How Not To Choose A Domain Name
Choosing a domain name for your business website is one of the most important tasks to establishing your online presence. It’s your web address and some thought should be put into choosing it.
Don’t do what I did!
I didn’t think too much when I bought mylocalbusinessonline.co.uk. I didn’t even know what to call my business and that phrase came up in conversation as I was starting my EMA mentoring.
I was asked what I was going to call the business. I said I was struggling with a name followed by, “If I was confused how to get my local business online, I’d want someone to talk to.” My Local Business Online was written down as a working name until I could think of something better! Well, regular readers will know, I’m not great on names…
I bought the domain as a commitment to myself to keep moving forward. Later, I discovered that there is a mylocalbusinessonline.com and a localbusinessonline.co.uk. Not an ideal situation, but it stuck and has grown on me as time goes on.
Choosing a domain name
If you have an established business, it goes without saying to buy your business name – even if you don’t plan to use it online. I would also suggest you buy the .com as well as the .co.uk (or other country level domain if you don’t live in the UK). Multiple domains can be redirected to your website.
Decide whether you want a brand based domain, a keyword based domain or a combination of the two.
They all have their merits. However, keyword based domains have traditionally tended to be easier to rank. Google recently made changes to their algorithim so that exact match domains aren’t quite as powerful.
For example, let’s say your business is a hairdresser called Cut For You
- Brand/business domain would be cutforyou.co.uk
- Keyword based domain could be cityhairdresser.co.uk
- A combination could be cutforyoucity.co.uk or cutforyouhairdresser.co.uk
There are several things you do need to consider, not least the usability of the domain name. As a local business, you will be saying your web address over the phone or at meetings. Make it easy and avoid overly long names and hyphens.
You want people to remember your domain name
- avoid hyphens and text speak e.g cut4u.co.uk
- choose a common extension such as .co.uk or .com
- try to keep the domain short
What’s in a name?
You want to be remembered for the right reason. Do get someone to review your domain name before you buy it because you may not spot what is glaringly obvious to someone else. The video below is from an episode QI – let it be a wise lesson 🙂
Choosing a Domain Name for Your Local Business Website by Jan Kearney
Grab your guide to local search and learn:
- What elements are important on your website
- How to set up your Google My Business Local Page
- How Google Plus can help you zoom past your competitors
- Two things you should not neglect if you want to rank in the local search pack
- How to power past your competitors and dominate your area
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Hi Jan,
Great article as always, What is worth mentioning however is that the recent Google update was more aimed at exact match domains that had poor content but that enjoyed good ranking position because of a keyword loaded domain name. There are still many EMD’s ranking well because of their good content.
cheers
Steve
That’s true, Steve and EMD’s will continue to rank – simply because every domain is exact match depending on the keywords used to search. My view is that Google have simply turned down the volume so to speak, so now domains don’t fly up the rankings based on keyword matching alone.
I was literally just thinking about possibly getting a domain name! I am not sure it’s in the budget for now, but this article was still really helpful. Thank you.
Hi Brittany – again, my personal opinion… For the cost of a domain and hosting these days, go for it. You talk in dollars over on your blog, so pick up a domain at around $10 and point it at shared hosting with room to add more domains for $6.36 per month (on Hostgator’s baby croc package – use coupon code jans25pcoff for 25% off)
Obviously there’s more involved, but it’s possible to do everything yourself build on WordPress and have your own shop too with no additional outlay other than time. If you are running your crafting as a business, your own domain give credibility online.
Thanks for popping in, I’m glad you found the post useful 🙂
Thanks for the reply. I definitely want to get a domain. And the price of getting a domain isn’t very bad at all.
Hi Jan!
I never could understand the reasoning behind the no hyphens. So when I created an article directory years ago, I DID place a hyphen in the name just to prove you could use one and be very popular with it.
That website went on to rank 22,000 something on Alexa and it was a very popular website indeed. In fact, even 5 years later, after I took it down, it still ranks at 323,000 because of all the links pointing back to it.
I’m even thinking of bringing the domain LIVE again. Wouldn’t that be something? 🙂
– Bonnie
Hi Bonnie, you know what it’s like online! There’s more fairytales than a bumper book of Hans Christian Anderson stories.
I’ve had domains with a hyphen, I’ve also had .info domains with a hyphen – the ultimate sin lol
Now I work (mainly) with offline businesses it’s very definately a practical reason to avoid them – ease of use and recall.
If you watched the vid, those domains really did need a hyphen!
Get your domain live again – why waste a good site? Although rather you than me if you keep it as an article directory, it’s a fulltime job moderating those things!
Thanks for popping in and commenting again, i do appreciate it 🙂
lol..very entertaining video! Insightful tips for choosing a domain for online pressence. I went with my gut when choosing mine.
Hi Dana, I love Stephen Fry reading those domains out. He somehow manages to give them some class lol
Thanks for popping in and your comment 🙂
This video is too funny. I’m guilty of complicated domain names. People still manage to find me though. It will be interesting to see how things change again – next week.
I am sure everything will be different again very soon, Nanette!
When I chose mine – http://onemanbandaccounting.co.uk I wanted a name that was also my business name and was easy to remember. It may be a bit long, but it’s easier!
I think keyword domains are better for products or services that aren’t relationship based.
Hi Rosie, you have the best of both worlds, starting branding with a keyword 🙂