Register The Domain Yourself
Never hand the controls of your domain over to someone else.
Its a recipe for disaster.
Lets say you instruct an agency to register a domain for you, and then you fall out.
How willing will they be to transfer the domains ownership to you?
Or worse still, imagine if the registering party went bankrupt, or just forgot to renew the domain on your behalf.
You could lose the domain forever.
Long story short, always register your domain yourself.
Its really simple to do, so no excuses.
How To Choose The Best Domain Name
Last updated on June 14th, 2021 by Editorial Staff | Disclosure: Our content is reader-supported. This means if you click on some of our links, then we may earn a commission. See how WPBeginner is funded, why it matters, and how you can support us.
Choosing the right domain name for your website is crucial for your success. If you choose the wrong domain name, then it can be a hassle to switch later on without hurting your brand and search rankings.
Thats why its extremely important that you choose the best domain name from the start.
When first starting out, it can be hard to come up with catchy business name ideas with a perfect domain name.
In this article, well share all the tools and tips you need to get domain name ideas, choose the best domain name, and register your new domain .
14 Tips for Choosing the Best Domain Name
When starting a blog, choosing a domain name can be stressful because you dont want to make a mistake.
To make the process easier, we have a simple 14 step framework that you can use to pick the best domain for your website.
Lets take a look at these tips one by one with more details.
1. Stick with .com
There are plenty of new domain name extensions available today, from the original .com, .net and .org to niche extensions like .pizza, .photography, and even .blog.
We always recommend choosing a .com domain name.
In our opinion, newer domain extensions like .ninja, .photography, and others can make your business appear less trustworthy.
Dont Be Stressed If Com Is Taken
What if the .com Top Level Domain of your preferred domain name has already been taken? First, keep calm.
There are other popular domain extensions that you can explore. On the plus side, these domains are as good for branding as the .com TLD.
Better yet, their acceptability is constantly increasing.
Domain name preference study conducted by Domain Name Association in 10 countries had 5,000 complete responses. In that survey, a clear majority of people surveyed believe there should be more domain extension options.
In countries with mature Internet markets , between 50% and 60% said there should be more options. For Internet users in the fast-developing markets , the number is between 66% and 75%.
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Avoid Using Other Peoples Intellectual Property In Your Domain Name
If your perfect domain name happens to include someone elses trademark, you could be in trouble. You face having to rebrand your website after launch and you could even face legal action. Because of this, it makes sense to check that you wont be infringing anyone elses intellectual property before you buy. You can search a global brand database here and a UK trade mark database here. Note: Intellectual property laws are complex and just because a word or phrase appears in one of these databases doesnt mean you can use it in a domain. If you have any doubt, you should seek professional advice.
Which Domain Type Is Best
For many businesses, .com is the best choice, since its the most commonly used. However, competition is tough for .com domains, and other extensions provide memorable alternatives as well. Be careful about choosing domains for a specific region . Pick those extensions if you want to geotarget a particular country for ranking purposes on Google. For more ideas, check out our list of 10 domain name ideas for business websites.
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Things To Consider When Choosing Your Domain Name
When theres more than 284 million registered domain names online, youre going to want yours to stand out. But you also want to be easily remembered, have a URL that accurately describes your business, and it would help if it ranks well in Google. Right?
Right.
Its very easy to buy a domain name that you come to regret later. What was useful and fashionable years ago suddenly is unwieldy and a pain in the butt to describe now. You might take what you can get if your favoured domain is already taken, only for that to expire later on and youre stuck with one you dont like.
Even worse, you could pay a great deal more for it later, or even spend quite a bit of money rebranding and redirecting years after youve become established just because that domain youve always wanted has suddenly become available.
It might be tempting to buy up quick to stop other people from taking the one youre currently considering, but it wont hurt to take a few minutes to ensure what youre getting is what you want, what works, and what will stand you in good stead for the long haul.
The four things you should consider when choosing your domain name are:
Keep It Short And Simple
If your domain name is long, it’ll be harder for people to remember, which could spell out less traffic for you. WebsiteSetup.org recommends a domain name that is 6-14 characters in length.
Beyond that, a short domain name isn’t helpful if it is hard to spell or pronounce, as users will likely lose their way when trying to type your website URL.
