Tips For Choosing A Great Domain Name
Whether
you’re advertising plastic surgery or any other
business online, the domain name of your website is very important because
it’s what you become known by online. Choosing a domain name,
however, can be a difficult and often frustrating task. Because many
good domain names are already taken, you often have to get a bit creative.
At the same time, however, it’s important that you don’t
compromise the effectiveness of your domain. The following considerations
should be taken into account when choosing a domain name:
- Your domain name extension. Every domain name has
an extension, such as .com, .net, .org and so on. The .com extension
is by far the most well known and tends to be remembered most by Internet
users. Unfortunately, being so common, getting the domain name you want
as a .com can be very difficult. The next best option is probably .net.
The .org extension is typically associated with educational or more
formal websites, while the more recent .info extension is another option
with more domains available than the others but less known by Internet
users.
- Your business name vs. a brand name. When choosing
your domain name, you must decide whether to use your business name
or to develop a brand name. For instance, when advertising plastic surgery,
an example of using your business name might be www.drjohnsmith.com
or www.drsmithplasticsurgery.com, while a brand name might be www.beautify.com
or www.perfectimage.com. There is no right or wrong approach here. Consider
several different domain names and how they sound, how well they relate
to your practice, and how they might look in print on a business card.
- Using hyphens. There are several reasons why hyphens
may be used in a domain name. First, your preferred domain name may
already be taken so you might consider using the same domain with hyphens.
Second, using hyphens can make your domain easier to read in print,
such as www.dr-smith-plastic-surgery.com as opposed to www.drsmithplasticsurgery.com.
One great benefit of using hyphens is that the search engines can read
all of the words in the domain name. However, some people strongly believe
that hyphens should not be used in domain names. When domain names contain
hyphens, they can be somewhat harder to explain. Further, many Internet
users don’t expect hyphens and, thus, will rarely figure out that
your domain name includes them unless specifically told so.
- The domain registrar. The domain registrar is the
company you pay to have a domain registered, and there are many, many
domain registrars to choose from. When choosing a registrar, be sure
to find out the following information: if you hold sole ownership
of the domain or if the registrar controls some percentage of it;
if the registrar will allow the domain to be transferred to another
registrar; if domain administration includes an online control panel;
and if the domain Name Servers can be easily changed.