8 Common Website address mistales

One of the simplest things you can do to make yourself more memorable and easier to deal with can often be to secure a simpler domain name.

This is a strand of the path of least resistance, it's quite common that domain names fall foul of some common issues. These are things that can cause your clients to forget you, not engage and ultimately not buy - all because your website address is unnecessarily complicated.

Simply put:

Your website address needs to be easy to read, write, speak and spell.

(Bonus points if you can also be explanatory/intriguing.)

Finding a "human-friendly" domain name isn't as hard as you might think, many common language domain names are still available to buy.

Hold on James, I have a website address - why do I need a "simpler" .com?...

Good question.

It's not for everyone, but this is a common issue and something that can easily be fixed.

You don't need to worry about the technical side of things or even SEO at this stage, this is all about having a simple domain that redirects (points) to your current website to make it easier for people to find your website.

It's a bit like redirecting your post when you move home or office.

Let's take a quick look at some of the common issues that most businesses face:

Common website address mistakes:

1 - Hyphens

A long-winded hyphenated website such as www.your-website-is-here.com can be an unnecessary barrier to business as it's not easy to remember.

3 -

There are a lot of different opinions on whether you need to have the .com or not for your business, but human nature is to guess and default to .com.

If I tell you my course is called Selling Confidence?- you are more likely to guess www.sellingconfidence.com instead of anything else. Not having the .com is a risk in my opinion and something to be avoided where possible.

Visit nissan.com to see how this can go quite wrong...

3 - Acronyms

Acronyms can be hard to remember and can lose meaning, so a selection of seemingly random letters together can easily be mixed up - think www.mwnwmv.com.

4 - Long-winded addresses

You can use a simpler .com as a shortcut to traffic on your site. Would you remember this domain: https://www.clearsalesmessage.com/understand-your-buyer/ or this one: https://www.understandyourbuyer.com

5 - Lack of meaning / confused meaning.

I found a website years ago - trumpetshop.co.uk - can you guess what they did? That's right! they were a pet shop... Your domain needs to have some relevance to what you are doing. If you don't have Nike's marketing budget, then you don't have the luxury of using a name which needs explanation.

6 - Numbers and letters

If you have numbers in your domain name are they spelled as words or as numbers? Is it 247security.com or twentyfoursevensecurity.com?

7 - Spelling "hard" words

There are some words that are just difficult to spell - if they are in your website address then guess what might happen...

Pro tip: buy the misspellings so you are covered if your clients do get it wrong...

8 - Singular, plural and ownership.

Are you singular or plural? Does your name denote ownership? having both the singular and the plural or ownership name will help reduce issues - Tesco in the UK is often referred to as "Tesco's" but what's the correct website address?

Need help finding a better domain name or name for your business / product / service?

DM me - I know a guy.