My Top 3 Tips On Choosing A Domain Name
Breaking Down My Freebie, The Ultimate Checklist To Getting Your Website Started:
You are doing a podcast interview and right at the end the host asks you, “so where can people find you?”
Your palms get clammy when you start to think about telling people your old email address with a weird name like domhhc@yahoo.com that has nothing to do with you or your brand today. Better yet, how about the only place you can direct people is to is your Instagram. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could just say your name or business name as the contact for all your platforms?
Over the next few weeks, I wanted to look at the freebie that I offer and talk about each point in more detail than provided. The first thing that I talk about having prepared is your domain name. If you haven’t downloaded The Ultimate Checklist to Getting Your Website Started, click the link above or enter your email in the box below!
Ok, now that you have it downloaded you will see that there are 5 things (surprise there is a bonus one too!) that I recommend having started before taking on the task of building your website. I would say the biggest thing you need to have ready before you start your website is your domain name. How do you want people to find you? When you are being interviewed and they ask you that end of the conversation question, what are you going to say?
Finding What Name Your Domain Name Can Be
A lot of times when you have multiple projects going on or a multitude of services that you offer, using your own name is the way to go. Maybe you are a social media manager, but you also offer services like closet cleaning on the side, if your brand name states social media in it, how can clients find your closet cleaning business. Using your real name becomes your brand instead of the company name and sometimes that can be easier for someone to remember than your company name. Try to always think of the way you want your clients to find you. Another tip I have is don’t be afraid to switch up the .com to .org or .co, sometimes names aren’t always available and you have to get a little creative with the way you spell things.
Overall make sure your name is short and sweet. When you start getting into a longer name with more character counts there is a higher chance someone will mess it up trying to spell it. You also want it to be short because that can sometimes be easier to remember. Take it from someone with a long name like Dominique, people often forget my name but if I tell them to call me Dom they can usually remember that better.
On the flip side of this argument, if you have established a clear brand image that people know, using a pseudo name that can work too. Sometimes people go into their business with their business name so customers just know them as that name and not their real name. Your business name may explain exactly what your service is. Using that name makes more sense for a domain name than your real name. You want to keep in mind though, do you want to be known as a brand or as the person behind the brand?
The final point I’ll make with this is that if you are going to use a domain name that is different than your real name, make sure the name lives everywhere. Whatever marketing strategy you are using have your name live on Instagram, Pinterest, and everywhere else you are going to have your brand name out there.
If You Already Have A Domain Name Find Out Where It Lives Before You Start Your Site
The example I like to give here is that when I was working with a client she didn’t know where her domain name lived or from where she bought the name. To simplify this point, you don’t always buy your domain name with the host platform you are going to use. You may purchase your domain name from Squarespace, Wix, GoDaddy, any number of places. When you go to start building your site you then need to find the host for your site.
Basically, a domain name + your website hosting platform = your live site!
At the end of the day, you also need to know where it lives because you are going to have to pay for it yearly! You don’t want to lose your domain because you forgot where you bought it from and you couldn’t pay the yearly fee.
To circle back to the example in my first sentence, if you are switching your website to a new platform you or the web designer needs to know where they can go to connect things. For example, this client was switching from a WordPress site to a Squarespace site and thought the domain lived on WordPress, but we then found it was actually on GoDaddy. Keeping these details stored away somewhere can also help launch your site faster. Another point to this is that someone needs to know how much time the transfer is going to take. If you are trying to get your new site launched by the next day on a new platform and you have to switch your domain to a new host, that can sometimes take up to 7 business days.
Not Being Afraid To Change Your Name In The Future, But Try To Avoid That
My tip here is to buy domain names that relate to your business and don’t sleep on them. If you know that you want your domain to just be your name, but your company is named something different try to buy that domain too. You can always switch domains in the future if you really feel like your brand name is more successful than your name. Keep in mind that domains are normally very inexpensive for the year like less than $50 usually!
I have a friend who has bought different domain names when she comes up with a new business venture. Every time she thinks of a fun catchy name for something like a new YouTube series, she buys a domain for it. You never know where your business may be in the future and what you will want it to look like.
Ok so let’s get techy really quick because we haven’t been already! Let’s say in the future you want to switch domains and you are changing the URL links from mywebsite/about to mywebsite/aboutme. If someone has that old link and they click it, they will probably get a 401 page. This is where some 301 redirects and URL slugs can come in handy! It sounds intimidating but it really isn’t.
All you do is go to Home >Settings>Advanced>URL Mappings then take this code:
/old-url -> /new-url 301
Once you have the code, fill in the spaces with the old and new URLs. The 301 is telling the search engines that this is a permanent URL change so if there was an SEO ranking for your site with that URL, the ranking now goes to the new URL.
Ok tech time is over, but if you need any other help with 301 redirects let me know!
So now I assume you know ALL about domain names and you are ready to find yours. My last point to make here is don’t forget this is your site, your business. I can give you the tool, tips, and tricks but if you really, really, really want to call your site something fun or creative, do it. You need to be happy with your decision for your business. If you have any questions on this topic let me know and if you need help getting your website off the ground contact me today for a free 30-minute consultation!
