5 Elements you should have in your domain name

There are billions of websites in the world, with similar products or from same industry like clothing, food etc.  but what makes a website distinguishable and unique from others is its domain name.

A domain name is the unique identity of your website, through which the customers recognize your website and products.

“A domain name is an identification string that defines a realm of administrative autonomy, authority or control within the Internet.” – Wiki.

But amongst a number of websites and domain names already registered, you might get a tough time choosing the perfect name for your website. You need to make sure that your domain name is chosen vigilantly because it will affect your website’s popularity in many ways.

So, before you register your domain name, we are here with 5 key essentials or elements that you should have in your domain to ensure its success.

List of 5 Elements you should have in your domain name

Domain names have a very huge impact in the web world. It may be in terms of website rating based on clicks, search ranking, social media presence, brandability, referral links, offline advertising and much more. Your domain name directly influences your brand.

So, whether you are an existing brand or planning a new online endeavor, do give a nice amount of time in coming up with the right domain name.

Let’s scroll down for 5 important elements to consider while selecting your domain name:

1. Have a clear idea about the domain extension

What most of the people forget to consider in choosing a domain name is the extension. .com, .edu, .org, are some of the familiar extensions. Anyone who has a little idea about domains or URL will generally add .com in their URL search as it is the most popular domain extension. However, if your business needs to target on a particular market or a country, you can go for any country specific cTLD like “co.uk.”

Moreover, a number of new gTLDs are available in the market today, that not only help you get a domain name per your industry, but also help you gain SEO advantages. Read more about gTLDs here.

All in all, your domain extension should be chosen as per the needs of your business and the target market.

1. Attaching your brand name

Your brand is unquestionably an identifier of your business. If you want to use your personal name or brand name in your domain, it can give a good recognition to your website. Brand will give an authenticity to your business. Major brands like Levis or dominos, use their own brand name as their domain name. It will help your customers find you faster.

1. Go for a short, catchy and easily memorable domain name

An unreasonably longer domain name will only make the customer fuss over remembering it properly. While a simple and short domain name will give it more appeal and easy recognition. Ensure “no brainstorming” for the customer when it comes to choosing domain name. For example, between “souprecipesonline.com” and “soupcounter.com” you should consider choosing the second one as it is shorter, memorable and most importantly, unique. It will make the domain name search process much easier and result oriented.

1. Avoid using numbers or hyphens

You should completely stay away from the idea of using hyphens or numbers in your domain name. There might be situations when the domain name you are looking for is already registered. Like mypasta.com is registered, and now you may think of giving it some modification by using “1my_pasta.com.” It can prove disastrous, as your customer might get confused about the number whether to use “one” or “1”, and might forget the hyphen. Result? Lost customer and lost sale.

So, as far as possible say no to “hyphens and numbers.”

1. Take in relevant keywords

Keywords are essential in terms of website ranking and in giving unique brandability to your business. While writing a domain name, you should include relevant keywords which go with your business line. Like, if your business is based on selling clothing range, then you should think about using words like fashion in your domain name. The search engines like Google scan your domain name and gives its ranking based on that.

Key takeaway:

A domain name will give unique identity to your business. There are a lot of things that get affected with your domain name selection - be it search engine ranking or brandability. Hence, you should be very careful when choosing a domain name, and we hope that our list of 5 important elements will guide you in this process.