Choosing a domain name is one of the most important decisions you will make when beginning your online venture. It may be necessary for you to acquire not just one domain name but several.
The first domain name you should consider buying needs to be the same as your website name (or business name), when a visitor thinks of your website they are more likely to remember the name of your website or business. This will then make it easier for the visitor to find your site. For example, if a visitor wanted to find Domain Names GB it would be a lot harder for them to find us if our domain name was cheapdomainname.com.
Domain names can be factored into the algorithms used by certain search engines to increase your sites ranking and numbers of visitors, which in return will increase your ROI (Return on Investment). For this purpose try buying a domain name that includes a popular key phrase targeted to your products / services. Having a key phrase in your site and in the domain name will have a positive effect on your rankings. You can do this with any number of terms as long as they are associated with your sites content.
Domain names can be set-up as primary & secondary domains, it is advisable (for ranking purposes) to set-up your keyword related domain name (most popular) as the primary domain name. Any other domain names you own can be set-up as secondary and will just re-direct the visitor to your primary domain name.
A domain name should generally not exceed 50 characters in length as this can negatively effect the sites search engine rankings, it can also lead to increased mistakes when a visitor types in the domain name.
Hyphenating your domain names has advantages and disadvantages. The main advantages are the search engines can distinguish between the keywords in the URL, and it is more likely the domain name you want is available. The disadvantages are visitors misspelling the domain name when entering it into a browser or recommending your site. If you do use the hyphen we would recommend limiting the number to one per URL.
There're a number of characters and terms to avoid when deciding on a domain name. Try not to use the digit 0 unless it is part of a term like 101, as the visitor may confuse this with the letter O. Also it is best not to use abbreviations (e.g. phones4u.co.uk) as again these can confuse a visitor. If you are to use any abbreviation then make sure you register the equivalent expanded domain as well (e.g. phonesforyou.co.uk).
Now you have to make the decision of which top-level domain to choose, that is, if you are able to make the decision. This may have been made for you if someone else has already purchased the domain you require, however if you are a UK company only selling to the UK then it is advisable for you to purchase a .co.uk domain. Similarly if you are selling to an international audience then a .com is advisable. If the domain you want is not available you may have to go with other extensions such as; .uk.com, .org, .net, .eu.com.
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