The Importance of a Domain Name and How to Pick the Right One
When the world was struck by the COVID pandemic back in 2020, the business industry received one of its biggest blows which was only made worse by the resulting lockdowns. This period reiterated to entrepreneurs the essence of having an online presence. It was no surprise that brands that had already established a digital presence were the ones who survived that dreaded year.
We all know how large the internet is, so it's obvious that a company's success is dependent on its ability to make its presence felt on the internet through the use of domain names. And not just ordinary, poorly thought-out domain names; we're talking about buying premium domain names that boost your company's rep. To pick a premium domain name, you have to think big and wide. Remember that the most sought-after and most valuable properties are found in the most luxurious of locations and house the best features. In that same vein, your domain name must have all the features a customer desires. What are these features? Let's find out.
Four Factors to Take Note of When Picking a Domain Name
1. Pick a Brandable Name
If you want your brand to have an edge over your numerous competitors, you must use a brandable domain name. Why?
You see, statistics show that a huge 90% of customers make their shopping decisions subconsciously. Also, it's been shown that 77% of all customers decide to shop with a particular venture based on its brand.
People should think of your product or service rather than your competitors when they hear your name. Therefore, it's essential to check if a business name is already taken.
Furthermore, brandable names are unique, exciting, and easier to remember. They also give your company a clean slate to develop on, meaning that this domain name will grow alongside your company. Names like Nike, Adidas, Tesla, are great examples of brandable names that draw customers in.
2. Make It Short
When coming up with a domain name, go for short, crisp, and easy names. This is because these factors help develop domain names that are easy to remember, spell, and check - the three core elements of an excellent domain name.
Emphasis should be placed on making domain names that are easy to remember because the human mind can only remember a specific range of characters (usually 3-12), so picking a long domain name will only doom your startup brand.
3. Search for Top-level Domains(TLDs)
Top-level Domains refer to key domain components like '.com' '.edu' and '.org'. These components help complete a domain name and are necessary for branding. And with the growth of TLDs in today's digital ecosystem, '.com' and '.org' still remain the most popular domain extensions.
This is according to a survey done by the Domain Name Association that highlights the expansion of TLDs and how they compare to the classics in terms of popularity. However, they do cost much but other TLDs like '.co.za '.co' or '.io' are good enough substitutes.
4. Keywords
There are two ways of looking at the use of keywords in your domain name.
First, keywords serve as tools for defining your company's goals and values to your customers. At the same time, the use of keywords leaves your domain name hard to brand, and you can end up with a brand that's tagged as generic.
Final Note: Keep Working on Your Brand
There's no easy step to take when it comes to branding, especially in the case of choosing the right domain name. Picking the right domain name is no easy feat and should be done with absolute precision to guarantee success.
You can aid the domain name picking process by avoiding misspelled words, numbers, hyphens, and underscores.
Grant Polachek is the head of branding for Squadhelp.com, 3X Inc 5000 startup and disruptive naming agency. Squadhelp has reviewed more than 1 million names and curated a collection of the best available names on the web today. We are also the world's leading crowdsource naming platform, supporting clients from early-stage startups to Fortune 500 companies.