Factors to consider when choosing your domain name | Part 01

So you are thinking of building your own website? You think of various names and you research as to how you can get your website online. You find out how you can do it and you figure that one of the first things you must do is determine your domain name! So for everyone who stops there and is thinking about what your domain name could be, well this article is for you. So let's start off with, what is really a domain name?

The domain name of your website is one of the most sought after things that has a huge impact on the success of your website. Especially in this era where the internet is saturated with millions and millions of websites that will just compete with you from the get go. Hence, having a domain name that works for you, is effective and also is successful is very important in the long run. As such, the domain is where your website will be available, as such your website can only be accessed through this space called the domain and your particular domain will host your website, and one of the only ways you can access your website from the domain is through a unique identification or in other words a name. Now you have two things to think about here, one is what your domain name is going to be and two, is your domain name the same name of your brand or the company that you're making the website for!?

If you look at current trends in the market, generally the domain name is the same as the company you're making the website for or the brand you're trying to push online. The reason for this is that people's attention spans are really low in the 21st century and users cannot connect so many users to one brand. Hence having the same name as your brand as your website domain name will take you a long way and people will not find it hard to find your website because it is the same name all throughout the way.

However, with this being said, now you're thinking to yourself, well you have already built your company and named it, or you already have registered your brand and named it and you absolutely cannot change anything related to those areas. If you're in this bracket of people which we assume is a lot of people, you do not have to worry, there is a high chance that your brand or company name can be converted to a domain name with a little bit of creativity and content writing.?

As such, as you can feel there are so many things to think about when your starting to develop a website and in this instance when? your thinking about what your domain will be, so here are our suggestions and some rules you could follow to have the best possible domain name that would work for you, your business and you brand. Please note that, no rule here is more important than the other or is in any order. You can follow some and discard some, it doesn't matter but it is always good to understand the gist of these rules and tips in order to be the best. So lets start

01 - Consider going for .com rather than your country code (.lk, .uk, .sr etc.)

Generally people are more familiar and use .com during their searches online. Due to this reason having a .com TLD (domain name extension) will really give you an edge because people do not need to remember that part. However, as mentioned above the other TLD’s come in the form of .biz, .edu, .org and more like .lk, .uk and more. Basically, the .com TLD is very popular and you can basically get any word next to the “dot” that you want. However, even though you can get super creative with your own custom TLD, the .com is always better for good SEO and longevity and basically for you to be searchable in the mind of your direct audience.?

Not also, forgetting that, due to the reasons mentioned above, the .com TLD can be quite expensive depending on the domain name you choose. Some .com TLD’s go for even a 1000$ and some even more. The more competitive your name is the higher the .com tld next to your domain name is. Thus, this is also something you need to consider. But as a rule of thumb, always try your best to get a .com over anything else in order to maintain a good balance.?

02 - Do not go for the .com in these situations

Even though rule number 01 above is a total contradiction to what your gonna read in this paragraph, there are some exceptions to rule number 01. Let’s understand this with an example. Let’s assume you're from Australia and you opened up a clothing store in a city and you're catering to the people in that particular city. Furthermore you have no plans to take your brand international and you're comfortably doing well in your city area, and now you're looking to build a website. So the question is, do you use a .com or something else?

The answer to this question in accordance with this particular scenario is that you don't take a .com. You can very well take a .aus or a .mel for Melbourne or .bris for Brisbane and customize your TLD that way. Hence, as much as a .com is more international, if you're only catering to a local audience in your area it doesn't seem likely to connect a .com TLD. You can very well connect a more unique and personal TLD and cater to your local audience who for sure will not forget to type your particular TLD cause basically it is catered to them.?

Doing this will give your users that little bit of additional awareness and boost your trustworthiness by making it clear you’re in their country (via the local TLD). But even with that, you shouldn’t limit yourself to just that local domain name. You may still want to expand your brand in the future, and, if that happens, you don’t want to find out that someone has already taken your .com.

So, at the end of the day, even if you want to cater to a local market, you can still benefit in the long run by getting the .com version as well. And, in the meantime, you can link the .com to your local domain, so, no matter which address someone visits, they still end up at the same website.

3. Consider Experimenting with Non-Traditional TLDs

These days you can get yourself a multitude of different TLDs that weren’t available just a couple of years ago. For example, you can get domain extensions such as: .shop, .club, .store, .blog, .design, .xyz, and so on. Also, you can experiment with some of the TLDs that were originally intended to be local TLDs, but, because of their unique appearance, can be used for various other purposes as well. These are domain extensions such as .is, .io, .fm, .it, .ly, .cc and many more.

Just to give you an example of the latter, if it makes sense for your brand and intended name, you can try making it seem as though the whole domain, including the TLD, is one complete expression. You can achieve that by choosing your TLD creatively. For example, Microsoft Translator is available under translate.it — that’s the whole domain name and quite a creative use of the Italian TLD, .it. Even many projects the Earltech team in Italy does ends with .it. However, the thing with these TLDs is that not every domain registrar offers them. But if you're still thinking about wanting them then you can check out Go daddy as they offer the most number of domain names.?

Nevertheless, if you’re after some specific TLD, it’s still smart to shop around with other registrars, too. There are many domain registry companies in the world and on the internet so you can find so many variations and options available for you.?

Do not forget to check the rest of the points in part 02 and 03 of this article. In the meantime we hope this article and the points stated above helped you in? any way to make your perfect domain name choice. You can also read similar articles from our main blog page which is www.earltech.biz (see its biz not .com). Catch you in the next article.