A Guide To Choosing Domain Names - Things To Not Do And Things To Remember
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by: Dirik Hameed
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Word Count: 612
Date: Fri, 3 Feb 2012 Time: 1:32 PM
People who run businesses will find within time that they need to sort out an online presence for their company. This is important because the internet is becoming ever more vital in how businesses are run, and they need to ensure that the presence they have on the internet accurately reflects the quality of their product and sells it best to potential consumers. Everything to do with the website - from design and color scheme to content - needs to look professional and great, and anything less than perfection can have a serious knock on effect on how they will do business. However, more than the look and the textual content of a web site, the use of domain registration needs to be considered first and foremost.
There are several things which can go right and some things which can go horribly wrong when picking the domain of a website. It can seriously affect how a website is perceived and therefore how that brand is associated with other things in people's minds. With a bad URL, a website will find itself mired in consequence in Google searches and against its competition. Here is what to do and what not to do when picking a name.
DO make sure any name is relevant to what is being sold. If someone is selling kangaroo steaks, there is a choice of two options: one is to go along the route of the product being sold, or the brand name which the company is called. Going for a version of "the best kangaroo steaks in" would prove just as successful (and perhaps more so) than naming it after a specialized brand which no one has heard of.
DO cover all bases by getting other endings as well. Someone might own joineryalaska.com, but should also try and register . Net, . Tv and other endings. Nine out of ten people do not know the ending that they are typing it - they simply presume that it is one of the more popular ones. That means that if a web site uses a less popular ending, it is likely to be overlooked by people.
DO make sure that it does not mean something else. There is a very popular pen manufacturer called Pen Island which has seen inordinate amounts of traffic to its site which has resulted in precious few sales. Why? Because when you run the words pen and island together you get something entirely different. Common sense checks are done before a person decides to name a child, and so it should be the same with a website address.
DON'T make it too long. People have notoriously short and fickle memories, and their ability to remember characters is being diminished as the internet becomes more popular and people are digesting information in smaller packets. The tweet is now only 140 characters; long form journalism online had died a painful death. Picking a long website address opens up the opportunity for people to get confused or forgetful.
DON'T get too close to competitors. People may have snaffled up the best URLs, but going for something similar to a competitor can be suicide. If someone accidentally visits a competitor's site, they may well change their allegiance. That can end up badly.
Picking domain names is something that is not actually hard. However poor decisions and ill thinking by many make it seem more difficult than it is. People need to think carefully before committing to something which is as vital as the name that people will use on their online presence. Without consideration, things can go horribly wrong and cripple a company before they even get a chance to excel.
About the Author
Getting your domains from UK2? Then maybe you already learned the better ways to pick your own domain!
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