A good domain name is all about your blog or other website being visited and revisited – it’s a key tool in your toolkit of ‘not being invisible’.

In the online world, where people turn to their web browser for information just as instinctively as using a phone (perhaps more so, arguably, these days), it pays to have a domain name that properly reflects your blog, other site or your underlying business. If you have a good domain name, which is memorable and relevant, it makes it easier for your readers, visitors, customers to remember you. And making their life easier often equates to more visits and, if relevant, more business for you.

Should you use a generic name or a ‘brand’ name?

Whilst a few people still think that your core domain name really must be some generic name like “computers.com” (if you sell PCs, perhaps), the current thinking (particularly given the astronomical cost of generic domain names nowadays) is that it just doesn’t need to be that way, even if you’re in business in a big way. In fact, a generic name can actually cause ‘loss of focus”:  if you were trying to buy a PC, you would probably already have an idea of what you want, so might try “toshiba.com”, anyway, or just default to a super-seller like Amazon.

We have tended to build blogs and other sites using domains based on a brand name, therefore, rather than a generic area. The name that you use to sell your product, your brand, works well as your domain name, because it gives you identity and (hopefully) customer loyalty/popularity.

Yes, there have been some successful sites built on obscurity (e.g., Google, Bebo), but be careful. It takes a lot to get the snowball of ‘off the wall’ branding to roll.  From experience, it can feel a bit like trying to nail jelly to the ceiling.

Particularly if you’re stepping into the online world for the first time, don’t obsess over the domain name. Get it as right as you reasonably can, after a decent amount of thought, then move onto other things.

What are the limits? Does size matter?

Domains are allowed up to 67 characters.  This gives you a lot of flexibility, but remember that “welovetosellgreatbookstoday.com” is likely to have your visitor totally unable to remember the domain (or recommend it in conversation). The visitor may also simply fail to get to the right place because he or she has inadvertently inserted a typo into the word, missed one of the words, transposed a word – you get the picture.

Plenty of people come down on the side of shorter domain names.  The reasoning is that they are:

• easier to remember;
• less prone to typos/mistakes; and
• catchier.

Other people run the argument that, in fact, human memories find sequences of words easy to remember – e.g., “theonlinebookstore.com” – and more ‘real world’ than a branded single-name domain.

Truth is, you may well not have the choice because your chosen name may have been taken anyway (see below).

The other thing to bear in mind is that those who understand SEO know that longer domain names which contain keywords (see the keywords section) have an advantage in that they rank better in a number of search engines.

There’s lot worth considering when building keywords into domain names and we are pleased to bring you this video tutorial:

Are hyphens a problem?

It’s easy to forget the hyphens when typing a name. If someone told you their business was called “easyPC”, then it’s likely you would try “easypc.com” rather than “easy-pc.com”.  Hyphens are not usually an obvious route and can be counter-intuitive to a lot of people.

It’s quite likely that, in the cluttered online world, someone will already have “easypc.com” registered, and maybe even use it for a similar purpose as your site, so you could easily loose custom.

This said, some SEO experts argue that certain search engines can ‘see’ your keywords better and rank your site better for keywords occurring in your domain name where the keywords are separate by hyphens.

We try to avoid hyphens, unless the non-hyphenated version is taken and we really need the name (branding, keyword recognition, etc).

Can’t get the domain name you want?

What you do depends on how dedicated you are to the name you want.

If you have an existing brand that you trade under, it’s unlikely you’ll want to loose that goodwill, as it no doubt took you a lot of time and money to establish it.  Therefore an option open to you is to try to buy the domain name from the current owner.

The best tool to find the identity of the owner is here.  It doesn’t always work (some domains are ‘private’) but it’s your best shot.  If you can’t get the details that way, try contacting the webmaster using the contact details on the website at the domain name.

Bear in mind that how you portray yourself and how you present your offer may mean the difference between success and failure and, just as importantly, paying a reasonable amount or overpaying.  There’s likely to be an element of negotiation involved.