The Best Domain Name For Your Business

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As a new business owner, you spent a great deal of time planning your business. You need to spend similar time and care choosing the right domain name. The right choice of name can help you with branding your site. The wrong choice can get your site a negative reaction.

Here are some common pitfalls to avoid when choosing a domain name for your business:

Too Long Ð Sometimes business owners want to get across an idea, and they choose a domain name that is several words or even a sentence long. This is far too long. Keep it short and simple. Too much to type in the URL field can mean that your prospective customer will go to a competitor with a more concise domain name instead.

Even the customer who is determined to find you can be re-routed if your domain is too long. A longer domain name means a greater chance of making a typo. And a typo may mean that your customer is redirected to a site that is not yours, or to a ‘no such URL’ notice which makes them think you don’t have a website at all.

Confusing Ð In some ways, domain names are like vanity license plates. You have a short space for your message and you want to make it count. But if it is so convoluted that you have to puzzle over the meaning, this is not a good choice.

With domain names, someone should hear your name and have a pretty accurate idea of what is found there. If you sell shoes online, the domain name ‘wowgreatshoes’ would be a nice bet. The domain name ‘shinyshinyshiny’ might be interesting or cute, but it does not say ‘we sell shoes.’ Be clear, stay away from inside jokes, and don’t be clever at the expense of common sense.

Dashes Ð To establish a brand for your business, stay away from domain names that involve dashes unless all of your business is conducted online.

When people talk about businesses via word of mouth, they often won’t verbalize a dash and your potential customer will likely type out the domain wrong if yours uses dashes. Your competitors may set up sites that don’t have dashes, to skim off your potential customers who make the error of leaving them out. If your business is conducted solely online this is less of a problem, because people tend to copy and paste domain names Ð dashes and all Ð when browsing.

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