
• Dash or no dash?

What or Who am I trying to brand?

Domain name by itself is branding. It will be seen everywhere on internet (hopefully for you), you’ll print it on your business cards, flyers, and other commercial promotion you may engage to. Your domain name should be reflection of what your site is all about.

Are you branding:

• A Person. If that’s the case, the name is usually what is the most representative.
  i.e. : nicolasprudhon.com
   
• A Company. Again, any entity is best identified by its own name.
  i.e.: microsoft.com
   
• A Concept. You should use a term that reflects the global idea you are trying to convey.
  i.e.: savetheworld.com
   
• A Product or Brand. The product or brand name would be best too.
  i.e.: opi.com

Is the name easy to remember?

Why do I ask, because people are creative, very creative, and sometimes too creative for their own good!

This may very well be the most important thing about your domain name, how easy is it to remember?

Just look at the following domain names:

• go.com
• happyblogging.com
• makemoneyonline.com
• puxapuak.com
• romizatukruchtner.com

Now if I ask you if you remember what was the first domain name you just read, you’ll most probably get it right, however if I ask you about the last one you read, although the most recent, it’s very likely that you can’t remember it!

"In the fast moving world we are evolving in, people often don’t have much more time than a glimpse at your domain name on a billboard while driving on the highway."

Make the best of this opportunity!

Dash or No Dash?

This is another very popular question regarding domain names. Should you put a dash or not? (Assuming your domain name is composed)

From a SEO point of view, there has been some experiment made that tend to imply that domain names without dashes tend to rank better in the search engines. Personally I can’t confirm this statement as a fact, but there seems to be a tendency there.

From a people point of view, there has been a period of time when using dash in your domain name was considered a good thing because it would make your domain name more readable:

• learnhowtomakemoneyonline.com
• learn-how-to-make-money-online.com

Now, despite the readability factor, there seems to be a certain amount of inconvenience using dashes in your domain name:

• When spelling your domain name over the phone: learn (dash) how (dash) to (dash) make (dash) money (dash) online (dot) com – obviously not very practical…
   
• If you need dashes for readability doesn’t it means that your domain name is already too long to be easily remembered?
   
• This tends to show how you over-emphasize the keyword, which may imply that optimization take over visitors friendliness on your site.
   
• People are more naturally drowned towards domain names without dashes (based on results from different pools)

If nonetheless you decide to opt for a domain name with dashes, make sure that you own its equivalent without dashes.

"Never buy or use a domain name with dashes when your competitors own the no dash version!"

Many people will forget to type the dash to visit your site, and all you’d be doing is sending traffic to your competitors, the last thing you want to do!

In Conclusion

If you want to get the best out of your domain name, make sure that:

• It’s short and easy to remember.
• Descriptive as per what your site is about.
• Including your keyword if applicable. Don’t go making up a weird domain name just to include your keyword in it!