Your web site's "domain" name is important - it is the address which people will type to get to you. A "domain" name is made up of three parts - "www", telling us it is on the "world wide web" rather than on any other part of the Internet, such as usergroups (Usenet). The second part of the domain name is the descriptive part, such as a company name. The third part, which might be "com" or "uk" is known as the "TLD" or "top level domain" which is an indication of either the country, or of the type of web site (com = commercial, org = non profit organisation, for instance).

Many people visit web sites as a result of typing in the domain name. Or the domain name may be mentioned to them, by friends, or they hear it on the radio. So, your domain name needs to be memorable and short, as well as being descriptive. Here are some handy hints on how to select the right domain name for your online business or organisation.

1. Ensure your web site is focused
Far too many businesses try to put everything about their business on one web site under one domain name. But imagine your business is a hotel. Your guests could include people looking for a short break, a father looking for a special place for his daughter's wedding or a business owner hoping to organise a meeting. If the hotel domain name is "berkshirehotel.com" there is no reason for any of these potential visitors to remember it. But if the domain name is "shortbreaksinberkshire.com" or "greatberkshireweddinghotel.com" or "bestberkshirebusinesshotel.com" the individuals are much more likely to recall the names. However, it means that the hotel itself needs several, highly focused web sites, each devoted to specific groups of customers. It makes domain name selection much easier if this approach is taken. It also has significant search engine benefits.

2. Think like a web site visitor
Before you start considering potential domain names you need to be sure you are thinking from the perspective of your likely visitors. Often they will use different words to you for the same thing. For instance, real estate companies will often use the word "property" whereas their customers will use the word "house". If a domain name uses words that are less familiar to your potential audience, it won't work as well. If you don't know what words are those which your audience uses, then sign up for Wordtracker and do a search on the keywords people use. Then use the popular words you find to start your thinking.

3. Collect a range of ideas
Use the Wordtracker results, as well as discussions with your colleagues, friends and potential web site visitors, to produce a range of potential domain names. You may need to engage in some "brainstorming" or to use creativity software to help you come up with ideas. You also might like to use domain name creation web sites like Nameboy, which help you produce a range of ideas, using your keywords.

4. Buy all the top level variants you can
Once you have settled on a good domain name, it's a good idea to buy all the variants, such as "com", "co.uk" and so on. They can all point towards the same material, or you can produce country specific versions of the web site, for instance. But if you leave obvious variants of your domain name "on the shelf", other people can buy them and that could impact on your business. Similarly, you could buy variations of your domain name that include hyphens and non hyphens, such as "bestberkshirehotel.com" and "best-berkshire-hotel.com". The hyphened variation and the non-hyphened one can both point to the same material, but the version with hyphens are more appealing to the search engines. The non hyphened version is easier for us humans to remember and type.

5. Keep an eye on things
Constantly monitor your web site traffic and what's going on in your business world. Trends change, words change and the kind of domain names that worked one year, might not work the next. Hence you may need to change. You may also need to separate good performing parts of your web site into individual sites that will be more attractive to potential visitors under an even more specific domain name. You could also buy a domain name that is merely redirected to a particular page on your web site, to take advantage of new trends and ideas.

6. Final tip - be careful of the name you choose
Be aware that when you combine words into a domain name, they can have different meanings. For instance "penisland" is "pen island" not "penis land", or what about "therapistfinder"? This is actually for "therapist finder" not for "the rapist finder". You can find some other unintentionally weird domain names at Independent Sources.

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At December 12, 2007 Rob Watson said…

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