Things to know before choosing your online business name

Are you starting a new company, a new brand, or you already have one and trying to take it online? Whatever it is, you know for yourself you’re going to need a website to make it possible.

There are several factors to consider when deciding on your online business’ domain name. Some are more important than the others, but you should take them all into consideration because domain names actually have a massive impact all over the web from search to social media results, to referring links and even in terms of advertising. Therefore, we can’t just ignore this.

Here are the factors you should consider in choosing your online business name:

  1. Availability 

  1. Availability is one of the most important because if the domain name you want is no longer available, then it doesn’t matter anymore how great it is. If you take this into consideration, you will absolutely avoid trademark infringement. Trademark owners can sue a domain name owner who is owning and using it for business purposes and you don’t want that to happen. Do you? The best way to increase the chances of availability of the domain name you want is to get specific. 

  1. Specific  

  1. Let’s say that your business is a flower shop around the Manila area and the name of your company is Dan’s flower shop.  

  1. Flowershop.com: Not even a chance. That is  way too general. 

  1. TopManilaFlowers.com: Still too general but we’re getting there. 

  1. MakatiFlowers.com: Better. Since Makati only has a small land area, it wouldn’t be that general anymore. But if you’re in a place where the competition is too high or the land area is big, you must be very specific. 

  1. Relevance 

  1. Be relevant to the domain name.  For example, if you’re a floral shop, you should try to mention flower shop or flowers or florist somewhere in the domain name to make customers and search engines know what we do. The more specific we are, the more relevant we are. 

  1. Memorable 

  1. It’s very important to be memorable especially when you’re trying to build a local brand. If your website address isn’t memorable, it makes it harder for customers to recommend and help advertise your business by word of mouth. A memorable domain name makes us easy to talk about.  So, what do you think does a memorable domain name look like? 

  1. It uses the name of the company 

  1. It uses the service and the area served. 

  1. Shortness 

  1. Length matters because of the fluency that we have mentioned above but when it comes to domain names, the shorter the better. The fewer characters a domain name has, the easier it is to type, say and share. Not only they are easier to remember, but they also look better. But please take note that you shouldn’t make it way too short and general for you not to overrule the other factors mentioned above. 

  1. Domain extensions (.com, .org, .net) 

  1. The .com domain is the best choice because it is the most common. But if you can’t find an available .com, resort to .net and .org which are the runners-up.  They’re acceptable, but if I was using .org or .net I’d worry about my customers typing in .com by accident.  It’s not much of a big concern but just something to consider.

  1. Numbers & dashes (hyphens) in the domain name 

  1. If possible, do avoid using dashes and numbers in the domain name. They’re usually used wrongly or in a way that decreases domain name quality. So as a general rule, it’s recommended that you to stay away from numbers and dashes if possible.  

If you already have a domain name in mind, accomplish a check domain test and see if all or most of the factors we’ve discussed above are applicable. These factors will save you time and help you make the best choice for your business. Best of luck!