Choosing a Domain Name for a Website
Okay, so you already have an idea for a website. Besides the decision who will design and develop your website, one of the most important decisions facing you, is what domain name you will choose for the site. There are several things to consider when making this choice, and they are given here:
» The domain name should be simple and catchy
The domain name should be easy to remember, easy to pronounce and understand, and easy to read and type. If it is composed of several words, consider separating the words with a hyphen, it can make it much clearer (compare for instance the domain AMOS-CAR-AC.COM to AMOSCARAC.COM).
» Choosing the suffix of the website
If your business seeks international audience, it is preferable to use the COM suffix. If this is a business targeting some country's local audience (for example the UK's), then you should use the local suffix CO.UK or COM. An organization which is not a for-profit, commercial business can choose the ORG.UK or ORG suffix. If possible, avoid the NAME, BIZ, and INFO suffixes.
» If possible, link the domain name to the name of the business
For example, if the business is called Ofir Design, it is advisable to use a domain name that is linked to the name of the business and the name of the website. In case of the above example, you might check if the domains OFIR-DESIGN.COM and OFIR-DESIGN.CO.UK are available. If not, you might try other original and catchy names that include the word DESIGN, and so forth.
» Avoid using IDNs (Internationalized Domain Names)
Originally valid domain names consisted of English letters, numbers, and a hyphen (-). Now it is possible to register an Internationalized Domain Name (IDN) such as BÜCHER.AT. These domains seem to offer several advantages such as convenience for the local visitors, and enhanced promotion in search engines, but due to some significant problems, modern browsers display an encoding of the domain name in the address bar (for BÜCHER.AT the encoding is xn--bcher-kva.at) rather than the domain name itself, and this is problematic and might scare away visitors. Hence using IDNs is not recommended at this point.
» Summary
The task of choosing a domain name for the site is not always easy, since there are millions of good names which are already taken, and you might discover that some or all of the names you are interested in are no longer available. But with some creativity and ingenuity, it is possible to find a suitable name. If you need assistance in the process, you can hire web professionals (like Webcraft Internet Services), they can assist you and also purchase and manage the domain for you.
