Perhaps one of the most important decisions that you are going to make when getting your website up and running is the domain name. This small line of text which goes in the URL bar is what people are going to associate with your website for a long time to come. It is part of your brand. Therefore it needs to be absolutely perfect. If you follow the tips on this page though, you should be well on the way to choosing the right domain name for your company.

The simplest way to come up with a domain is to use the name of your company, providing it is not too long of course (more on that soon). This is going to be great for branding and taking your company forward. Unless you have a very generic name then it is unlikely that somebody else would have taken it too! Of course, you should not go for a domain name based on your company name if it breaks the following rules (or at least we suggest you shouldn’t):

• It is too long. Trust us, if your domain name is too long not only will your customers HATE typing it into the URL bar. In addition to that, you will find it is hell trying to include it on your marketing material.
• Needs to be unique. You don’t want your website to be confused with another one on the internet do you?
• The domain name needs to be memorable. This sort of ties in with the length thing up there. However, don’t include too many words in the domain name, no funny characters. The hyphen (-) is a big no for instance.
• Don’t include numbers if your domain name.

Of course, if your chosen company name is already taken there are a few things you can do. Perhaps you can start up a different brand for online selling, or you could just be short and straight to the point. For example if you were a mobile mechanic in Essex you could go for essexmobilemechanic.co.uk. This would be great for your future SEO as you have the keywords in the title.

One final point we wish to highlight here. If you are based in the United Kingdom you should ALWAYS opt for a .co.uk domain name for your main website. This is incredibly important for Search Engine Optimization purposes (i.e. getting you to the top of the search engines). However, you should always register the .com too! This .com should be redirected to your main website (don’t worry we can help you with the redirect if you need it). The reason for this is that most people will always type in the .com domain name first if they don’t know that you have a .co.uk. You don’t want to lose out on these customers do you? Of course, going for the .com domain name also prevents somebody else taking it, which they will do if you become a successful website.

If you need even more pointers or choosing the right domain name, or perhaps want it registered then please do not hesitate to get in touch with our team here at ‘Off the Peg Design’. We are a friendly bunch and would absolutely love to answer any questions that you may have, and of course, help you get that domain name which really will push your business forward!