Three
Steps to Choosing Your Domain Name
If there is one thing
that can make or can break an online business, it's the domain
name. That little
www.YOURWEBSITE.com name is going to help guide customer to
you and to your business, but only if you spend some time
thinking about the perfect way to 'light' your business'
door. There are three steps that can help you choose the right
domain name for you, your business, and for the curiosity of
your customers.
Name Your Business or Your Product
It only makes sense that you need to name your business before
you can think about choosing a domain name. When you are
choosing your business name, you want to remember that overall
goals of your business as well as the audience you are looking
to attract. For example, if you are trying to target children
and their parents, you can choose something that's a bit more
whimsical. But if you are trying to draw in a proper, business
crowd, you need to choose something that makes you seem
professional. It's best to start by listing possible
business names, in order of how much you life them. If you can
also incorporate your product into this name, that's all the
better.
Now, with the list you have, you will want to find a few that
are really working well for the image you want to create. But
for a domain name, you need to make sure it's not too long for
your customers to remember. What names can be either
shortened or area already short without losing the information
you wish to covey? Those should be your front runners.
Check Out Your Competitors
Of course, it never hurts to look at your competition to see
what they are using for their domain names. While you
won't be able to copy them directly, you might be able to get an
idea of their format. For example, if you are looking to create
a doll business, you might see that the competition is 'The Doll
Business' and yours could be 'A Doll Business.' While
they're still conveying the same information, they're slightly
different. It can be a little tricky to choose a name in this
way as there are many potential issues with copyright
(especially when your business is similar to a really big
corporation), so when you're in doubt, check with a copyright
lawyer or the copyright office. In the end, it can be difficult
to show that someone tried to copy someone else intentionally,
but since you're probably going to be the smaller of the two
businesses, it is sometimes better to play it safe.
Think About Domain Names You Already Like
In your current internet account, you probably have a list of
the Favorite places you like to go. By looking through this
list, check to see what site names you like best and then think
about why. Often, these website names will be so easy to
remember that you won't even have to look at your list to recall
them. These domain names are usually short, branded names,
and aren't strangely spelled. You should follow these examples.
In addition, your domain name needs to be something that is not
already picked - but this can help you even more. When you go to
a domain registrar, you can type in the names
that you want to use, see if they're available, and if not, you
might be able to see other similar names that are.
This will help you further refine your domain name choices,
while also helping you see whether you have a competitor with a
similar name.
Your domain name is the signpost on the 'outside' of your online
business - what message are you conveying to your customers? And
what you want people to think?
Scott Oliver offers free video
coaching to help you build a profitable home business FAST. Get
an hour of "Website Traffic Secrets" and "Minisite Creation
Tactics" for FREE -- immediate access here: http://www.InstantWebsiteBusiness.com
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