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Top Tips on Choosing a Winning Domain Name
Did you ever wonder what makes a really good domain name? Well, here is our top 5 things to consider before buying your domain names:
Good domain names are short
The shorter the better. Register domain names that are shorter than ten characters long if you can. Think of the domain names you know: Amazon, Ebay, Google or Yahoo - they are all short domain names
Good domain names are relevant
Relevant to your company, business or products. If your company name is Joe Blog Ltd, and you sell tiles, try to register joeblogtiles.co.uk or joblogtiles.com, there is no point in registering anything else not relevant to your business name or products.
Good domain names are easy to remember and spell
Domain names that use natural spelling are easier to remember that those using fancy spelling: bestproducts.co.uk will be easier to remember than bestproductz.co.uk. Use natural spelling whenever you register a domain name except if the fancy spelling is part of your branding.
Good domain names do not contain - more than 1 - hyphens
If you decide to use hyphen in your domain name, make sure that you only use one. People will likely forget where the hyphens are placed if you use more than one in your domain name. Using many hyphens also makes your domain name look like a spammy domain to search engines and can have a negative effect on your search engine optimisation campaigns.
However, using a hyphen can be a good way to find alternative domain names if your chosen domain is already taken. Just make sure to separate the words naturally (i.e. choose best-products.co.uk over bestprod-ucts.co.uk).
Good domain names have market-focussed TLD's
The TLD is the portion at the end of the domain name (i.e. .uk, .com, .fr ...). If you are trading locally (UK wide) you will generally get a better response from both online and offline marketing campaigns if you use a domain name ending with .co.uk. If your market is international, a .com should be preferred.
And finally... get as many TLD's as possible
Domain names are cheap and easy to come by. Try to get as many TLD as possible - the .co.uk and .com being the minimum.
If both the .com and .co.uk TLD's are available for your chosen domain name, buy both. Should your company decide to move from national to international markets, the .com could be used to host a site targeting that market while keeping the .co.uk site UK focused
Thinking of Buying a Domain Name
You can check the availability of the domain name you want using the box below which is linked to 123-reg.co.uk - link opens in a new window
Would you like some help finding the right domain name, then contact us or request a callback and we will happy to help.