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Whats The Difference Between A Domain And A Url
Before we go any further, some of you may be wondering what a domain is. Cast your eye up to your browser bar and youll see a bunch of text that begins with http://. The whole line of text is the Uniform Resource Locator, known as a URL for short. You may also know it as a web address.
The domain is the second part of the URL, for us, its namecheap.com. The second-level domain is namecheap and the top-level domain is .COM.
You can find more about this in our handy article on the definition of a domain.
Make It Easy To Type And Pronounce
Sure, your blog name is unique, but if no one knows how to pronounce it or type it as a URL, your traffic numbers might suffer as a result.
If a domain name is confusing, it’s more likely that users will have typos and get lost as they try to find your blog. Make it easy for them, and avoid hurting your traffic numbers, by choosing a simple, clear domain name.
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Resonates With Your Business
A premium domain names principal purpose is to improve your businesss internet accessibility. And if a brands domain name cannot perform this function, its of little value to the company.
A domain name that does not reflect your companys ideas will produce problems that subtract from the traffic flow that the domain name is designed to provide. The domain name relentless.com, for example, redirects to Amazons website at amazon.com. Consider if Amazons website was relentless.com rather than amazon.com. Imagine the misunderstanding that could cause customers.
Lets take another look at Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg, in an interview with Y Combinators Jessica Livingston, explained how one thing hed do right if he had the opportunity to go back in time would be to get the right domain name.
If youre familiar with Facebooks story, or perhaps you used Facebook in its early days, it should be old news that their original domain name when they launched their company was thefacebook.com. And although facebook.com was already in use by another company, About Face, Corp., if they had proceeded to purchase it from the company back in February 2004, they would have gotten the domain for a much lower price.
Fast forward to 2005. Facebook has already become a famous brand, with around 6 million monthly users. Going back for the right premium domain name at that time caused them to spend a lot more than they couldve if theyd gotten it earlier.
Domain Age: Why It Doesnt Matter
One of the big myths in SEO is that domain age a ranking signal its not.
While the factors associated with having a domain for longer are most definitely ranking signals
Simply having a domain thats been registered for a greater period of time compared to other websites wont give you a ranking advantage.
Googles Matt Cutts confirmed this to be the case in 2012
To the best of my knowledge, no search engine has ever confirmed that they use the length of registration as a factor in scoring. If a company is asserting that as a fact, that would be troubling. The primary reason to renew a domain would be if its your main domain, you plan to keep it for a while, or youd prefer the convenience of renewing so that you dont need to stress about your domain expiring.
Matt Cutts
John Mueller of Google confirmed again in 2017 that domain age doesnt matter when responding to the question does domain age matter for ranking in Googles search results?
My point here is you dont need to sweat domain age.
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What Is An Internationalized Domain Name
An Internationalized Domain Name is a domain name that uses characters from non-Latin languages, such as Arabic, Chinese, or Cyrillic. IDNs were introduced to allow people to use their own language when registering a domain name. For example, someone from China might want to register a domain name in Mandarin rather than using the Latin alphabet.
IDNs are particularly useful for businesses that want to target a specific country or region. By using an IDN, businesses can ensure that their website will be accessible to everyone in their target market.
However, it is worth noting that IDNs are only compatible with certain browsers and operating systems. As such, businesses should ensure that their target market can access their website before registering an IDN.
Make Your Address Mobile
Mobile devices drive 51.89% of internet traffic as of the second quarter of 2018.
Interestingly, that number has declined from its height in Q3 2017, but the fact remains:
At least half of the people using your domain address are going to be using a mobile device to get there.
Which means you need to think about all the autocorrect-victims of the world and make your domain as memorable and concise as you can for them.
Examples of easy, mobile-friendly domain names that come to mind are and Bing, respectively. Theyre short, simple, and everyone knows how to spell them.
Far less mobile-friendly examples include and the infamous Comic-Cons homepage.
Although both of these domain names hit the mark for memorable, they lose points for being an easy typo, and in Comic-Cons case, requiring users to switch between their digital keyboards to type.
So, when youre picking your domain name, try it out on your mobile phone first. How easy is it to type? If youre an expert-level phone typer, have someone a little less savvy try it out on your phone.
Now, lets change gears a little bit and talk SEO.
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Avoid Hyphens Numbers And Doubled Letters
Each of these elements is another hurdle for users to attempt to jump just to access your website. It’s not exactly intuitive to keep these characters in mind, and doubled letters can make the domain name messy and hard to read.
