Owning the right domain can either make or break your online presence. It affects how people perceive your brand, how often leads visit you, and the number of products, services, or clients actually do business with you.

In fact, even mere spelling will have an effect on your website’s effectiveness. Before you continue searching or purchasing a URL, it’s important to understand your brand’s message and how you need to look in the online sphere.

Here’s how you can absolutely go wrong when naming your new website – so you won’t make the mistake in the first place.

Not having a name that reflects your brand’s value or the company’s mission. If you’re the founder or a manager, you must know what your site is all about. You need to understand at the core the values that you as a company believes in and portray it to the world. This is crucial since your name won’t stand on its own. It’s just the first of a variety of elements that your company is all about. It will be important in branding and marketing decisions, including the website itself, products, logos, and other non-visual company aspects.

Doing this right only serves to benefit your business. For instance, you can see it in the logo itself, which displays the name. It’s apparent in the use of colours in newsletters, brochures, and other marketing collaterals.

Having a name that’s hard to spell, overly long, or hard to pronounce. This is basic in every website name regardless of industry. In some cases, it’s very easy to get too emotionally attached or creative when choosing a name that a wrong one is chosen without practicality. An example of this would be PayPal, which was then named Confinity, and Starbucks, which was tried to be named Il Giornale before getting restored.

Choosing a common or boring name. There are short names, and there are boring ones. Most people creating their first website fails because they’ve chosen a name that is only obvious or sometimes too familiar with them. While this can be a safe and logical option, using a business name that says exactly what you are as a business can wind you up with a forgettable and generic name.

Try using current naming trends, or a competitive overview and being creative with the spelling, word combinations and testing out word-number combinations or synonyms.

photo credit: Daniel Hersic

Lusting over a name that you can’t afford. Is there such a thing? Yes, for sure. Be warned about getting too attached over names and use due diligence to see if you can find another domain that can work the same way. Before you fall in love with a name you have in mind, do a domain check first and see the availability. You can also check social sites to ensure the social handles are available.

Now here’s how to do it right…

As you know, every successful venture regardless of the field starts with research. The same is vital to naming your website. You must know what domains are already taken, which works, and what choices are available for you. Check out the domain check facility to start checking, plus you can instantly secure it so no one else can claim it.

Ultimate Guide on How to Choose A Domain Name

When choosing the best domain name, a domain name generator can help you determine the best possible domain name for you. It's a tool you can use to find smart domain name suggestions by using suffixes, prefixes, synonyms, and short URLs. However, choosing an effective domain name to catch your target audience's attention is not easy.

As a solution, check out these steps to help you choose the perfect domain name for your website:

1. Choose an Easy-to-Type Domain Name

If you want to have a successful web presence, choosing an easy-to-type domain name is critical. Avoid using slang (such as “u” instead of “you”) or words that having multiple spellings (such as express vs. Xpress). These domain names create confusion, making it harder for your customers to find your website.

2. Keep Your Domain Name Short

A long and complex domain name can risk misspelling or mistyping it. As a solution, make it simple, short, and sweet for customers to easily remember it.

3. Use Relevant Keywords

Use relevant keywords that can best describe your business and your products and services. For instance, if you’re an aluminum works business, you may want to register AluminumWorks.com or AluminumSpecialist.com. Make sure to add keywords that online users usually enter when they search for your products and services, including your target area or location.

4. Avoid Placing Numbers and Hyphens

These characters are often misunderstood because people don't know if they’ll use a numeral or spell the number when typing your website.

5. Make It Memorable

Because there are literally millions of domain names, choosing a catchy and memorable domain name is essential. You can share your chosen domain name with close family and friends, and ask their feedback if it makes sense, relevant, easy to remember, and sounds appealing.

There you have it. Remember to plan accordingly and execute your decisions as the situation allows. Best of luck with your upcoming website!