How to pick a domain name for your small business

How to pick a domain name for your small business

What is a domain name? 

A domain name are used to identify one or more IP addresses. For an example, the domain name Microsoft.com represents about a dozen IP addresses. Domain names are used in URLS to identify particular web pages. For example, in the URL http://www.pcwebopedia.com/index.html, the domain name is pcwebopedia.com.
 Examples:

          .gov-Government agencies                               

          .com-Commercial business

          .org-organizations  (nonprofit)

          .edu-educational institutions

Because the internet is based on IP addresses, not domain names, every web server requires a Domain Name System (DNS) server to translate domain names into IP addresses. 

Choosing a domain name for your business is just as important as naming your business. Just remember your website is the identity of your online business. It can be overwhelming when choosing a domain name, so let me give you some helpful tips to make the process easier. 

First tip, you need to find what kind of domain name is available. The reason why its so important because if you can't use the domain name you wanted, you have to decide on another name, especially when you really like the name you picked out for your business. So being very specific about the domain name you chose becuase it can help increase your chances of finding the best domain name.

For an example, let say your an electrician in the San Mateo area of San Francisco California and the name of your company is Astro's Electric. Now, let's take this general name and make it more specific and find a good domain name.

• Electrician.com or Electric.com: too general
• CaliforniaElectric.com: getting there but still to general
• SanFranciscoElectrician.com: this is better but San Francisco is a big city and county, so its still too general.
• SanMateoElectric.com: San Francisco has many surrounding towns and one is called San Mateo. If you were an electrician that worked in this city, this domain name might work good for you. It really depends on your area but you would get a boost when customers search  online for an "electrician in San Mateo" since those words are in your domain name. So the more specific we get with our domain name, the better the chances that it is available. 

Next tip is to build a memorable domain name for others to remember so they can keep coming back to visit your business or brand. If your website address isn't memorable it can also make it harder for customers to recommend to others about your business. Especially for small businesses, we get most of our business through word of mouth, so recommending our business to others with an easy domain name to remember can be helpful to the business. So let's go over what a memorable domain looks like and compare it to a less memorable domain name. 

Less Memorable:

• AstrosElectricServicesLLC.com: this is too long for to remember.
• AtsrosElectric5642.com: numbers are also hard to remember, especially the random numbers.
• Astros-Electric-ServicesLLC.com: this would also be hard to remember too because of the dashes and remembering where the dashes are placed.

More Memorable:

• AstrosElectric.com: using your company name is a great way to refer customers to your website.
• SanMateoElectric.com: using the name of the area where the company services.
• 650Electric.com: using the area code where you serve your company is also a great domain name to use and it is very memorable.

The shorter the better, I always say! Plus, it just looks better and easy to remember. But when you choose between two domain names with similarities, go for the one that's shorter. 

Last tip is about which domain IP address should you use? Researching the internet about this, it says the best choice would be the .com because it is the most common. If you buy a .com also try to buy the .net and .org version if they are available. This will give you a lot more traffic and you can redirect them to your website on the .com. Another thing is if you can't find an available .com, use the .net and .org as your next choice. But your first choice would be .com if you can because sometimes customers can accidently tpe in .com instead of .net or .org or what ever other domain address your are using. Buying the domain name should cost you an average of ten dollars. Also remember to auto renew your domain name because many business forget to renew it and they end up loosing their domain name.

In conclusion, picking a domain name tend to be a hard choice at times because it seems likes the good domain are usually taken. But you have to remember that every business is unique in every way so you have to be specific to get a good  match for your business. So look into the points I made and it will help to choose the best domain name for your business.

By: Alison Beyale


workcites:
https://www.thesitewizard.com/archive/domainname.shtml
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/231331
https://firstsiteguide.com/choose-domain/