Not to mention, all of these elements are susceptible to becoming typos as users try to search the internet for your business website. If you’re sharing your website via word-of-mouth to clients, it’s also much harder to convey the domain name clearly when it is jumbled with hyphens, numbers, and the same letters back-to-back.
Consider Using Keywords In Your Domain
Keyword-focused domain names arent as popular as they once were and you shouldnt think that just because youve got a keyword in your domain youre going to top Googles search rankings.
However, a keyword in a domain can still be useful, particularly if it helps people understand what it is you do. For example, if youre a plumber having a domain with plumbing or plumber in it could be a good idea.
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Stay Unique And On Brand
A unique domain name can help your website stand out and potentially help you avoid legal trouble. It can also contribute to your marketing efforts. In fact, if your site represents a larger brand, you would be wise to consider your domain name as youre creating the brand name itself.
If youre a self-employed individual, you can still consider your body of work and your website as part of your personal brand. For instance, if you run a private therapy practice, an original yet branded domain name might include your full name and field. In this scenario, a strong URL might read something like: janesmithpsychology.com.
Another powerful way for businesses to reach a local audience is by including geolocation within the domain name .
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Dont Use Hyphens Either
Its generally best to avoid hyphens in domain names. Not because it affects SEO, which most people assume Googles crawlers dont care whether your domain name has hyphens or not but rather that websites with hyphens are at risk of being perceived as spammy.
If you must use hyphens in your website, keep it to only one, as they can give users a negative view of your website.
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Register Your Domain Name
As soon as youâve decided on the perfect domain name, youâll want to snag it. Domains are snatched up everyday, so if you hesitate, you might end up back at the drawing board. You can use an online domain registrar to register the name and make it your own.
Depending on the domain registrar, you may be able to register the name for anywhere between one and ten years by prepaying. Getting a one-year term makes sense if your business is in transition or just starting out, but if itâs already well-established, you can often get discounts by signing into multi-year domain contracts.
Why Is Choosing The Right Domain Name Important
The importance of choosing a strong domain name is pretty obvious. If you manage to secure a memorable name, it will be easier for your visitors to remember you and to find you. A long name thats hard to spell or difficult to read may mean that potential customers never even make it to your site.
A good domain name makes your online life just that bit easier. If youre creative and clever, it will instantly communicate to visitors what your website is all about.
For example, you might consider a location-based domain name. Imagine you own a pizzeria in New York, a .NYC domain can tell the user where youre based, even before your website loads.
Many benefits come with choosing the right domain name, so make sure you take your time to think about yours.
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Make Sure Your Domain Is Easy To Pronounce And Spell
You probably want your domain name to be original and memorable. However, novelty isnt always a good thing. If you modify the spelling of a common word to get that .com extension , you might confuse your audience.
While word-of-mouth advertising is powerful, it only works when people can actually pronounce your domain. This also makes the name easier to remember, increasing the odds that people will visit and pass the site along to their networks.
In recent years, more businesses have opted for 4-letter combinations of easily pronounceable domains. In addition to being incredibly memorable, this is also due to the ability for domains to hold aftermarket value. That is, if the business fails, the domain can still be sold. One very popular 4-letter pattern is c-v-c-v , exemplified by Snap and Meta.
Buy The Common Misspellings Of Your Domain
This, however, can grow your annual domain bill even further, so its your call.
In general, youre going to be pretty safe if you just focus on a couple of the most likely misspellings of the domain.
Looking at my earlier example, Lotterio.com could be misspelled as Loterio.com single T.
Once you have those, redirect them back to your main domain name.
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Keep It Short And Specific
When it comes to deciding the domain name length, you want to keep things as short as possible. This passes for wisdom as your domain name becomes reasonably easy to remember.
Does that mean a shorter domain name is always better? No! Brevity and specificity are the operational words here.
Besides, itd help to use as fewer words as you can. A good domain name should not be too broad or too narrow.
If its length is on the plus size, the wrong kind of searchers may be attracted to your website. If it is too narrow, who knows, you could be extending your line of business someday.
As a bonus, ensure your domain name is native to your target market. If your target market is local, consider adding your city or state + a relevant keyword or any other word of choice. E.g., TexasPlumber.com, PhoenixGlassRepair.com, etc.