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ADVICE
- CHOOSING A DOMAIN NAME
based on NetBenefit's
free guides
A domain name is an "Internet Address" which can be used as an Email
Address and/or Website Address.
For example, if your name is Jemima Smith, then you might choose
to register the Domain Name smith.co.uk. From this you can
have a range of Email Addresses e.g. jemima@smith.co.uk,
john@smith.co.uk.
In fact, depending on the Email services you buy, you can have pretty
much anything you like before the "@" sign as long as it doesn't
contain punctuation other than a hyphen or a full stop.
Choosing a Business Domain Name
An example: Your company name is Smith Wurke Ltd. Your strategy
is not only to protect your "core" name by registering it, but also
to register the most popular international variants and most likely
miss-spellings. Many users of the internet will guess the address
of a website. In order to increase the chances of your site being
found you need to consider what people might guess based only on
hearing your company name. You will probably end up needing to register:
smithwork.co.uk
smith-work.co.uk
smithwork.com
smith-work.com
smithwurke.co.uk
smith-wurke.co.uk
smithwurke.com
smith-wurke.com
Once you've decided which domains to register (and don't forget
to also register your brand names) then you'll need to decide what
to do with them.
In general, advertise as few addresses as possible. If you have
just one website, arrange web forwarding so that all of your addresses
"point" to the same site:
smithwork.co.uk
smith-work.co.uk
smithwork.com
smith-work.com
all forward to www.smithwork.co.uk
smithwurke.co.uk
smith-wurke.co.uk
smithwurke.com
smith-wurke.com
Only publish the "correct address". Continuing from the above example,
we would suggest smith-work.com because it's clear, short
and easy to read. Then publish your website address as www.smith-work.com
and your email addresses as firstname.surname@smith-work.com
What do I do if my Company or Brand Name has already been registered
as a Domain by someone else?
If it really matters, you can try to buy the name back, or possibly
even take legal action to retrieve it. Neither of these courses
of action are guaranteed, and both can prove expensive. Often it
proves better to simply try thinking a little laterally. Using the
example above, if you can't get hold of the domain names you need
because someone else has already registered them, you might try
to register some kind of acronym, such as swl.com or swl.co.uk
Tips for Choosing a Domain Name
- Keep
it short: users don't like to type lengthy names - and shorter
names are easier to remember.
- Your
domain name is the key to your internet presence, and should therefore
be recognizable, easy to remember and relate to your business
name, brand, product or activities.
- If
your company is located in the UK, it's recommended that you register
a .co.uk domain name even if your business activity includes
export trade. If you have an international presence, i.e. an overseas
office, .com might be more suitable. Many businesses choose
to register both. Both these addresses can "point" to the same
email account and website.
- UK
limited companies can register .ltd.uk domains as well
as the popular .co.uk - there is a range of endings available.
- Domain
names are case insensitive. For simplicity, keep your domain in
lowercase. UK domains need to be 3 to 64 characters long, but
different rules apply in different countries.
- No
punctuation is allowed except a hyphen which is normally perceived
as a "space". If your company or brand name contains two words
(e.g. John Smith Ltd) you might choose to register both johnsmith.co.uk
and john-smith.co.uk in order to further protect your brands
and enhance your "findability".
- If
your company name has already been registered, why not try a slogan,
brand name or acronym? Creative names can be very effective. Be
aware that if you register a domain name which infringes another
company name or trademark they may take action to recover it.
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