SPIDERbytes

Your Domain Name is More Important Than You Think.

A domain name is the unique label that defines who you are and what you do – even before someone sees your website. Your domain name is the very first thing a potential customer knows about your web site, and sometimes the first thing they know about your company. Your domain name is also your first means of communicating where your business can be found on the world wide web. Describing your business with a domain name that is easy, meaningful and most importantly memorable should be the first goal when deciding on a web site. But how do you go about finding and selecting the best domain name for your web site?

While this may seem like a trivial task, most people forget all of the options and variables to consider, leaning more on what they like rather than what may actually be their best marketing investment.

For example, if your web site is called www.greatimages.com people can already expect what they will get when reaching it, and thus a domain name that is clear and descriptive of what you do can indeed play an important role in helping new contacts understand what they will find on your web site ahead of time.

Realizing you have selected a bad or ineffective domain name once your site is already launched can be big trouble, especially after building good traffic and site links. Though changing your site’s domain name can be done, it will be costly and frankly, I would not recommend that to my worst enemy.

So, what should you do to find and select the most ideal and effective domain name for your web site? Take your time and do it in steps. First, make sure your possible selections are available to you. Considering there are over 100 million domain names already registered, this may be not be all that easy. Do a domain name search.

Make it as easy as “one, two but not three.” I am referring to number of words in your domain name. One word is preferable; two words can work just as nicely; but three words will likely be too long and not very memorable. As in most things, Keep It Simple!

Test your domain name. Professional testing like utilizing focus groups is the most advanced way to go. If you lack the time or resources to go the professional route, use your employees, friends and family. There is strength in numbers. Get a consensus. When planning a web site there is a lot to consider. It all starts with the domain name.