Chew Valley Web

The domain name that you register for your website is the address that help customers to find it. A domain address is pretty familiar and looks something like this :http:// www.mywebsite.co.uk.

with the address of an individual page something like this:

http://www.mywebsite.co.uk/products.

These “addresses” are just file names and locations on the web server on which your site lives.

The mywebsite part of the domain name is the bit that is individual to you with the suffix .com, .co.uk, .org etc. You can own as many Top Level Domains (TLD) as you like but each one will need to be individually registered and paid for. Most small business decided they only want one so choosing a good domain name is essential for a number of reasons. Choosing a good domain name can be summed up by the three R’s.
Rememberability, Relevance and Really Easy Syntax - ok, probably not a classic but….

1. Rememberability

Maybe not grammatically correct but it really sums up the need to choose a domain name that people remember and remember correctly! Man people use the search engines instead of recalling a proper site name , so you need to make sure that they could just type it into their browser and find themselves at your site and not get a “Site Not Found” error or, even worse, at a website of your competitor.

2. Relevance

It could be as simple as your company name - this is the most obvious for a business website. Your customers who know your company would expect to find you at www.auntberthas.co.uk so it is the obvious choice.
If you add a keyword, based on what your product or service is, then it can help search engine results so maybe: www.auntberthascookies.co.uk.
If this seems too long, then maybe you feel that you can dispense with your trading brand in the domain : www.greatcookies.co.uk.
It is a trade off between length, rememberability and getting that extra boost from the search engines that the keyword brings.

*Note: The search engine companies do not acitvely advise that a keyword in the domain name helps when it comes to results and rankings but in my experience , it helps for a number of reasons. There are slightly obscure techincal reasons why it can help to have a keyword in your domain. This is because any link from another site that is titles www.greatcookies.co.uk will help your rank for that keyword ( there is some debate over whether the search engines can pick out individual words from “auntberthascookies” but the big ones, link Gooogle seem to). Some of the search engines , particularly Google and MSN, also highlight that keyword in bold within the URL of your page intheir results which gives another visual clue to the searcher that yours is the page they most want to click on.

3. Really Easy Syntax

Be warned, if you have a business name that is easy to mis-spell, your potential visitors might struggle.
www.toolcenter.co.uk is fine but what about www.toolcentre.co.uk. Many businesses get around this problem by registering BOTH domains so that their site can be found either way.
A TLD can contain all alphabetic letters, numbers and the hyphen (-). This throws up the question of whether to use numbers as 3 and “three” sound the same. Similarly, hyphens can be a blessing in print :

www.aunt-berthas-cookies.co.uk

is much easier to read and remember at a glance on a page of printed text, but what about when spoken? Again, businesses often register both versions and use the hyphenated one in print.

The only piece of advice I give on hyphens is to either use ALL hyphens or none at all. Nothing is more tricky to tell people about or remember than www.auntberthas-cookies.co.uk.

Let’ leave Aunt Bertha to her cookies and try one final test on choosing a great domain with Really Easy Syntax.

The Moving Car Test

If you can shout your Top Level Domain to someone from a moving car and they still remember it when they get home, type it correctly and arrive at your site straight away, then you’ve done a great job.

.com?

.com or .co.uk? Well, you can choose pretty much any available suffix including .eu .mobi .me.uk. There are not as many rules regarding the domain suffix as you might think. .com and .org are the original global ( american ) domains and are more expensive than .org.uk or .co.uk. As the demand grows, new ones are being added like .eu but as far as a business in the UK goes I don’t think you can beat .co.uk for obviousness ( those three R’s again ).

Ask Chew Valley Web for help

If you are still having trouble deciding on a Domain Name that is right for your business, get in touch and I will try to give you a few ideas that may be right for your website, that are available. Don’t forget that your favourite domain may already be registered by someone else so it is best to check it out early.