TIPS FOR BUYING A DOMAIN NAME
Your domain name is just as important to your branding as the name of your business, and registering the best name available can play a big part in your website's success. So keep these tips in mind when purchasing a domain of your own.
Keep it Short
The simplest way for a visitor to reach your site is by typing your domain directly into their browser’s address bar. Make this easier for them by buying a domain name that is short and to the point. Try not to go over twenty characters, and if you can keep it even shorter then all the better.
Be Simple and Obvious
Your domain name is essentially the "name" of your site. That name should be easy to both remember and spell.
Are you creating a portfolio or personal site? Use your first and last name as the address.
Creating a site for your business? Use the name of your business.
Avoid Numerals, Underscores and Hyphens If You Can
Sometimes it's not possible to follow the second tip because the name you want is already taken. As an example, let’s say you own a bakery named Brooke’s Bakery. The obvious choice for your domain name is brookesbakery.com.
What if there is another Brooke’s Bakery out there in the world and they already own the domain? Well, you could buy brookes-bakery.com. But you likely see the problem here — if you give someone your address there’s still a chance later on they’re just going to enter brookesbakery.com and not think to include the hyphen. And let's not even talk about "brookesbakery2" or anything along those lines.
One option would be to buy brookesbakery.net instead. But what if that's also taken?
Keywords and Cleverness
What if our bakery example was focused on a specific type of baked good?
Brookesbreads.com or brookespies.com would be good alternatives to the company name.
If you cater to local audiences, you can incorporate the name of your town. Let's say your shop is in Newbury - your domain could be "newburybakery.com" - it is still short, and still easy to remember. If one of your best target keywords would also make a good domain name, that would be an excellent choice as well. And remember - you can always have more than one domain name.
Register Your Domain for Multiple Years
We’re not saying this simply because it means you’re spending more money. Search engines like Google actually look at the domain’s length of registration to help judge the legitimacy of your site. A longer term registration looks more legitiate and makes them more likely to rank you highly. It won’t necessarily mean a huge boost, but every little bit helps.
And when you register a domain name it becomes your property for the length of the registration (1, 2, 5 or 10 years). Once that registration period is over you can renew the domain yourself to maintain ownership or let it expire so that someone else can purchase it. Registering the domain name for multiple years means you've secured it, and you don’t have to worry about expiration and renewal until much later down the line.
Keep in mind that these tips are only meant to be a guide, they’re not rules that have been set in stone. If you have a domain name in mind you really like and that you feel is the right fit for you then go for it!
Want to buy a domain name but not sure how to do it? Take a look at our short guide:
http://kb.weebly.com/buy-domain.html
Keep it Short
The simplest way for a visitor to reach your site is by typing your domain directly into their browser’s address bar. Make this easier for them by buying a domain name that is short and to the point. Try not to go over twenty characters, and if you can keep it even shorter then all the better.
Be Simple and Obvious
Your domain name is essentially the "name" of your site. That name should be easy to both remember and spell.
Are you creating a portfolio or personal site? Use your first and last name as the address.
Creating a site for your business? Use the name of your business.
Avoid Numerals, Underscores and Hyphens If You Can
Sometimes it's not possible to follow the second tip because the name you want is already taken. As an example, let’s say you own a bakery named Brooke’s Bakery. The obvious choice for your domain name is brookesbakery.com.
What if there is another Brooke’s Bakery out there in the world and they already own the domain? Well, you could buy brookes-bakery.com. But you likely see the problem here — if you give someone your address there’s still a chance later on they’re just going to enter brookesbakery.com and not think to include the hyphen. And let's not even talk about "brookesbakery2" or anything along those lines.
One option would be to buy brookesbakery.net instead. But what if that's also taken?
Keywords and Cleverness
What if our bakery example was focused on a specific type of baked good?
Brookesbreads.com or brookespies.com would be good alternatives to the company name.
If you cater to local audiences, you can incorporate the name of your town. Let's say your shop is in Newbury - your domain could be "newburybakery.com" - it is still short, and still easy to remember. If one of your best target keywords would also make a good domain name, that would be an excellent choice as well. And remember - you can always have more than one domain name.
Register Your Domain for Multiple Years
We’re not saying this simply because it means you’re spending more money. Search engines like Google actually look at the domain’s length of registration to help judge the legitimacy of your site. A longer term registration looks more legitiate and makes them more likely to rank you highly. It won’t necessarily mean a huge boost, but every little bit helps.
And when you register a domain name it becomes your property for the length of the registration (1, 2, 5 or 10 years). Once that registration period is over you can renew the domain yourself to maintain ownership or let it expire so that someone else can purchase it. Registering the domain name for multiple years means you've secured it, and you don’t have to worry about expiration and renewal until much later down the line.
Keep in mind that these tips are only meant to be a guide, they’re not rules that have been set in stone. If you have a domain name in mind you really like and that you feel is the right fit for you then go for it!
Want to buy a domain name but not sure how to do it? Take a look at our short guide:
http://kb.weebly.com/buy-domain.html
