“What should I name my website?”
This is the question many people ask themselves after creating their first portfolio website. To help your website’s portfolio attract clients and gain online credibility, the right domain name is necessary.
When starting out, it’ll be difficult to come up with catchy personal domain name ideas.
But, worry not. Here are important tips that’ll help you get the best personal domain name and register them as your own.
Domain names can reach up to 255 characters. But, it’s not advisable to reach anywhere near this many characters for your domain name. Instead, aim for 6-15 characters.
Short domain names are better for your personal website names since they’re more memorable to clients.
Also, the longer your domain, the higher the chances that your clients will make a mistake when typing your domain name. This will lead to a decrease in your website’s traffic.
In Ireland, .com and .ie is the most popular domain extension on the internet.
Trying out new domain extension isn’t bad but it might cost you. This is because most people com used to the traditional dot com. So, if you try out a new domain extension like irishhotel.lifestyle they might place irishhotel.lifestyle.com which will lead them to an error page.
Also, with today’s technological advancements most people use their smartphones to surf the internet. Thus, using dot com gives you an advantage since most smartphones have a dedicated .com button in their keypads.
Placing hyphens and numbers in your personal domain names will lead to less traffic due to typing errors, since they’re not easily memorable.
They also have an association with spam domains which people normally avoid to escape the risks of virus attacks.
You shouldn’t go for generic domain names as everyone does. Try to be different by using names that stand out from the competition.
You can find creative portfolio names by creating your own catchy new words like Bing did. Alternatively, use popular words in your niche to find new words that fit your brand and help you become unique.
The aim of your portfolio website is to attract clients, and is there a better way to get recognized than by word of mouth? The easier it is for people to pronounce and write your website’s domain, the more likely they’ll share it with others.
You can test if your domain name is easy to pronounce by writing it on a piece of paper and asking around to random people if they can pronounce it well. If a large number of people find it hard to pronounce then the domain name is not suitable for your website.
Before using your personal domain name, you’ll need to check if the name is already taken by another business.
You can do this by performing a trademark search using social networks like Google, Facebook, and Twitter. This will save you from future legal issues that would have cost you a lot of money or imprisonment.
Using a keyword in your domain names will help improve your website’s ranking when searched for.
Keywords give details to search engines of what services your website is offering and help improve its SEO.
If the last letter of the first word in your domain name is similar to the first letter of the second word, for example, swifttrees; users may be prone to typos, thus reducing user traffic to your website.
If possible, such domain names.
Naming your domain name after your website’s name is important in attracting clients.
If you find yourself in a position where the domain name you wanted is already taken, don’t settle for a domain name that doesn’t reflect your domain name like business.com for a website called Car Yard. This will give less user traffic.
Instead, it’s better to alter the domain name. You can name it mycaryard.com in order to fit your website’s name.
If your intended domain name is already taken, try out a domain name generator. Simply key in a specific word that you want in your domain name, and let the generator help you find various unused domain name ideas.
It’s a better move to choose a domain name that is more flexible in the future in case you want to try out new things.
For example, a beekeeper might use the domain names honeybees.com while starting a honey selling business. The domain name will still be useful in the future in case the beekeeper decides to start writing blog posts about honey bees as an additional feature to the website.
There are nearly 330 million domain names registered in today’s market and others are still continuing to pop. If you find the perfect domain name that suits your portfolio website. You’ll need to register it fast because there is a high chance that someone else might have the same idea and take it from you when you delay to register it.
Also, since domain names are cheap you’ll need to act fast so as to secure your personal website name.
For your portfolio website to succeed, your domain will pay a huge role in it. It’ll define your brand, provide the first impression to first-time visitors, and also help in your SEO ranking. Use the tips above to avoid common mistakes made when creating your first business portfolio site.
To learn more about personal domain name registration, contact us today.
