Three Steps to Choosing Your Domain Name

If there is one thing that can make or can break an online business, it's the domain name. That little www.YOURWEBSITE.com name is going to help guide customer to you and to your business, but only if you spend some time thinking about the perfect way to 'light' your business' door. There are three steps that can help you choose the right domain name for you, your business, and for the curiosity of your customers.

Name Your Business or Your Product

It only makes sense that you need to name your business before you can think about choosing a domain name. When you are choosing your business name, you want to remember that overall goals of your business as well as the audience you are looking to attract. For example, if you are trying to target children and their parents, you can choose something that's a bit more whimsical. But if you are trying to draw in a proper, business crowd, you need to choose something that makes you seem professional. It's best to start by listing possible business names, in order of how much you life them. If you can also incorporate your product into this name, that's all the better.

Now, with the list you have, you will want to find a few that are really working well for the image you want to create. But for a domain name, you need to make sure it's not too long for your customers to remember. What names can be either shortened or area already short without losing the information you wish to covey? Those should be your front runners.

Check Out Your Competitors

Of course, it never hurts to look at your competition to see what they are using for their domain names. While you won't be able to copy them directly, you might be able to get an idea of their format. For example, if you are looking to create a doll business, you might see that the competition is 'The Doll Business' and yours could be 'A Doll Business.' While they're still conveying the same information, they're slightly different. It can be a little tricky to choose a name in this way as there are many potential issues with copyright (especially when your business is similar to a really big corporation), so when you're in doubt, check with a copyright lawyer or the copyright office. In the end, it can be difficult to show that someone tried to copy someone else intentionally, but since you're probably going to be the smaller of the two businesses, it is sometimes better to play it safe.

Think About Domain Names You Already Like

In your current internet account, you probably have a list of the Favorite places you like to go. By looking through this list, check to see what site names you like best and then think about why. Often, these website names will be so easy to remember that you won't even have to look at your list to recall them. These domain names are usually short, branded names, and aren't strangely spelled. You should follow these examples.

In addition, your domain name needs to be something that is not already picked - but this can help you even more. When you go to a domain registrar, you can type in the names that you want to use, see if they're available, and if not, you might be able to see other similar names that are. This will help you further refine your domain name choices, while also helping you see whether you have a competitor with a similar name.

Your domain name is the signpost on the 'outside' of your online business - what message are you conveying to your customers? And what you want people to think?