A domain name defines the location of your website on the Internet. For example, fitzdesignz.com is the domain name for this website: Fitz Designz.
Choosing a domain for your website is an important first digital marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) step. Keywords in your domain are no longer an SEO ranking factor, so you need to choose domain name that matches your business, brand, niche, service or personality. Generally, the best domains for SEO are short and memorable, because a unique, easy to remember domains helps with link building and branding.
Here are 6 Tips to help select the perfect domain name
Keep it Short
Aim for 20 characters or less to keep it easy to remember. If you (or anyone else for that matter) mentions it to another person, you want that person to recall the address when they get a chance to look you up later.
Stay Simple and Obvious
Make sure your domain is easy to remember and spell. If possible, it's best to err on the side of being very straight forward by ensuring the domain name is simply the name of your business (or at the very least includes the name of your business).
Avoid Numerals, Underscores, and Hyphens If You Can
Adding numbers and non-alphabetic characters can cause confusion, likely to result in lost traffic to your site. If you have a business called "Your New Company", yournewcompany.com or newcompany.com are much better choices than your-new-company.com since many people will not think to add a hyphen when entering the address.
Consider Keywords and Cleverness
If your top domain choice is not available, consider including a keyword as part of it. Let’s say you run Emma's Bakery in Santa Rosa, but you’re disappointed to discover that emmasbakery.com is already taken. In that case, exellent alternatives are: visitemmas.com, bakewithemma.com, emmabakes.com, and many other variations.
Once you’ve settled on a domain, then it’s often worth it to:
Register Your Domain for Multiple Years
Registering your domain for multiple years upfront can help your site rank higher with Google and the other search engines. Why? Because it implies your business will be around for all those years, which legitimizes it in the eyes of Google when compared to sites whose domain registrations last for shorter terms. Fitz Designz recommends registering a domain for a minimum of 5 years.
Look for Variations on Your Domain
While unnecessary, purchasing multiple versions of a domain name ensures competitors can’t undercut you in the future. Beyond concerns over competition, let’s say you own johnsrepairshop.com In that case it certainly wouldn’t hurt to also own johnsrepairshop.net to ensure someone who enters either address ends up at your site.