Here are a few tips and considerations for you to keep in mind when it comes to domain name registration. Remember, once you settle on a domain name, it is going to be very expensive and difficult to change it.

Keyword or business name?

There are advantages and disadvantages of going with both these choices.

A keyword will rank better with search engines since it is relevant to the product or service you are offering. A visitor will most probably click on domain names which describe what they’re looking for as opposed to a brand which they may or may not have heard about.

Keyword domains are great for websites which are dedicated to a particular theme or product. The only problem with keyword domains is that they are going to be very hard to register since most of the good ones are already taken.

Also, they aren’t ideal if you are selling multiple products or are looking at enhancing your business further in the future which would make the keyword irrelevant.

When you register your domain name as a business, it means that you can choose to offer additional products or services or change what you are already offering.

It’s easier to find a memorable name too which will help a lot with your brand’s recognition.

Keeping it simple

No matter what you choose to go with, remember to always keep it as simple as possible. If you decide to make your domain name too confusing, visitors might not be able to relate with it and that is never good for business.

Stay away from numbers

When you use a number in your domain name, people will not be able to figure out whether you’re using the actual number of are spelling it out. This certainly isn’t simple. So try and stay away from numbers in your domain name.

Location

If you’re running a business that is in a specific geographical location, try and include the location in the domain name too. But do not include it if it is going to make it too complicated.

Trademarks

When selecting a domain name it is important for you to first check and confirm that the name hasn’t been trademarked by someone else already. This’ll save you from a lot of unnecessary trouble down the line.

Some final tips:

• Do not use hyphens in your domain name as they can be forgotten easily and do not rank very well as far as search engines are concerned.

• Stick to.com domains since people remember these ones quicker than anything else.

• Keep your domain name as concise and short as you can. The longer the name, the harder it is to remember and the more than chances of it being spelt incorrectly.

• Don’t just register the domain name you want. Register a number of variations of the name as well. This will prevent others from registering names that are similar to yours. It doesn’t cost too much. And you can re-direct all of them so that they land on your website.