How to Pick Domain Names
Domain names are the online locations for websites, and choosing the right one can go a long way to ensuring that your website is a success. It can be difficult to find a good domain name because of the sheer amount of domains that have already been bought by other people. Learning how to efficiently choose a domain name can help you avoid losing site traffic. You can buy domain names from many different websites, and these websites will also have the facility to search available domains.
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Instructions
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Choose a domain name that suits your website. The sort of domain name you should choose heavily depends on the type of website you choose to own. For example, websites ending ".org" are often associated with non-profit organizations. Likewise, if you use a location specific domain, such as ".co.uk" or ".us," be aware that people assume that your company's operations are limited to that locale.
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Get a ".com" domain if possible. Most people associate websites with the ".com" ending, and may assume that your site ends that way too. You can do a lot of work getting people to remember the bulk of the domain name, but lose them by having a non-standard ending. This is hard to accomplish in practice, but if you can find a ".com" domain it is generally preferable, unless you are happy being linked to a locale.
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Select a few keywords to include in your title. For example, if you were setting up as a distributor of vintage guitar amplifiers you might search for domain names including words like "vintage," "amps," "retro," "classic" and "guitar." This can aid you in searching for an available domain, because you can easily create combinations ("retro guitar amps," "vintage amplification" and "classic guitar amps") which can turn up good results. Think about the most important things you want to get across.
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Choose a simple domain name. This applies in every sense. Your domain name can't be too long, hard to spell, or include unusual characters. Ideally, your domain name should be around three words long, and not be hyphenated, or include any complex words. Think about what domain name people would type in as a guess if they were looking for your service. In the previous example "www.VintageGuitarAmplifiers.com" would be ideal. If this were not available, adding hyphens between words or replacing characters with numbers to find an available domain would just lead to people accidentally going to a competitor's website.
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Name your company after your domain name, or vice-versa. If possible, you will have the same name for both your domain and your company name. It is difficult to get your specific company name to stick in someone's mind enough to find you online, and you don't want to ruin that by operating under a different domain.
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Choose a unique domain when possible. If your domain name is very similar to one of your competitor's sites, you may lose business because people have made a slight error in the address. If you can find something that is both simple and distinct from other websites of the same type, you are a long way towards choosing the right domain.
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