How do I choose a domain name?

Company name
Most companies register their company name as their domain name. This domain name then provides the business website and the employees’ email addresses.
Product name
Sometimes companies also register product names and slogans. They usually do this for 2 reasons: either they set up a separate website for that product, or they want to prevent a competitor from registering that domain name and profiting from their marketing and brand awareness.
Easy to remember
The internet contains millions of websites. It is therefore important to register a domain name that sounds good and is easy to remember. If you are looking for a window cleaner, you will not have a hard time remembering www.windowcleaner.be. This name already contains the most relevant keywords and describes the website in detail. It is the perfect name for this specific website.
Which extension?
The Top Level Domain (TLD), also called extension, is the last part of the domain name. The top level domain can refer to a geographic location (e.g. eu for Europe) or to an application (e.g. org for non-profit organizations). It is also recommendable to register the ’eu’ extension. This allows you to be ahead of the competition. Beware: some extensions come with certain conditions (e.g. edu, jobs, aero).
Avoid using numbers, hyphens or underscores
These characters may cause confusion, especially if you want to give out your domain name to someone verbally. You will have to repeat endlessly that the number used is not a word. Domain names with hyphens are a bit harder to remember, but this does not mean that it is a bad choice. If your domain name contains several keywords, it is even recommendable because search engines will recognize the words separated by a hyphen as separate words.
Short and powerful
www.communicationandmediatraining.com is not advisable. Keep the domain name as short as possible in order to avoid spelling mistakes. We advise a maximum of 10 characters. When you choose a name that is hard to spell, you had better register different variations of the name.
Be careful with trademarks
Before you register your domain name, it is advisable to check whether it does not already exist as a trademark and whether you are not violating anyone’s rights. Do not take this lightly as a violation may cost you your entire company. It is your responsibility to ensure that you do not violate any trademarks.
Register NOW!
You can already register your domain name, while your website is still under construction. This ensures the safety of your domain name. There is no guarantee that your domain name will still be available tomorrow. Domain name registration usually boils down to the principle of "first in first served". So be quick!

Article Number: 34 | Rating: Unrated | Last Updated: Wed, Sep 21, 2011 1:51 PM
Posted: Kristof Gheyssens - Fri, Jan 25, 2008 4:59 PM. This article has been viewed 4234 times.
Filed Under: General

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