Choosing a Domain

If you’re just in the process of thinking about starting an online business, then choosing a domain name is one of the first steps in that process.  But what is a domain anyway? It’s a name associated with your IP (Internet Protocol) number, which is the number associated specifically with your computer when you are connected to the Internet. So here are some tips and guidelines for choosing the best domain name for your business.

• Choose the shortest domain possible. Why? They’re easier to remember and easier to type too. Our domain here at OBJ is rather long, and ideally it would be much shorter. But if the name you want is taken, sometimes you just have to make do. Do your best to keep your potential customer in mind and make it as easy for them as possible to get to your website.
• Avoid choosing  a domain that could have a singular or plural version associated with it. For example, if you choose Book.com and someone already has Books.com, you’re likely going to lose traffic to that existing domain.
• Avoid choosing a domain name that has a hyphen within it. People tend to find having to type hyphens to be annoying. Also, since most domains do not have hyphens, it can be confusing. Most people just won’t think to include a hyphen when they’re typing, so avoid them if you can.
• Use keywords in your domain name, if possible. That’s always a plus with regard to the search engines.
• Choosing a domain name with the .com ending is generally the most desired and the most commonly used domain form. But if the .com domain you want is not available, avoid choosing a variant of that domain like .net or .biz etc. Since most people will type .com when searching for a website, you are going to lose traffic to the .com version of your desired domain, and that’s not something you want to do. Another risk is that the holder of the .com domain has their domain trademarked (many website owners do!), and then you are risking legal consequences by using that domain, regardless of its ending. You also risk the possibility of having to close a website you have built on a given domain that was trademarked by someone else. So it’s best to avoid those risks all together.
• Protect your domain identity by purchasing multiple versions of it.  This is something that a lot of website owners do: they purchase the .com of their domain, and also the .net, .biz, .org, etc, as a means of protecting their domain identity. It’s not a bad idea, if you can afford to do it, as it helps prevent other people from using a similar domain to offer similar content.