Top 10 tips for choosing your domain name

posted by Adam - 11:09 12/04/11

These days it’s a lot more difficult to find a good domain name than it has been in the past, mainly due to the sheer number that have already been registered. These top tips will help you choose one that will work for you and your target audience.

1. Keep it short

Nobody likes typing so the shorter the name, the more likely your users are going to type it in to the address bar in their browser.

2. Keep the name relevant to your audience

Using acronyms may be fine if you are expecting a professional audience, but will the general public know what the site http://www.dfid.gov.uk offers? Also consider including a reference to what you do/what your purpose is in the domain name. Our own domain name is www.d2digital.co.uk which at least suggests we do something in the digital realm.

3. Make sure you use allowable characters

Until recently the 26 letters of the English alphabet, numbers and the hyphen (-) were the only allowable characters. Recently however, accented characters and foreign alphabets have been introduced.

Best tip here though (unless you have a specific target market in mind) is stick with the English alphabet and numbers. Also there’s very rarely a good reason to use a hyphen so best to avoid them wherever possible.

4. Avoid unfortunate coincidences...

There are a few *ahem* well publicised examples, but I’ll try and keep these examples as family friendly as possible. How about this one, advertising the delights of Spain:

http://www.choosespain.com

Or this one, dedicated to sta teachers:

http://www.teacherstalk.com

5. Make it easy to read

Again, an easy mistake to make. Although shortening the (fictional) Church of Scientific Exploration of the Existential to www.scientificexistentialism.com may seem like a good idea as it meets the criteria above (well mostly – it’s still a bit long), it’s quite a mouthful to say and type.

6. Choose the correct domain extension

The domain extension is the bit that goes after the name, for example ‘.co.uk’ or ‘.com’, and make sure you know what it stands for:

• Some are abbreviations for a country – e.g. .de – Germany
• A full list of country codes can be found here http://www.iana.org/domains/root/db/
• Some are non-country specific domains - e.g. .com – Commerce (originally stood for US Commerce, now it means commerce worldwide)
• And quite a lot more, many of which you might not have heard of.

In summary:

a) If you have a local business that primarily sells to UK businesses then a .co.uk domain name would be sufficient but I would seriously consider .com as well.

b) If you have a small/medium sized company that trades abroad then .com would be absolutely crucial and I would also seriously consider getting the appropriate country codes that you sell into e.g. .de, .fr, .ie, .co.uk but not .us as most Americans (and probably the Canadians too) expect a .com address.

c) For public sector organisations I would consider .org, .org.uk (if in this country), .co.uk and .com if possible. You may also want to get a domain from the local authority you are working on behalf of, for example: http://example.manchester.gov.uk

d) As a rule of thumb for commercial or personal use, the domain extensions worth registering are country codes, .com, .org and in certain circumstances .net.

7. Be aware of other similar domain names

For example, you may have the domain name of www.google.com but what about www.googles.com? In this example, the closely spelt domain looks like a harmless children’s site but you might not be as lucky.

8. Could your domain name be easily misspelt?

Like www.googlr.com. In this instance, Google has already identified this potential mis-spelling and registered the domain. Again, you might not be so lucky.

9. What if I can’t get every domain extension I would like?

You’ve got .co.uk and you want .com, but .com has already been registered. Do you manage without it or change your name?

First thing, check out the site that’s got .com. .com is by far the most popular extension and some of your traffic will inadvertently end up on the .com site at some point. So ask yourself these questions:

• What content is on the site?
• Is it appropriate for my audience?
• Will it offend anyone?
• Is it legal?
• Does it show questionable advertisements?
• Does it invite the user to download a particular plug-in so that they can view a video (and I don't mean Adobe Flash player!)?

If you answer yes to the bottom four of these questions then pick another domain name! The first two questions are less clear and may not offer a conclusive answer. If you are still unsure play it safe and pick another name.

The last caveat is that just because the site is inoffensive now, that doesn’t mean that in 6 months time it will still be showing cute pictures of kittens. Check back often and be prepared to change your domain name if necessary.

10. Avoid infringement of trademarks

There are a few of the larger companies who will aggressively go after anyone they consider to be using their trademark, even if the site in question has no relation to the product or service that is being offered.

Apple is one such company (though there are others I could name). For example, if you wanted to sell apples over the internet, then I would strongly recommend against registering www.buyapplesonline.com as it would most likely end up in a very costly court battle.

Also bear in mind that most domain registry dispute policies strongly favour the trademark owner, and even displaying an advert on your site could cost you the domain and a lot of money.

As you may now have gathered choosing the right domain name can be a bit of minefield these days. If you need any more help or advice please feel free to give me a shout.