Why it Pays to Pick a Strong Domain Name

With e-commerce playing such an important role in today's business marketplace, making sure you're set up to maximize your company's potential is crucial. This includes having a strong web presence and online marketing team. However, another key area of your online success is your website's domain name - pick the wrong one and it could be disastrous for your fledgling online business.

Unfortunately, it's not always easy to get the domain name you want or need - for one thing, it stands to reason that your competitors might have similar ideas to you, so could potentially steal your thunder with their domain name. This is why picking a domain name is so important to begin with.

What is a Domain Name?
If you're unsure why it's so important to pick the right domain name, it's possible that you're not sure what one actually is. Simply put, a domain name is the name that will represent your company online, and as such is your unique "footprint" on the Internet. Since it's an addition or extension to your bricks and mortar side of the business, it needs to reflect this when you pick a name. Even if you're an online-only company, you still need to pick the right name for your business, since this is what web users will find when looking for the services or products that you offer.

What You Need
Keeping in mind that your domain name is a reflection of your business, when you're choosing one you need to make that you follow some important pointers:

* Pay for a premium name as opposed to a free one. There are many companies that offer free websites and domain names, yet while this can save money, it doesn't benefit you in the long run as they will want their company details in your URL. Ask yourself what sounds better - www.johnsmith.com or www.freewebs.net/johnsmith162? Also, you'll fair far better on search engines like Google with a proper domain name as opposed to a long-winded one.

* Make sure that it's an easy-to-remember name. Think how successful eBay or Google both are - it's no surprise that their domain names are short and easy to remember (www.ebay.com and www.google.com respectively). Try and keep this in mind when picking your domain - although you might want to have www.johnsmithindustrialcleaningsupplies.com as your full domain, it'd be easier and more successful with something like www.johnsmithics.com. You can always use your full title when you set up your Meta description (the text that appears at the top of your toolbar when you enter a website).

* Choose a .com name where possible - it adds to the professionalism and trust for web browsers and users alike. You'll pay more for the privilege but it will make all the difference - after all, when Internet users think of a website the first thing they'll normally type in is company name followed by .com. If they don't find your website with that address, very often they won't try any other alternatives like .ca or .co.uk. Buying numerous domains can cover this (so you own .com, .ca, .co.uk, .net and similar for your business) but this can be quite costly, so make sure it's worth it for the type of business you're in.