Top five tips when choosing a domain name

MARKHAM, CANADA: When a company is searching for a domain name to use for a business website, In Front Media, a website design company, offer several suggestions to consider before making the final choice for a domain name.

Len Doren, of In Front Media says, "Although we primarily design responsive WordPress websites for our clients, almost every project we develop always begins with discussions on the domain name." Len goes on to add, " Almost all the domains we suggest for our clients are either a .com or .ca Top Level Domain (TLD). The the .ca version is usually the most popular choice as most of our client's companies are situated in Canada."

There are many other extensions available today like .biz, .co, .company, .gift - with new TLDs appearing almost every month. There are also country TLD's available like .us (United States), .ca (Canada), .gb (Great Britain).

The hardest part in securing a domain name for the company is determining the actual words to use. When choosing a domain name to represent the company website, it's important to consider several very important things.

At IFM, we've come up with 5 top tips to help choose the right domain name for a business.

1) If the domain name being considered is available as a .com Top Level Domain, it is recommended to choose that extension. That is, unless the company wishes to be known by its geographical location, such as using a .ca TLD for a company located in Canada.

2) A domain name should be easy to remember. Making it a long multi-word domain can be difficult to remember and an annoyance to those that have to type it into the browser address bar. So, IFM recommends limiting the domain to 2-3 words at most.

3) Try to choose a domain name related to the business or product/services that are offered by the company, but not to be easily confused with other domain names. Adding dashes "-", an "s" to the end of a domain name to make it plural or adding the word "my" or "your" to the front of a good domain isn't really recommended.

4) Picking an exact match domain (EMD, e.g. BuyCheapWatches) is purported to have a negative SEO effect that can negate a domain from ranking at all with at least Google. So, pick just one good keyword in a multiple-word domain name that is a key product or service the company offers. I.e., "MarksAutoRepair", or "AndreasChocolates"

5) Using numbers, hyphens or odd characters (even ones that are allowed) may only result in confusion for those trying to remember a domain name. An example of a confusing domain style not recommended might look like this: Bobs-computer-recyclingServices.com. It is confusing and will be difficult to convey to others, both visually and verbally.