| > | | | | types) such as .net or .biz. If your domain name has |
| Tips on Domain Name Choice | | | | already been registered then approach the owner |
| By Clare Lawrence 3rd November 2003 Clare is the | | | | and ask if they’ll sell. They may accept a |
| CEO of Discount Domains Ltd a leading UK Domain | | | | £100. If you ask, they can only say no. |
| name registration service. | | | | 5) Plurals. Very often a domain name will be free in |
| Before buying your domain name, give some thought | | | | the plural but not in the singular form. It’s a |
| to the followng:- | | | | personal choice, but if your prefered choice of |
| 1) If possible use your sites name as the basis of | | | | domain name is not available you might be stuck. |
| your domain name e.g for Discount Domains UK. This | | | | 6) Short or Long domains — A short domain |
| might seem common sense but not every site | | | | name is more memorable, but less likely to be |
| follows the convention. If you use your name in your | | | | available. A longer domain is harder to remember, but |
| URL it will be much easier for your customers to find | | | | can contain more keywords which is important as |
| you. | | | | some of the search engines, use keywords in a |
| 2) Generic names — if you can register a | | | | domain name as part of the search algorithm. |
| generic domain such as that’s great, but most | | | | 7) Which Top Level Domain Type - .com, .co.uk , .net |
| of these have already gone. Also getting ranked in | | | | etc This is a question I am often asked. There is no |
| the search engines is likely to be harder. Selected a | | | | evidence that any domain name type is given |
| domain closer to your market segment will cut down | | | | preference by the search engines. However some |
| the competition. E.g 3) Hyphenated Names — | | | | search engines such as Google, have local searches |
| Its easy to forget the hyphen! Which is the problem, | | | | e.g which do select local content. Customer often get |
| particularly if your customer remembers your name | | | | re-assurance from seeing a local TLD as they know |
| but not your URL. Though on a positive note | | | | they are dealing with a local company etc. You can, |
| hyphenated names are less likely to be registered | | | | of course, register all of them! |
| already. | | | | 8) Variations — If your prefered domain name |
| 4) If the .com or .co.uk extension is not available then | | | | is not available then its always worth trying a prefix |
| consider the alternative TLD ( Top level domain | | | | my e.g or suffix e. |