Choosing Domain Names for
Professional Sites
A professional or business site is one where the primary
purpose of the site is to facilitate business transactions. You can sell items
directly online or exclusively offline, but the result is the same. You want
customers to buy products and/or service directly from you.
To create a domain name for this type of website here are a
few guidelines:
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Shorter is better
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Make the name easy to pronounce
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Think long term
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Stick to Categories and Topic
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Do a trademark search
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Always have a tag line
Choosing a Domain Name
With thousands of new domain names being registered each month in the United
Kingdom alone, choosing a domain name is one of the most important aspects of
your business strategy. When it comes to choosing a domain name, people are
plagued with questions like: Should I use my Company Name? Should I choose a
name that will get lots of direct requests? Should I register my domain with
dashes or without? Indeed you may wish to register more than one domain name.
Here we will endeavour to discuss the pros and cons of registering different
types of domain names.
You register your name for a fixed period, usually two years, after which you
are given the option to renew it for a further fee. No one else can use that
name while it's registered to you although there is nothing to stop them using
something very similar. That's why some people choose to register the names that
are very like their own as well as the one they plan to use. You may wish to do
this if your name is easily misspelt - you can point more than one domain at the
same site.
What makes an effective domain name?
A name that is easily memorised, or recalled and is not too long will be an
effective domain name. The longer the domain name is the more likely it is that
your customers may make errors when typing the name into the browser. The domain
name can be either your company's trading name or as is becoming popular now, a
name to reflect your products or services e.g. Choose a domain name that will
look professional on company literature and fit in with your company's corporate
identity.
Top Level Domain
The top level domain portion of your domain name is the last part of your
domain name. For example google.com has a top level domain of .com. Web Page
Mistakes uses a country top level domain.
The most common top level domains are:
- .com - intended for commercial use
- .net - intended for Internet Service Providers
- .org - intended for non commercial websites
- .edu - intended for educational institutes
There are also country specific top level domains. For example:
- .ca is for Canada
- .uk is for the United Kingdom
- .au is for Australia
