Domain registration tips

Choosing the right domain is the first step to making your site findable. The benefit of choosing the right domain name is that users can quickly find you and do so in a “natural” manner. Many users will opt to guess your domain name before looking it up in a search engine, if you are starting with an existing business name, ensure you find an appropriate domain name that suits your business and your customers are use to. The more thought you put into your domain name will increase the likelihood that customers and prospects can find you online. Having multiple domains will provide multiple entry points (using URL Forwarding) into your site, so consider registering different versions of your chosen name, even down to registering common misspellings of this name.

To ensure your site is found easy, your domain should be:

Sort and simple The fewer words the better
Easy to say Think about what your domain name should sound like, and avoid names that can be easily mistaken
Easy to memorise This is much easier if your domain name is short and simple and easy to say
Easy to type and easy to spell Just as important as being easy to say, therefore it should be easy to type. Try typing a dozen or so times before you purchase, if you find that you make frequent corrections then maybe chose a different name.
Use only lowercase letters Spaces special characters are invalid, some servers may be case sensitive
Avoid numbers People never know whether type the number or spell it as a word
Never use hyphens A common mistake is to use hyphens to separate words, it’s easier for the user to type run-in words and this is how they will look for you first, if you don’t come up, then they may not try you again
Make you domain name guessable If a user wants to find you then they may try a few guesses and you want them to get it first time
Put your URL everywhere

The extension used in domain names signifies the type of website it is.

Commercial ventures               .com
Business                                   .biz
Informational sites                   .info
Government sites                     .gov
Non-profit organisations          .org
Educational institutes               .edu
Network providers’                   .net

Additionally, most countries (not USA) have a two letter extension: .au for Australia or .uk for the United Kingdom.

Click here for more information on domain names registration