Choosing a Domain Name

Your choice of domain name can have a profound impact on the success of your online venture. There are no real hard and fast rules, but it may help to bear in mind the following.

Ensure you are the legal owner of your domain

It is all too common to see the domain name of a new website has been registered to the web designer, and not to their client, YOU! We see this so often that we really don't want you to make the same mistake. If someone else is designing your website for you and will be registering your domain name, ensure that they register it in your name. If you take one thing away from this page, this should be it! The worst case is that your company becomes successful, and you suddenly find you are not the legal owner of your domain name, and your once friendly web designer decides to sell the domain name to your competitor. Be warned!

There are also many scams that involve posting official looking forms to your business address, that will try to get you to transfer your domain name to another party - although the form will look like a simple renewal notice. Please, make sure you understand how your domain name is managed, and if you are not entirely sure, ask us for advice!

The human factor

Think about how easy your domain name is to remember. Withough an enormous marketing campaign (who on earth would know what moonpig was if they didn't watch telly?), it is usually best to keep your choice to something that makes immediate sense. For example theshineyteapotcompany.com is going to be much more memorable than tstpc.com. It is always best to try and stick to your company or brand name. You probably want people to associate your website to your company, so why confuse them?

Squatters, typos and language barriers

Squatters might see an opportunity to grab a similar domain to yours and squat in the hope of stealing your customers who might make a mistake while typing in your domain name. Basically, domains are cheap... so if you can afford to buy a couple of variations, then you are increasing your chances of bringing someone to your business. For example, if you had a business called myfavouritecolour.co.uk, it would be wise to also register myfavoritecolor.co.uk (to cater for the american spelling), and maybe get the .com's too!

Search engine factor

Search engines rank websites on hundreds of factors. You may have heard of the term "keywording" in association with websites. Keywording is a broad topic, but in relation to domain names, if you can fit a keyword into your domain name, then so much the better. For example if your business is a flying school called Hadair Aerosport, you might do better with a domain name like microlightflyinglessons.co.uk. Not only will it help your search engine ranking for people using those search words, it is also more easily guessed by people looking for those services.

Which TLD to go for?

A TLD (Top Level Domain) is the final part of your domain name (.co.uk .org .com .net etc.). This is an important decision, but it is usually best to opt for a .com, or .co.uk if trading from the UK. There is nothing to stop you registering the same domain with multiple TLD's (e.g. mysite.com mysite.co.uk mysite.net) but consider your main audience. Each different TLD is meant to represent a different type of organisation, or geographical locale - some popular examples are:

• .com - commercial worldwide
• .net - network services worldwide
• .org - organisations worldwide
• .name - personal websites worldwide
• .co.uk - UK commercial
• .org.uk - UK organisations
• .eu - European Websites
• .biz - commercial worldwide

There seem to be more springing up all of the time, but people tend to stick to the more traditional .com and .co.uk - be aware though that if you have a .com and only trade locally in the UK, you may have to defend your claim to the domain should a large multinational stake a claim on it, especially if it infringes on their trademarks or other intellectual copyright.

Trademarks

If you have trademarked a name, then you should not delay buying your domain name. Even if you have no plans to use it for some time. It's cheap, and even though you may succesfully claim a domain off squatters later on, the hassle and expense is not worth the risk. It should also go without saying that you should check carefully that your chosen domain name does not infringe anyone else's trademark, as having to give up your domain name later on could be at best expensive, and at worst disasterous.