5 Tips for Your Domain Name

Did You Know?
81% of Canadians agree that Canadian businesses and organizations should use dot-ca for their websites, and 71% prefer to use dot-ca website services, rather than dot-com services, because they know dot-ca is Canadian (1)

Your business Domain Name is like your address on the internet, whether its mycompany.com or yourservice.ca, or some derivation of one or both.

What that means for your business is that your domain name is both important to the way people find you and an extension of your brand.

The 5 Most Important Factors when Registering a Domain:

Choose a Memorable Domain - your business name may not be a great domain name for your website. Many businesses have either generic or very complicated names that may not be great choices as domains. This is particularlry true if your business has odd or creative difficult spelling, uncommon phrases, or the proprietor's proper name as part of it. If you are not sure, ask your current clients. If your current clients have trouble saying or spelling your company name you'll be harder to find online. And if it's hard for your current clients, what will that do to prospective clients.

Choose a Domain that tells your story - If you can't be wojadubokowskyaccounting.ca, you may still be able to be quickaccuratebooks.com. This method of choosing your domain can help drive your word of mouth and, as an added bonus, sometimes help with your clients find you in online searches. Where it doesn't make sense to register your brand, register your story, it can be just as effective.

Register more than One Name – You main website should reside under just one name, but you can have multiple domains pointed to the same site. This can be especially helpful if you company name is not going to be your main URL. www.quickaccuratebooks.com may be your main site but you can still register wojadubokowskyaccounting.ca just in case a client or someone you know might go looking for it. Don't overdo it, but registering multiple names can be a very cost effective way of marketing different parts of the same business too.

Effective Online Management – your business should have complete control over your domain whenever you need it via online tools. Be wary of discount registrars whose online management is cumbersome, especially if you manage more than one domain name at a time. Also beware of registrars who may charge for things like email forwarding, domain forwarding, online tools, or customizable DNS services.

Find a Local Presence - There are almost countless sellers and resellers of domains online, and some of them even offer decent services instead of just rock bottom prices, especially if your comfortable in another language and trust the online credit card handling in Asia or Europe. For most businesses though, it makes more sense to buy locally. Your business can still get all the tools and a decent price, but with the added convenience of a local phone number to call for name advice, billing questions, or even troubleshooting.

This article was provided by Sean Ballard of KS2 Solutions.
KS2's Mission is to help your business control and measure the effectiveness of your online presence.

Article reproduced with permission.