Every business needs a functional website to stay ahead of the competition. Some even operate solely as a website with no brick-and-mortar locations or physical services rendered.
But with more than 1.5 billion websites in the world, where do you get started?
Choosing a domain name and registering it is the first step in the website building process. You want a unique name that reflects your business and helps you appear in search engine results. You also need to choose a reliable domain registrar to purchase your domain and host your website.
Learn all about choosing and buying a domain name below.
Picking a domain name that relates to your business, or at least your industry, is a great place to start. Here are other 8 other important tips to keep in mind when choosing an appropriate domain name.
If you want to stand out from the billions of other websites and your competition, you need to choose a domain name that’s short and easy to remember. A long, complex name means customers run the risk of misremembering it.
Test out your name on friends, family, and coworkers. If they find it difficult to pronounce or remember, chances are new customers will as well.
The same goes for the spelling of your domain name. Adding slang or misspelling words on purpose can lead to customers not finding your website at all.
Using numbers and hyphens in your domain name is another common way creative businesses miss out on potential customers.
Say that someone hears your website’s name spelled out, like in a radio ad or by word-of-mouth. They may not know if they need to spell out the number three or use the numeral 3.
Hyphens confuse things as well since new clients may forget or misplace the dash. Avoid using these in your domain name to stay on the safe side.
One great trick to appearing in searches is to use industry-specific keywords in your domain name.
Do some research into popular, high-density keywords relating your business and the services you offer. Then, incorporate the keyword into your domain name.
For example, if you offer window washing try to purchase a domain name like windowwasher.ie or windowwashing.ie.
The keyword trick works especially good for local businesses. To use the example from above, if you offer window-washing services in Cork, add your location to your domain name. You can do something like corkwindowwashing.com, etc.
Incorporating your location makes it easier for local clients to find and remember your name. It also helps you appear on more local search results pages.
After you’ve narrowed down your list of potential domain names, you need to research to see if any already exist.
Double check that another company has not copyrighted, trademarked, or employed the same name. If you do, this could result in a messy and expensive legal battle where you’ll end up losing the domain name anyway.
In the past, you could only choose from a limited set of domain extensions. Not any more.
Nowadays, most registrar services offer a multitude of domain names that reflect your type of business like .marketing, .app, or .guru.
Sticking to the classic domain extensions may work better for certain industries, so take the time to find out what your competition uses.
Finally, once you come up with the perfect domain name, don’t wait around! You need to register it quickly so no one else gets a chance before you do.
Many domain registrars list recently searched domain names and some people keep an eye on these to purchase names before the searcher gets a chance. They then offer to sell it for a higher price.
Now that you’ve chosen a memorable domain name that’s short and easy for customers to find, you need to register it. Follow these 4 steps to create your own domain.
Find a reputable domain registration company that offers the things most important to you. Do your research and read reviews to ensure they provide reliable service.
After you decide on a company, you must search through their site to see if your domain name is available.
Even if you did not find a business with a similar name during your initial research, your name might still be unavailable. Some people make a living out of buying and selling domain names they think someone might want down the line.
Understand that your first choice might not be available at all. In that case, you’ll need to come up with a different domain name.
However, sometimes you can purchase a parked domain for anywhere between $20 up to several thousand. You’ll need to contact the owner directly or go through an intermediary site.
Once you select an open domain name, you will begin the checkout process. Most registrar companies offer additional services that you can buy when you purchase your name.
Examples of these add-ons include website hosting, SSL certificates, domain privacy protection, and a private email address that matches your domain.
After you choose what add-ons you want to include, if any at all, you can finally register your domain name. You can register your domain for only a specified amount of time. From one year up to 10 years, depending on the registrar you choose.
If you decided to host your website through the same site, you will receive a prompt about how to set that up. Otherwise, you will need to choose a different hosting website and enter the correct information to get your website up and running.
Now you know some excellent tips for choosing and buying a domain name. Are you an Irish business owner looking to register a domain through a reputable company in Ireland?
Look no further than Register.ie, the very best domain registration service in Ireland.
Register.ie offers unbeatable customer support every step of the way so you never feel confused or overwhelmed. They even offer cheap web hosting as low as €35.99/year including a FREE domain name and unlimited web hosting space.
Contact Register.ie today to get your website up and running as soon as possible!
