Opinions expressed by Contractor the contributors are theirs.
Your domain name isn’t just your customers’ initial interaction with your brand. This is your first opportunity to tell a story about who you are, what you do, and why you should be important to your customer. In an increasingly digital world, this story is everything.
Here are some do’s and don’ts when choosing a descriptive domain name.
1. Make it memorable
Your domain name is your first opportunity to make a lasting impression. Customers visiting your website for the first time should have an idea of who you are. First, what is your brand or company name? It’s your second-level domain (SLD), or the above dot in your domain. The next step is to determine which category your brand fills in, otherwise known as “what”. What does your business do? What community are you part of? TLDs, or the word after the dot, increasingly answer this question.
Take the example of colombia.travel. Before you even check out its website, you know who the company is: a travel-related company, indicated by its .travel domain extension, which helps people plan trips to Colombia. In two simple words, it achieves instant branding and storytelling.
Related: Here’s How You Can Build a Highly Profitable Website
2. Don’t Compromise
Succinctly telling your unique brand story doesn’t have to mean sacrificing differentiating details. Your domain should be as unique and uncompromising as your business name. For many businesses, it can be difficult to secure the ideal domain name without sacrifice, since many legacy domain extensions are already taken.
When DripKit Coffee realized it would have to compromise its brand name for this reason, it came up with a new solution. Instead of changing the name to accommodate limited legacy domain extensions, it adopted a new extension: .coffee. Its new domain name, dripkit.coffee, tells the brand’s story with the added benefit of descriptive keywords.
3. Include keywords
In a competitive digital landscape, keywords are essential to creating a relevant domain. While many companies focus their keyword efforts on blog writing, you can start even earlier by including the SEO keywords you want to rank for. in your domain.
For example, the domain name SEO.services already offers a popular keyword search: SEO services. This strategy puts it ahead of its competitors with highly relevant keywords built into its domain.
4. Don’t Miss SEO Opportunities
In the same breath, it’s important to think about how your audience searches for the products or services you offer. If your domain name is long, long, or misleading, new customers are less likely to find you.
The find.wine domain name nails this strategy by offering keywords that are also popular search terms. “Where to find wine” or “find wine near me” are popular search phrases already built into this domain. It also demonstrates a brand that listens to its customers.
Related: 27 Ways to Increase Traffic to Your Website
5. Be brief
Have you ever read an endless article or watched a Youtube video that didn’t get to the point, then ended up going somewhere else? It can be the same for your domain. Long, wordy, or hyphen-filled domains are difficult to read and are less powerful branding tools.
Descriptive domains, on the other hand, are short, distinct, and easy to remember. One way to keep your domain short but descriptive is to save characters by moving a word to the right of the dot. For example, many companies are adopting new domain extensions that mix their name and extension, such as io.games. Right away, customers know where they can find io games.
6. Don’t be ambiguous or vague
While it can be helpful to create intrigue about your business, it’s important to avoid any ambiguity or vagueness. Your domain name is an opportunity to extend your brand image and share who you are, without customers wondering who you are.
Use domain real estate to extend your brand image and tell new customers about yourself, like positive.news does. His mission is immediately noticeable, which is to spread positivity by sharing good news. There is power in the simplicity of this clear and direct domain.
7. Check your spelling
Your domain is also an opportunity to build trust with your customers. For new visitors, a misspelling in your domain name could be the reason they don’t return. A misspelled domain can also pose a security threat to your audience. So be sure to double-check before making this choice.
8. Don’t be vulnerable
Cybersecurity has never been more important – and that also applies to choosing your domain name. When choosing the right domain name for your brand, do your research to ensure that the extension you choose is free from security vulnerabilities.
Stand out from your competitors with a strong and unique domain name that portrays who you are at first glance. Explore more descriptive domain names and unlock a world of unforgettable possibilities for your brand or business.
Related: How to Make Your Small Business Website Really, Really Effective