Today on Innovate Today, we discuss the topic of domain names and how to choose the right one for your company, business or website. Website domain names are extremely important for several reasons, including the fact that they identify your business or product on the World Wide Web.
Finding the right website domain name can however be a daunting task because your preferred domain name may already be in use by someone else. That being said, creative domain name ideas need to be employed when the name you want is no longer available. Before we get into that though, let’s start from the very beginning.
What is a Website Domain Name
Simply put, a domain name is your website address. It defines where you can be found online. In other words, it carves out a niche for you online. Without getting into the technical details, domain names are used for several purposes, including networking and other non-internet based activities. However, in our context, a domain name resolves to an IP Address for your Web Server that provides access to your website files and data.
A breakdown of domain names shows that they are made up of a Top Level Domain (TLD), a Second Level Domain, and in some cases, a Third Level Domain. This usually takes the form:
www.idscreate.com
In the example shown above, “.com” is the Top Level Domain, “idscreate” is the Second Level Domain and “www” is the Third Level Domain. As you probably already know, there are several Top Level Domains, including the most common .com, .org, .net, and .gov. You get to choose what your Second Level Domain is. More specifically, it would be the name of your business, product or a variation of that name. The idea is to use something people can remember and associate with your company.
There are several Third Level Domains besides “www”. One such example is “ftp”, which is used for file transfers online. In most cases, Third Level Domains used to identify the internal Server being used.
How to find out if a Domain Name is available
Now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s take a look at why you may need domain name ideas when choosing a domain name. Because every domain name is unique, it cannot point to multiple Web Servers. This means that if a domain name is already purchased and in use, someone else cannot use it as well. So the question is “What do you do when the domain name you want is not available?”
The list below details a couple of things that can be done if the website domain name you want is already in use:
- The first thing you can do is check if the full name of your business is available. In other words, if your company acronyms are not available, check to see if the name in full is available. For example, if the name of your company is My Business International and mbi.com is not available, check to see if mybusinessinternational.com is available;
- You can check to see if the .org or .net version of the domain name is available;
- If the first two items are unavailable or not preferable, you can come up with creative ideas for your domain name. For example, if you sell pillows and www.pillows.com is not available, you can purchase and use www.buypillows.com instead.
How to check if a Domain Name is available
While there are several tools available for viewing domain name availability, we prefer to use Instant Domain Search, an excellent tool provided by GoDaddy Inc, the Web Hosting company. This tool gives you domain name suggestions and shows you what is available in real time, as you type in your preferred domain name. We recommend that you give it a try as it is quite simple to use.
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Tips to follow when choosing the Perfect Website Domain Name
There are a couple of best practices to follow when choosing a domain name. These tips will help you pick the best domain name for your business or company.
- The domain name you choose should be as short possible.
- Select a domain name that is easy to remember.
- Be creative. If your desired domain name is not available, choose a variation of the name that integrates useful keywords you could rank for later, e.g. www.buypillow.com
- As much as possible, avoid using numbers and hyphens in your domain name. The more difficult it is to spell, the greater the chances that people will spell it incorrectly.
- Where possible, use the .com TLD for your domain name. You may also buy the .org and .net variations and redirect them to prevent competition from stealing some of your traffic.
- Factor in keywords and localization into your domain name. You may also use country specific domain names e.g. .US, .NG, .NYC, etc for businesses localized to specific countries or cities.
Final Thoughts
Choosing the perfect domain name for your website requires a lot of thought and consideration. Factors such as Search Engine Optimization and keywords are very important. However, if considered and integrated before purchase, they will go a long way to help boost the website when completed.
Of course, after choosing the perfect domain name, you will also need to consider building a website. In our Beginners Guide to Launching a Website, we provide practical guidelines to take to launch a website.
Innovate Design Studios Ltd, the parent company for Innovate Today is a web design agency. We specialize in web design, maintenance, brand creation, SEO, online ads and other online based services. Our goal is to provide you with premium web design services customized just for you. To get a free proposal for design project, please contact us here.
Today’s Funny Quote
Today, our funny quote is by Anthony Burgess, the English writer and composer
“Laugh and the world laughs with you, snore and you sleep alone.”
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Have a great weekend ahead.
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