Domain Names
Become a name to remember!
A domain name is essential to the identity of your website. Not only does it give your website a permanent and memorable location, but it can also say who you are, where you are and what you do without even visiting the site. It’s as much of a brand as your name or logo and it’s not unusual for the domain to form the basis of the name and logo itself, sometimes very effectively as with play.com.
Already know it all? View prices for over 50 domains. Need advice? Read on…
Why do I need a domain name?
Well, strictly speaking, you don’t. Underneath the bonnet (hood, I don’t want to disappoint US searchers) websites just use numbers like telephones do called an IP address. This is Google’s IP address 72.14.207.99 which will take you to their website just as their domain name will. But who’s going to remember a number?* But for now, you only need a name for your website and that’s not because it’s a requirement of owning a website, but as a marketing tool. You’re selling yourself. So it makes sense to choose wisely.
How do I choose a domain name?
In a word, carefully! There are no changes and no refunds when buying a domain name. Once you’ve bought your name, it’s yours until the registration period expires. Having said that, considering that domain names are generally very cheap with respect to their significance to a website if you decide you don’t like your domain name it won’t break the bank to add more or swap over.
Is it memorable? If for instance you want to use your or your company’s intials or an abbreviation of some kind, you want to be sure that people will remember them. If people know you already, then it’s unlikely to be an issue, but remember that a website is as much a storefront as it is an interaction with customers. Many of your visitors will be hearing of you for the first time.
It’s also semi-common practice to separate words in a URL with hyphens, either for clarity to separate words or because the domain without hyphens has already been taken. Of course this is personal preference, but I would tentatively suggestion that no hypens is the way to go if possible. In my experience, someone trying to visit your website will all but inevitably say “That’s with hypens, right?” every time until they remember properly. Even if they get it wrong first time they’ll likely just retry with/without hyphens, but it’s a minor annoyance. On occasion they can be essential though, for instance, a website about energy conversation called “Use Less Energy” is unlikely to find much of a following using the domain name uselessenergy.com (Which could be read as Useless Energy, and yes someone owns it. It’s for sale too, I wonder if they made that mistake…). In this case, use-less-energy.com would probably be the way to go.
Is it the right type? While the majority of domain extensions have no restrictions on who can register them, they do put forward an impression of the website behind the domain. .org extensions are primarily used by charities or non-profit organisations and similar. A commercial enterprise using a .org extension might be considered slightly odd if not actually downright misleading. .com and .co domains are probably exceptions to the rule, since they’ve evolved to be used for all purposes.
If you’re thinking about using a locality domain like .co.uk then it’s worth considering what this might imply over a more generic domain like the .com equivalent. If your business is local and you will not be taking international custom it may be worth reinforcing this with a local domain, or just using it to highlight where you are in the world. Anyone browsing a list of results in a search engine looking specifically for a US-based site will know at a glance that a .us domain will mostly likely fit what they’re looking for. Or from another perspective, .com domains are almost always what people remember first and still carry an impression of internationalism. It’s a personal choice. But even if you buy up various extensions of your chosen domain, you still must select one to be your primary name.
Does it have a history? The domain you want may be available, but that might been that someone has already owned and subsequently let it go. Hop onto the search engine of your choice and search for the domain to see if it has any pre-existing and noted content or if anyone has been talking about it. You don’t want to end up with a name that’s already been slated for illegal activities or been labelled as the place not to do business with! While it’s not worth putting much consideration to, it might also be worth searching for some domains or words/phrases that match or closely match your intended name of settlement for similar reasons.
Can I buy domain names as an investment?
Maybe. But probably not. A few years ago or even further back, you might have had a good chance of snapping up a great domain that somehow the rest of the world never thought of. Nowadays, given the sheer amount of registrations and the heavy bias toward .com domains which naturally are the most prolific you would be very lucky indeed to find a domain that carries value in it’s own right. You only need browse through Afternic or any domain marketplace to see just how saturated the domain trade business is. Indeed, to some it really is a business unto itself. As of the time of writing this, the front page of Afternic contains the following: