One thing that few people consider when getting their business online is the domain name.

For those of you who don’t know what a domain name is, it’s the web address which people type into their browser which brings them to your site e.g. www.youtube.com is a domain name.

What most people don’t realize is how important picking the right domain name is and how it can make or break your chances of success online. That may sound like an exaggeration but I assure you that it’s not. Below are rules you need to follow when picking a domain name in order to give you the maximum chances of success.

1. It must be easy to remember. Could you remember this www.bestfooddorsetplacestoeat.co.uk ? I doubt it, . How about www.bestfoodindorset.co.uk (I’m not sure if that’s taken yet). Doesn’t that sound better. As a general rule it must pass the radio test. Could you say it on radio easily so that listeners would be able to remember it and type it into their browser with no problems.
2. Avoid hard to spell and commonly misspelled words. Would you want to type xylophone into your browser? Well neither would anyone else. Words like centre can be easily misspelled as center (the American way) so avoid words like that too. Here’s a list of the most commonly misspelled words http://www.yourdictionary.com/library/misspelled.html
3. Don’t use hyphens. Gone are the days when search engines were unable to separate words in domain names. Using the above example the www.bestfoodindorset.co.uk can now be recognized by the search engines as best-food-in-Dorest whereas in the old days it would have to have been     www.best-food-in-dorset.co.uk for them to recognize it as separate words. Which would you rather type? Hyphens are a big no no these days.
4. Use short domain names if possible. This may be tricky as a lot of the short domains are taken. If you do find the domain you want taken then try adding an attention grabbing word into it e.g. is www.pizzaplace.com is taken then try www.bestpizzaplace.com and keep going. But never break the other rules.
5. Avoid trade marks in domain names. This could get you into serious trouble.

There you have it. Please don’t be slap dash about choosing domain names. They are very important.

Where is the best place to register a domain name?

I personally only recommend two places to go. The first is 123 reg. This is best if your planning to register a .co.uk type domain name, which you should only do if your business is solely for the UK market.

On the other hand if you wish to register a .com domain, for the global market (e.g. if you sell to people abroad) then the place I recommend is Namecheap where you can get a domain for about $10 (about £6-7) per year.

Also it may be an idea to get the .info and .org domains as well to stop others getting hold of them first.

Next post I will be covering website hosting which is the second part of registering a website.

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