Your choice of domain name will have a big impact on your online brand. The best names add value to the businesses that own them. The worst do the opposite, repelling customers or being quickly forgotten! But how do you know what will work?
Simple – just follow our 5 steps to picking a domain name!
The Big 5
We’ve laid out 5 key principles to help you choose the best address for your website. These steps offer general guidance – they’re not hard-and-fast rules. Sometimes, it’s impossible to follow all 5 steps, as we’ll explain later.
1. Make it Relevant
The best domain names say something about the businesses that own them. A relevant domain name could match your business’ name. It could also relate to your services, products or your company’s location.
2. Integrate Keywords
Your choice of domain name can affect your website’s search position. Keywords give Google and other search engines a strong clue of what your website is about, and can help boost your ranking. If you’ve followed our first step, then your domain name should include keywords automatically.
3. Choose the Best Top-Level Domain
The last part of a website’s address is the top-level domain or domain extension. Country code top-level domains (ccTLDs) represent individual countries. .ae is the ccTLD for the UAE. Picking a domain extension like this will make it easy for your customers to tell where you trade.
4. Pick a Short Domain Name
It’s vital that people can remember (and spell) your website’s address. Short domain names stick in the mind, while long domain names can be easily forgotten. If your web address includes lots of words, your customers may confuse the order of those words, or mistype them… So, search for a domain that’s short but sweet!
5. Stick to Letters
It’s usually best to stick to letters in your website’s address. Try not to use hyphens; people will often forget to enter these. Numbers can also confuse people. It’s hard to tell whether they should be digits (i.e. 10) or spelled out (i.e. ten). Remember that web addresses are often spoken – not written. Make it simple for people to understand your domain name, even if they only hear it said.
What to Ignore!
At this point, picking a domain name might seem harder than ever. After all, can you really follow all 5 steps? Probably not – but you don’t always need to.
Let’s say that you install eco-friendly air-conditioning units in the Dubai area. You might feel that the words ‘eco-friendly air-con installation Dubai’ should all be in your domain name. That would give a relevant, keyword-rich name. But it would also be much too long! Compromise is the key when choosing a domain name. Sometimes, you just have to accept that you can’t follow all of the steps.
Using Our Domain Search
Hopefully, by now you’ve picked out a perfect address for your website. The next step is to check your ideal domain name is available. You can do that by performing a domain search.
Choose an Accredited Domain Registrar
As an officially accredited domain registrar, we can access global records to verify which names are available. We perform this domain search electronically, in real time. That means you won’t need to wait more than a few seconds to get the result.
Checking a domain’s availability is as simple as typing it into our search box. We’ll show you options that feature many different domain extensions – and we’ll suggest similar alternatives. This makes it easy to choose another domain name if your first choice is already registered.
Head over to our domain search page to check now.
Finding a Domain Through a Domain Auction
Sometimes, getting the best domain name is vital. If the alternatives just don’t work for your business, then you may have to explore other options. Luckily, registering a brand-new domain name isn’t the only way forward. You can also buy pre-owned names via a domain auction.
How High are Domain Auction Fees?
You’ll usually need to pay more to buy a domain through an auction. The prices are typically much higher than for brand-new names. The most expensive domain names can sell for thousands, or even millions, of dollars.
Domain auctions also involve fees. Luckily, many auction sites apply their fees to the seller, not the buyer. Even so, it’s always best to check the fees before bidding at a domain auction.