Your online identity depends upon your domain name. It should be one that everyone can remember, and relate to your business. The question is: how do you zero in on a domain name that becomes your online identity?
Here are six tips to decide the right domain name:
# Tip 1
Your domain name should be as short as possible, ideally less than 10 characters. It is easy to type and easy to remember. Short domain names are especially valuable in the era of smartphones. No one wants to spend an eternity typing domain names on mobile phones that have mini keyboards.
# Tip 2
The .com extension is still the most popular. Most web users find it the easiest to remember. Your first choice should therefore be to look for a .com extension. The second choice should be your country TLD. For instance, if you are an Indian you should have a domain name with .in extension; for Singapore it should be .sg; for Germany it should be .de, and so on.
# Tip 3
You must avoid hyphens. These are confusing, and make domain names hard to remember. For instance, if your company is registered as Dog Food Ltd, and you find that dogfood.com has been taken then don’t make the mistake of registering dog-food.com as the domain name. Prefer dogfoodindia.com, if you are an Indian company or dogfoodsingapore.com if you are a Singapore company.
# Tip 4
Your domain name should ideally be your company name. But if this is not available then think of a name that can be identified with your company.
# Tip 5
The domain name should ideally be available as user name on major social media sites. This helps in branding, and connecting across social media platforms. A good place to check is www.namechk.com. It immediately tells you about the availability of domain name on most social media platforms.
# Tip 6
Once you decide the domain name then you should register it for a minimum of five years, if not ten years. This way you avoid the danger of someone grabbing your domain name if you fail to renew it on time.
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