Choosing a domain name

I get asked lots of questions about creating websites so this year I'll be sharing the answers to the questions that apply to the majority of small businesses and organisations.
 
A question I am regularly asked is:
 
“I am trying to choose a website address for my business or group – what advice can you give me?”
 
Here are my top 6 tips:
 
1. Your website address (i.e. your domain name) must be unique - you cannot register a domain name that is already registered to someone else.  You should also be very careful about choosing one that might infringe existing trademarks.
 
2. Make it as short as possible - the top websites have short domain names e.g. Amazon, Google, Facebook, EBay, BBC.
 
3. Make it easy to spell and remember.  This will help people spread the word more easily. Avoid words that are often misspelt. Keep it simple and don’t use hyphens.
 
4. If your business or organisation is already established then choose a name that is as close to your existing name as possible e.g. A good website address for ABC Doors Ltd would be www.abcdoors.co.uk.
 
5. The majority of website addresses end in .co.uk or .com.  Use a .co.uk if your business activity is restricted to the UK. A .com is more suited for international websites. Only use a less common extension (such as .org) if there is a very good reason.
 
6. Choose a domain name that ties in with what your business is about. If your business specialises in supplying rare widgets throughout Europe then www.rarewidgets.com would be a good website address.
 
If you would like more detailed help or advice about choosing a website address just drop us an email and I’ll suggest some specific ideas and check their availability.

If you want to ask a question about getting a new website or updating an existing one then you can submit your question here.