The right domain name can make or break your online presence, so it’s important that you make the right decisions when choosing and registering your domain name.
For SEO purposes, you need to decide if you’re going to use a branding domain name (one that includes the name or your brand or business) or a keyword-oriented name. You can also break it down even further if you want to be recognized locally.
For example, let’s use www.MelbourneSEOServices.com. Not only is this the company and branded name, it’s also SEO friendly since it deals with what we’re doing. And we’ve got the locality in there as well.
If you’re in Australia, you may have a few more choices than folks in the States or other places by using the .com.au (or .net.au or .org.au extensions) instead of simply using .com (or .net or .org). The addition of the .au at the end can open a whole new batch of domain names that can apply to your business.
It’s also not a bad idea to check the ABN registry to make sure that your domain name isn’t infringing on anyone else’s trademarks or business names. This is something to keep in mind if you’re registering a branded name, but most keyword names should be safe to use in these instances.
Keep the name relatively short and easy to remember. If you’re known as Uncle Bob and you run a carpeting service in Queensland, you don’t want to go with something like www.UncleBobsQueenslandCarpetingAndVinylFlooring.com.au – instead, you may think about something like www.BobsQueenslandCarpeting.com.au. This is shorter, and much easier to remember. Two to three words should be the general rule of thumb.
You’ll also want to avoid hyphens. For example, the stars of the US television show “Ghost Hunters” have as their domain name www.The-Atlantic-Paranormal-Society.com. This can cause all kinds of problems when you’re verbally relaying your info to someone – dashes, hyphens, dots – they can all get in the way and are easy to forget when someone is later trying to find you online.
So those are the basic rules of choosing a domain name: Brand name or keyword oriented, keep it short, and make sure that it’s unique enough to remember so you don’t get lost in the crowd. Best of luck with your online business, and if you’d like a helping hand along the way, we’d be more than happy to help you out. Check out our list of services here.