What to avoid when choosing your business and your domain name

Posted by Andrei on September 30, 2016 in Domain Names, How To's

Choosing the perfect name for your online business can be a tricky thing. That’s why in today’s article we wanted to talk more about what you need to avoid when deciding how to name your business name and the domain name that goes with it.

Don’t use a name that’s already taken, because this will confuse your potential customers and you may end up being sued for copying some other brand’s name. Also, a taken name will probably have the same domain name, meaning that you won’t be able to register it. So, be careful to do your research before naming your business and check registered trademarks if you want to avoid legal issues. As a rule, when choosing a name for your business also check if it has a domain name available.

A difficult name for your customer to remember. Look at Facebook, Google or Apple, all of these names are short and easy to spell. Moreover, everybody knows that if they put .com after any of those names, they we’ll access the brand’s website. Always try to keep your business name and your domain name as simple as possible, so don’t use special characters. You want your customers to type it easily or to share it on social media where character limits exist.

Be careful not to lose your domain. Yes, someone else can buy your exact domain name if you wait to long to register it. This can be really frustrating, even if there are ways to get a domain back from someone if they’re cybersquatting. But all legal actions are expensive and time consuming. So, don’t wait to long to buy a matching domain name for your business.

Don’t follow catchy trends. Many companies have their brand name misspelled or used a linguistic twist, see ‘flickr’ or ‘bit.ly’. This has become a trend for some companies, but you need to consider carefully if this can bring essence to your brand, making it unique. Our advice is to choose a name that you like and fits your brand, not one that’s on trend.

Picking a wrong domain extension. There are so many extensions right now to choose from. Before choosing between .com and .uk, you really need to know who your customers are. So, if you want to focus on UK customers, then pick .uk, but, if you want your customers to come from all over the world or USA, then you really need to go with a .com domain name. One other thing you can do is to register your brand name in as many popular domain extensions as you can, and redirect these to your main domain. These will prevent your competition from taking those domain extensions in order to reach customers that were actually looking for you.

Do your own research. The name you’re looking for your brand has to be liked and remembered by your potential customers. That means you have to go out there and make your own research. Choose a paid research if you have money or just ask your friends what they think about your preferred choice. Your purpose is to gather honest feedback about what stands out and what could be improved.

In need of a domain name? Then just click here.