Choosing the right domain name can be difficult, especially these days when it takes a little bit of creativity to come up with a good name that isn’t already registered. Some people forget that a domain name can be a key fundamental of a successful website.

We look into what goes into choosing the right name, the right domain extension or TLD and how the content of your website might affect what you choose.

Think about websites you visit often. The domain names for these websites are generally easy to remember words (Google, Yahoo, Amazon etc) and the words used in the domain name sometimes bares resemblance to what the website is, does or offers (news.com.au etc).

If your preferred name is already registered, you might need to be creative with your domain name, often a catchy name, made up words or unusual combination of words are good starters.

You should aim to select a domain name that is your business name or a name that resembles it.

If you’re website is supporting your business, then it’s key to register a domain name that includes your business name. This allows customers to make the connection between your business and your website, while also making it easier to remember for returning visitors.

Some people will tell you they expect to type in ‘businessname.com’ or ‘businessname.com.au’ and get to the site they expect, while others just go straight to a search engine and search based on your name. Either way, you have a much higher chance of guiding customers to your website if you incorporate your business name into your domain name. This also aids with brand building and marketing of your business.

If your website isn’t for a business, try and stick to words that describe the topic of your website, which helps let potential visitors understand the content they’re likely to find on your website.

Avoid trademarked names, unless they’re yours.

If you have any trademarks registered with IP Australia or another countries intellectual property organization, you should look to register these trademarked as domains too. This prevents anyone else registering trademarks assigned to you and potential legal proceedings to retrieve the domain name at a later point when you realise someone else is using it when they shouldn’t be.

However, trademarked names are a two-way street – you should always check that the domain name you’re registering isn’t a word that’s been trademarked as you could easily find yourself out of pocket for a domain name that could be taken away from you.

Abbreviations

Registering abbreviations of your domain name in conjunction with a domain name that matches your business name is quite acceptable, especially if you’re business name is either used as a whole set of words or abbreviated by your customers. It’s a simple process to redirect an abbreviated domain name to your existing website to ensure you’re not missing out on any traffic to your website. Also good practice if your business name is easily transferable to an acronym. For example, if our business name was ACME Lawyers International, we might register the acronym ALI.com.au too, if it were available.

Misspellings

Is your business name often misspelt? You might want to consider registering some of the known misspellings for your business name and redirect them to your existing website too.

.com.au or .com?

This is probably the most asked question with regards to domain names, should I register a .com domain name or a .com.au domain name (or any other country for that matter). The answer is easy. Both.

If both the .com and .com.au domain names are available, it’s recommended you register both. Most people believe that a .com domain means you’re operating your business in the United States, which isn’t entirely true. Whilst common myth would have you believe that, .com domains are the ‘generic’ domain on the internet and can be used by anyone, regardless if you operating in the US or Australia.

By registering both, you’re also preventing someone else from registering that domain and passing off as you, whilst also protecting your intellectual property.

Stay away from hyphens

If you can avoid using hyphens (‘-‘) in your domain name, do so. Domains which don’t have hyphens in them often look more aesthetically pleasing and Search engines tends to be more friendly to websites without hyphens in their domain names. You may have a hyphen in your business name, in which case, it really cant be avoided.

Surf on over to our Domain Names page to search for your domain name today!