How to Pick and Register Your Domain Name

Birthing your brand name into existence can be quite the daunting task. Especially now when there are millions of online business emerging every month. While this task may be difficult it is one of the most important things you will do while planning your business, branding and marketing strategy.

Therefore this shouldn’t be taken lightly nor should it be a throwaway task. Choosing the brand name that will represent your business online is a top priority and what’s more is that the future success of your business is contingent on the domain name you choose to represent your brand.

No worries, we are here to help you make the right choice for your business and brand’s visibility online. In this article, we will outline tips and strategies for creating your domain name and a quick how-to on registering it. Let’s dive in.

5 Characteristics of a Great Domain Name

Before brainstorming the domain name that will represent your brand, you need to keep the 5 characteristics in mind to ensure a perfectly crafted and ‘brandable’ name.

• It should be Unique: Well this may be the hardest feat to accomplish it is not impossible. Your domain name should be unique to your brand’s image, voice and should stand out within your business’ industry niche.
• Make it Meaningful: Building your brand should speak to your product and service. Make the name mean something to your business and its mission statement.
• Be Memorable: What’s the point if no one remembers your website’s name. You don’t want to be forgettable. You want to create a branded domain name that is permanently etched in the memory of everyone that comes across it. Therefore be memorable, it enhances and guarantees success in your business.
• Keep it Short: Think of all the major on and offline brands like Google, Yahoo, Nike, and Samsung. They kept their name short and sweet. This increases the memorable factor. Aim for a domain name of 16-20 characters or less. This also makes it easier to type!
• Make it Easy to Type: If your business name was said out loud would people be able to spell it? When considering your domain name make sure that it can be spelt phonetically i.e. when someone says it is easily written.

Now that you have the tenets for creating a domain name that speaks to your brand let’s discuss brainstorming ideas.

How to Brainstorm your Domain Name and the Tools that help

Perhaps you have a great aptitude for creating or choosing names. But if you don’t we’ve got you covered with a list of tools that can help you brainstorm domain names. We’re listing the top 5 Domain Name Generators to help you get those creative juices flowing. Write a list of your ideas and then choose the best one.

1. Lean Domain Search

With this tool, you begin with a keyword pertaining to your business, industry, product or service. It then gives you thousands of options to choose from. What’s great about this tool apart from giving you a treasure trove of ideas, you are able to use some great filter settings to help you pick the best ones. You can filter alphabetically, by popularity, and length. You can save and track your search history, share your results and more.

2. Bust A Name

With robust filtering options Bust a Name helps you generate numerous ideas for your domain name. Once again you want to begin by using keywords for your industry, business or product and then you can choose the filtering tools to help you generate domain name ideas. Another great feature is the ‘Make a Random Domain’ button to automatically generate a domain name. If you happen to like the results write it down so you can register it with your preferred domain host.

3. Nameboy

Another keyword leads name generator. With Nameboy you can enter up to two keywords and they will generate a list of ideas for you. What’s more, they will even tell you the availability of the domain name. Even if .com is taken, they offer other available TLD extensions if you’re set on a generated name.

Nameboy can also show you which domain names are available for resale as well as permit hyphenated suggestions or rhyming keywords. Nameboy is a tool that works well if you already have an inkling of what keywords you want to use but are looking for suggestions on different variations of it.

4. Name Stall

With Name Stall, you can also choose if you want your keyword at the beginning or end of your domain name, or if you want a hyphen in your web address (though hyphens are not recommended—more on this later). The filter search options offer parts of speech, by industry, popular keywords and basic words. Another great feature is that choose extensions you’d like to filter by.  Name Stall will generate a list of options that are both taken and not yet registered.

5. Domain Puzzler

Domain Puzzler is a simple to use tool with robust options. Begin with the easy version, and insert your ultimate keywords, choose your TLD extensions, and hit search for ideas. The greatest thing about this domain name generator is that you can include multiple keywords as opposed to just one or two like the other tools on this list, after which it will combine your keywords into different variations. This means more ideas to play with. Add results to your favourite’s list, or give the advanced search a try. You can also use the tool to compare the page rank of different domain names so you can check out the competition within your niche.

Dos and Don’ts of Securing a Domain Name

At this point, you should have a great list prepared of ideas for your domain name. Before making a final choice or compiling a top 5-10 list here are some dos and don’ts you should consider before making that final decision.

Do:

Include a location or keywords if possible in your domain name. If your business is location-based then consider letting your audience know by adding in the city in your domain name. We’ve talked about using keywords to help you generate a name but they can also be beneficial in increasing your SEO Ranking.

Do Register yourself as the Owner of the Domain Name: This is specifically for the WHOIS Registry. This ensures that you are the sole owner of your domain name and therefore can make all the decisions concerning it.

Remember to renew your Registration for your Domain: A good idea is to purchase 2 years upfront and then set it to automatically renew. If you happen to change credit card information within that time, be sure to update it with your Registrar. You don’t want to run the risk of losing your domain. It can ruin your brand’s reputation once established.

Don’t:

Hyphenate, use dashes or numbers in your Domain Name: Remember a key to a great domain is that it is memorable and easy to spell. If your domain name is said out loud on an advertisement or by word of mouth you don’t want to use these symbols because it makes it hard for it to be written and remembered.

Buy a domain without opting into Domain Privacy. You want to protect your information from the prying eyes of identity thieves, spammers, marketers and anyone else that can use it against you. Domain Privacy is a security measure that protects your sensitive information and your business from cyber criminals.

Choosing the Right TLD Extension

Now that you’ve narrowed down your ideas for a memorable domain name it is time to consider which TLD extension you are going to use. TLD stands for Top Level Domain and the more popular and recognisable ones include .com, .net, .org to name a few.

When considering your TLD you want to get out of the .com square. Now there are so many options available with new gTLDs that are designed to help you brand and market your business. You can choose from new generic TLDs like:

• .app
• .shop
• .store
• .xyz
• .team
• .site
• .co
• .online
• .top
• .media

The options are virtually endless. Choose an extension that speaks to your brand, the industry and your product(s) or service(s) you offer.

Another type of TLD to consider are country specific TLDs (ccTLD). If your brand is going to be localised and you want your audience to be acutely aware of this then using country-code TLDs are the way to go. They include:

• .co.uk
• .uk
• .es
• .fr
• .ca
• .de

Whichever extension you choose to ensure that it speaks to the brand image you want to share with the world.

How to Register Your Domain

The final step is to register your brand new spanking domain name that is going to be the face of your business and brand. To do this you want to choose a hosting provider that not only offers domain registration but a plethora of hosting solutions and web security.

1. Start by going to a reputable domain registrar or web hosting provider  to purchase your domain name.
2. Type in your domain name in the bar and hit search.
3. The available domain name and the TLDs available will be listed.
4. Choose the domain name and extension you want and click Register.
5. From the drop-down box choose the price for 1 year or 2 years. We recommend purchasing for 2 years with automatic renewal.
6. Once chosen your order summary will appear on the right. Click Go to Cart.
7. Here you have the option to add Hosting. Click on it to add one of our hosting solution packages.
8. Hit Continue.
9. Enter your information in the fields below.
10. The click Complete Order.

That’s it! You’ve chosen a short, memorable, and unique domain name that communicates your brand’s message and illustrates what your business is about. You’ve chosen a trusted name in the Industry for hosting and now you are on your way to building your online presence. Well done!