register a good domain name

A good domain name is designed for people and for search engines.

It can help your search engine rankings to include your most important keywords in your domain name.

Word of mouth is also an important website marketing tool, and if your domain name is too much of a mouthful, word won’t get around. There are no set rules, but here are some things to think about . . . and here you can register your domain name for $35.00.

Make it memorable. If it’s hard to say, it will be hard to remember. Try telling someone the domain name by telephone - you will do this often. The domain should be easy to remember and spell.
Make it short. You’ve got up to 67 characters, but the longer it is the more chance that people will get it wrong.
Make it the name of your website.
Try to choose a name that tells people what you offer.
Pick the right domain extension. If you have an international focus then it’s worth thinking about a .com (or a .net, .org, .biz, or .info if you can’t find an appropriate .com).
If you are going with .nz, then pick the right 2nd level domain - .co for businesses, .org for non-profit organisations, .net for internet based activities, and the self-explanatory .maori and .geek.
Domain names are not case sensitive, so newzealand.co.nz and NewZealand.co.nz are treated the same. It’s worth considering how your domain name will look all in lower case without spaces, something neither the representative search site www.whorepresents.com, nor this Italian power generation company www.powergenitalia.com, seem to have considered.
Dashes are more likely to be mistyped, and are hard to convey over the phone.
If you are an existing business with good name recognition, then take advantage of that by sticking with your business name. Remember, though, that your business name does not automatically entitle you to the same domain name.
Once you found the one you like, register it. With domain names it’s often a case of here today, gone tomorrow.
Choose two or more. Hosting companies allow you to point more than one domain at the home page of a website so that it can be accessed from several domain names. This may be useful if your company would like country-specific domains for marketing purposes in other countries. Also if you have a brand name that you'd like to use to direct people to your site.

Want more info?

Download the FREE brochure giving you all the facts about Domain Names.

Subscribe to Webtrix's irregular
newsletters

- you will receive a report on 'Why Do Some Headlines Fail?'

...or follow us on Twitter here...

...or read our Web Tricks blog!

Full of tips and articles for your websites and email newsletters, books to read and much more.