Why is my domain name important to my customers?

Choosing a domain name can sometimes be just as tricky as choosing a business name. Your website is an important place for customers to find out more about you, so the domain name you choose needs to be considered.

Here’s a couple of tips:

1. Your domain name doesn’t need to be your full business name.

A great example of this is one of our clients with a long business name, Somerville Myotherapy & Pilates Studio. If they were to do the typical “full name as the domain name”, it would look like this: somervillemyotherapyandpilatesstudio.com.au. As you can see, that isn’t very easy to read or use. Instead, they opted for smaps.com.au – short, catchy, easy to remember.

2. Your domain name doesn’t need to include your services (or keywords) in it.

In the early days of search engines, using keywords in your domain name was a sure-fire way to push up your website’s ranking. But not anymore – it is now the detail, relevance and regularity of content updates. Your domain name has no weighting on your search engine rankings, so just focus on coming up with one that is relevant to your customers.

3. Does the domain name look okay as part of an email address?

With any domain name you want to register, type it out as an email address too, eg. hello@yourbusiness.com.au. Is it too long, is it easy enough to read?

4. Can you easily spell it out over the phone?

The previous point follows into this one. Try reading your domain name out loud as a phrase, and as letter-by-letter, if you were to spell it out to someone. This is strangely important because you will be surprised by the amount of times you will need to read it out over the phone, or in person if handing out your email address. Make it easy for yourself, and for others.

5. Can you get matching usernames for other online services, such as social media profiles?

It is always a good idea to check this out before registering a domain name. If you can create a consistent domain name that can  also be the same on social media (and any other online services), you have struck gold. This is not always possible, but worth a try. It looks very neat if you can!

6. Do I need a .com.au or .com domain name?

Domain names that end in .com.au are only available to Australian businesses, as you need to provide your ABN to register the domain name. There is a level of superiority and security in that, which is not a bad thing. It also positions you within Australia for search engines, which can be handy if you plan on being a part of local location-based searches. Domain names that end in .com are global, and can be registered anywhere in the world. If your business is located in countries other than Australia, this may be the better option.

I hope some of these tips help you in selecting a domain name! If you are still stuck, you can always get in touch with us for more guidance specific to your business.