The importance of a good domain name

Choosing a domain name for your company’s website is one of the biggest decisions you will make with regard to your online marketing strategy. Here is why.

By Jason Hesse

Particularly for companies operating in the ecommerce space, having a domain name that is memorable, pertinent and simple is essential. Without a good domain name, your ecommerce website’s full potential may never be realised.

What are some of the key things to think about when selecting a good domain name?

Search engine optimisation

For ecommerce sites, having your website and its domain name SEO friendly is extremely important. For this, keywords are essential (so if you specialise in selling books online, try to include the word “book” or “books” in your domain name).

A good domain name will convey meaning, so if it contains keywords, it helps to give linguistic clues to the content of the website itself. This will help both in search engine rankings, but also with building recognition for your brand.

Search engines rank sites with keyword domains highly. In some cases, when the domain itself is the keyword, it can very quickly rise to the first page of search results (which then results in more click throughs, and therefore more business).

Keep it simple and memorable

As well as being SEO friendly, your domain name should be original, personalised and short. This will often be your company’s name, rather than a keyword. The trick is then to have a memorable and unique brand name.

This is because you want your ecommerce customers to remember your domain name. So keep the name simple and easy to spell (and definitely avoid any “creative misspellings”, as these will just confuse your users).

A domain name should be pronouncable, short and meaningful, but this does not mean that other domain names will fail. ASOS.com doesn’t mean anything, but it is still hugely successful. Very short domain names, such as ASOS.com can be extremely valuable due to their limited availability and the fact that they can be typed in rapidly.

A question of spelling

If, unfortunately, your brand name is not easy to spell, do not worry too much. One technique adopted by many websites is to buy associated domain names, such as typos. These domain names can then redirect to the correct website, ensuring that you do not lose any valuable traffic (and customers!).

It is also vital to remember that your domain name will usually also be the domain name for your email address. This is an important consideration, as you will be using the name every day for your outgoing communications. So keep it simple, keep it memorable and keep it short.

The importance of a good domain name

Choosing a domain name for your company’s website is one of the biggest decisions you will make with regard to your online marketing strategy. Here is why.

Particularly for companies operating in the ecommerce space, having a domain name that is memorable, pertinent and simple is essential. Without a good domain name, your ecommerce website’s full potential may never be realised.

What are some of the key things to think about when selecting a good domain name?

Search engine optimisation

For ecommerce sites, having your website and its domain name SEO friendly is extremely important. For this, keywords are essential (so if you specialise in selling books online, try to include the word “book” or “books” in your domain name).

A good domain name will convey meaning, so if it contains keywords, it helps to give linguistic clues to the content of the website itself. This will help both in search engine rankings, but also with building recognition for your brand.

Search engines rank sites with keyword domains highly. In some cases, when the domain itself is the keyword, it can very quickly rise to the first page of search results (which then results in more click throughs, and therefore more business).

Keep it simple and memorable

As well as being SEO friendly, your domain name should be original, personalised and short. This will often be your company’s name, rather than a keyword. The trick is then to have a memorable and unique brand name.

This is because you want your ecommerce customers to remember your domain name. So keep the name simple and easy to spell (and definitely avoid any “creative misspellings”, as these will just confuse your users).

A domain name should be pronouncable, short and meaningful, but this does not mean that other domain names will fail. ASOS.com doesn’t mean anything, but it is still hugely successful. Very short domain names, such as ASOS.com can be extremely valuable due to their limited availability and the fact that they can be typed in rapidly.

If, unfortunately, your brand name is not easy to spell, do not worry too much. One technique adopted by many websites is to buy associated domain names, such as typos. These domain names can then redirect to the correct website, ensuring that you do not lose any valuable traffic (and customers!).

It is also vital to remember that your domain name will usually also be the domain name for your email address. This is an important consideration, as you will be using the name every day for your outgoing communications. So keep it simple, keep it memorable and keep it short.