Why Is Your Domain Name So Important?

Choosing a domain name for your business website isn’t always easy.

When it comes to getting your business online, you probably know by now that a domain name is essential. It’s central to your online presence; potential customers will use your domain name to access your website. Without a domain name there is no website, as it represents the IP address of the server that stores all the information required to display the site.

First impressions are everything for your online business. The way your website looks, the ease with which it can be found and the way your visitors actually navigate it and make their first-time purchase are all vital factors that determine whether or not a website visitor becomes a customer, and whether or not a casual customer becomes a loyal customer. Your domain name is at the forefront of this as it’s likely to be one of the first aspects of your business that online customers will encounter.

So let’s look at the makeup of a domain name:

Your domain name – disregarding the www-dot that all sites begin with – is made up of the domain name and the top level domain (TLD). You have a choice of both what comes before and after the dot in your domain name, and the options for creating an individual and standout domain are becoming more varied with the release of industry specific domain name endings designed to give new websites a greater selection of web address options.

Your domain name will look like this:

www.yourdomainname.yourTLD

It’s the content between the two ‘dot’s that will be of most importance to your business, as it’s here that you’re able to give that all-important first impression of what it is your brand does, is, or stands for. You might think that giving away all that information in a domain name means that it needs to be super long, but research actually shows that shorter domain names are more successful.

So just what does that mean for your domain name?

While you should definitely try and convey what it is you do in your domain name – such as a Bradford-based plumber opting for bradfordplumber.com – you don’t need to go overboard and cram information into the address. With just a couple of select words you can succinctly show your captive audience what your website is there for.

Businesses should opt for professional web addresses that are easy to remember – your brand name followed by .com or .co.uk is the best option for your first domain name. However, snapping up gTLDs associated with your primary domain name is good business practice too, as these could be used by competitors or angry customers who wish to harm your brand’s reputation or steal your site’s traffic.

Learn more about how domain names can be used for brand protection by reading this blog post.

Register your own domain name in just a few clicks over on our website!