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What's In a (Domain) Name

Considerations when choosing a domain name for your Web site

Author: Jeffrey Cohan (Dec 10, 2004)

Probably the FIRST marketing decision you'll make with respect to your Web site is its DOMAIN NAME! Sure, you want to find (and register) the right domain name. But we recommend you not sweat this too much.

In this short article, we'll discuss some common preconceptions (and their antidotes); the handful of rules that exist; and, finally, a set of considerations we think you should entertain.

Preconceptions (and their antidotes)

The domain name has to be the same as the name of my company or organization.

Why? If your organization's name is "The Society For The Preservation Of Felines", wouldn't it be way cool if your Web site could be known as "cats.com"? Think "vanity license plates". Think "CB handle". The key is getting your domain name associated with your company's name, not necessarily making the two identical.

Sure, it might be a good thing if your domain name is the same as your company name. If, for example, you are IBM, CNN, or ABC, it certainly makes sense. But there are some considerations you'll want to make (see below, in "Considerations") before you take the leap.

(Related to above:) People won't find my Web site if the domain name isn't the same as my company name.

Wrong! Search engines and directories will be displaying the titles of your indexed pages much more prominently than their URLs; and most Web surfers don't even look at the URLs!

Go ahead: try it! Search for "alpharetta history" in Yahoo! I dare you to tell me that anyone wouldn't know that the listing that shows up (#2 as of this writing) is for the Alpharetta Historical Society (whose domain name is ahsga.org).

My domain name must contain keywords about my Web site.

It's true that some search engines will reward you (with better placement) if your domain name contains keywords that are applicable to the content of your site. But this isn't the only consideration you should be entertaining. After all, there are lots of ways an experienced Web developer can help your site get indexed.

Rules

There aren't many. There are some restrictions about the top-level domain (TLD) you use, but restrictions no longer pertain to .com, .info, .name, .net, or .org. Recently the maximum length of a domain name was extended from 26 characters to 67.

The best resource for answers to your questions about the rules of the Domain Name System is:

ICANN
http://www.icann.org/
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is the non-profit corporation that was formed to assume responsibility for the management of top level domain names and root servers, allocation of IP addresses, and assignment of Internet protocol parameters. These functions had formerly been handled by IANA and the InterNIC.

Considerations

We offer 7 simple consideration for choosing a domain name. See if they don't help you make a good choice!

1. How does it sound when spoken (on your voicemail greeting; in a radio announcement; from the mouth of the President when she adjourns a meeting and reminds everyone to visit the site; etc.)?

2. How does it look when written? Are the characters, taken together, discernible from each other? (You wouldn't want to be known as 11lO0wv.org, would you?) Does it look good on your letterhead? On your business cards? On the side of your truck? In your E-mail signature?

3. How easy is it to spell (or misspell)? If people are going to type your domain name directly into their browsers, will a difficult spelling keep them from finding your Web site?

4. How easy is it type correctly (or incorrectly)? This, of course is not exactly the same as the "spelling" issue. How many times, for instance, have you typed "that" as "thta"? (Thank goodness for spellcheck and auto-correct!)

5. Is the domain name too long? Might people might mis-type it a few times and then give up and go somewhere else? (This can be a problem when your company name is long and you're thinking of using it for your domain name.)

6. How easy is it to remember? While some people will bookmark your site to make return visits easy, you'll want your domain name to be memorable.

7. How much does it sound like a "professional brand name"?