Choosing the right Domain

April 8th, 2009 by Bo Cakmak

Choosing the right domain name can be the difference between a successful small business and a failing one. The domain of a website impacts everything from click through rate on search listings to direct type in traffic to the amount of call in leads your business receives. Since I hate to see anyone start off on the wrong side of the marketing bed I have compiled some tips that may help you with your domain selection.

Tips for selecting the right domain

1. Name Length – The domain name that you choose should be as short as possible while remaining descriptive of your business. A short domain will encourage more type in traffic and is easier to digest when viewing the domain under a search listing or as part of an advertisement.

2. Alphabetical - The majority of the time it is better to own a domain that begins with a letter closer to the start of the alphabet. The advantage is being placed higher anytime your domain appears as part of an alphabetical list.

3. To hyphen or not to hyphen – While there are many views on this subject, mine is that hyphens are acceptable and even encouraged for both search engines and users. There may be some loss on type in traffic but as far as reading or recognizing the domain name goes, it is easier to read and recognize domains with hyphens. As an example, is it easier to read myfavmovies.com or my-fav-movies.com?

Overall, I would not let the hyphen hold me back from getting a domain that I want. In the event that both the hyphened domain and the non-hyphened domain are available then I would purchase both and redirect the hyphened domain to the non-hyphened domain.

4. Premium Domains – Purchasing premium domains may be worthwhile depending on the domain name and the intended use. If you are purchasing the domain name for a website that you intend to gain traffic to via natural search engines then it would be beneficial to purchase a domain name that has some domain age to it. It would also be better to purchase a domain that is already performing well within the search engines for your primary keyword set