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[21/11/2009] How to Choose a Domain Name
A domain name is what differentiates your website from the many websites available online. The process of choosing a domain name for your site is included in the web design process hence before you complete preparation to make your site active, you will have chosen a suitable domain that your clients can use to get you. The online business is very competitive which means you have to use all the methods available to make your business profitable. A good domain name is a contributing factor to the success of your site.Domain names are registered so one website cannot share a domain name with another. While choosing a domain name, you need to come up with several phrases so that if one is taken, you can use another from your list. Selecting a domain name with your clients in mind is a good idea so that you can come up with something people will not only find easy to remember but also easily searchable.
What you need is something unique and you have the option of using your company name or finding possible keywords. Sometimes it may be difficult to decide whether to use the company name or some sorts of keywords that represent your products. However, you can take advantage of the fact that you can have more than one domain name and get one with the company name and the other with the product name so either way someone will still land on your website.
You should also have a domain name with the .com extension which is usually preferred for commercial business although it may not be easily available especially with the name you want. You can use country specific domains especially if your business is meant to service a certain region. For instance, a domain name with .co.uk will be suitable for a local company in England or in any of the UK countries.
Domains can include characters and numbers but you should avoid names with numbers especially if you want them to be easy to remember and type. Numbers and other special characters such as hyphens, ampersands and apostrophes can easily lead to errors if omitted or they can direct a user to another site. This may not be good for your business if the other site is your competitor.
The other thing to ensure that you choose a good domain name is to use search engine optimization so that it will have a good ranking with the search engines. This refers to the right choice of keywords and demands that you come up with a keyword people are likely to use. Sometimes it may be good to include the area where your business is located in the domain name and this will come in handy when someone is looking for your type of business in that area. For instance, if your business is in London, a domain name with the country name can be used which may also be used as an alternative domain name.
