Based on many years experience we would like to share some tips and make your life easier when selecting a domain name as well as avoid mistakes.
Domain name selection :
A visitor and a search engine spider, both see your website URL or the domain name at first glance. Search engines give high priority to domain names. When the domain name is said people should be able to guess what the site is all about.
1. Keep it simple :
Make it simple, domain names should be easy to remember, say, and spell.
2. Protect your name :
Register your business name with a few different extensions to protect your name and branding in as many popular name spaces as you can. For example, domain.com / domain.net / domain.org /domain.me
Register misspellings of your business name if it is easy to mistake for example gogle.com redirects to google.com
3. Domain extensions (.com, .lk, .me, .org, info….)
Any domain extensions won’t give you much of a benefit. It all depends on your Domain name and the contents in it. In the past several years we’ve registered some great domain names for local and international clients using the extensions .lk, .com, .me, .info and many more. The search engine sees all domain name as one and treats them equally. Remember the choice is yours, the extension is not important. Also in the users point of view the domain name doesn’t make any difference as long as your message is clear and attractive.
4. Relating the domain name to your business :
A very important fact. Relate your business name with your domain name for example the organization “Travel Plan Sri Lanka”, has a web site travelplan.lk also travelplansrilanka.com. Investing in alternative domain name means attracting lots of more visitors to your site. But think well, don’t waste your hard earned cash.
5. Do your homework :
Do a research what sort of domain name your competitor or similar web sites have. Try the domain name suggestion tools. Take a pen and paper write the domain name and see how it sounds.
6. Domain name and search engine ranking :
For example if your site is about trekking and is located in Sri Lanka, and the domain name is trekkingsrilanka.com and provided you have the words trekking and Sri Lanka in your contents, you will find a great improvement on the site ranking. Always make sure the domain name and the web site content is relative. (At least to the slightest)
7. Hyphenated Names?
Disadvantage: It’s easy to forget the hyphens when typing a name. Many users are used to typing things like freecpluspluscompilers.com but not free-c-plus-plus-compilers.com. They’ll probably leave out the hyphens and wind up at your competitor’s site.
Advantage: Search engines can distinguish your keywords better and thus return your site more prominently in search results for those keywords occurring in your domain name.
Why did Web Wizard Select as WebWizard-lk.com? Well to highlight it’s a Sri Lankan branch, WebWizard Australia goes as WebWizard-au.com and so on in other countries.
Why did Web Wizard Select as WebWizard-lk.com? Well to highlight it’s a Sri Lankan branch, WebWizard Australia goes as WebWizard-au.com and so on in other countries.
Personally, I believe it really depends on your domain name and your situation.
8. Expiry Domain names :
If possible then go for buying a domain which is or has been expied, as these expired domains will already has been in the Search engins cache. So more older your doamins will be more benefit you will get from Search Engines, and also from Visitors.
9.Avoid Using Numbers in Your Domain Name :
It’s very tempting at times to use numbers in your domain names. The number is your domain many cause problem like when you tell people you also have to continually tell them that it’s a number and not a word. For example if your domain name is 99dollers.com if you tell someone your web address they are most likely to type nintyninedollers.com, this type of domain can cause confusion.
But if you badly need it, register both for example 99dollers.com and nintyninedollers.com.
10.Ensure Your Domain Name is Not a Trademark Infringement :
Prior to registering a domain name, you may want to consider searching the Trademark Electronic Search System, http://www.uspto.gov/main/trademarks.htm to ensure your potential domain name isn’t infringing on any trademarks.
Please don’t take this point lightly, as trademark infringement could cost you your entire business. It is your responsibility to ensure that your potential domain name doesn’t infringe on any registered trademarks, as the trademark laws that apply in the hard copy world also apply on the Internet. Any company that registers a trademark has the right to protect their trademark and has the right to notify you that your domain name is infringing upon their trademark.
When you’re ready to begin, create a list of a dozen or more potential domain names, as chances are, your first choice will already be taken. With any luck, one of the domain names on your list will be available.
Take your time and select a quality domain name that will grow with your business. It will be well-worth your time and effort in the long run.
Remember – Bad domain names can make your efforts to be wasted a lot.
Tags: .com, domain, Google, homework, lk, name, number, search engine, Selection