Choosing the Right Domain Name

A successful website is dependent on a good domain name. It needs to be a name(s) that visitors will remember easily. It needs to be a name you can build your brand around. 

Unfortunately it is getting harder to find simple domain names as more and more are registered. Over 350 million domain names have already been registered and simple, single word domains sell for thousands through domain auctions. 

Merging two words together can be effective (such as "FaceBook", "NetFlix", "YouTube" or "BreizhConcept"). Alternatively a portmanteau, a combination of two words creating a new word (for example "Web" and "Log" became "blog"; "Pin" and "Interest" became "Pinterest"; "Group" and "Coupon" became "Groupon"). 

The shorter the name the easier it will be to remember. The average number of characters in the worlds top 100,000 domain names is nine. "IwantalongDomainName.com" is tiresome to type, (more scope for errors) and harder to remember. Keep it simple. Before looking for your own domain name spend some time looking at what your competitors have already registered and make sure your name is distinct - to avoid customer confusion. Try different search terms and look at which domains work the best, and why?

Avoid hyphens. Customers will forget to put them in or get confused between hyphen "-" and underscore "_". Also, it's a mouthful to deliver verbally. The most successful domain names are easy to say: "Amazon", "Facebook", "YouTube"....

Think carefully about using acronyms or abbreviations. For example reducing "John Smiths Plumbing Services" to "JSPS.com" is not only unmemorable but also meaningless. Keywords in your domain name will help your site to be found on-line and helps customers to understand what you do.

Once you've found your perfect domain name check it is not already in use, perhaps with a different suffix. The .com suffix is the most well known with international recognition; 75% of all domain registrations are. com. The Breizh Concept Domain Search defaults to .com and this is a really good starting point for any domain search. Chances are if the .com suffix is available all the other suffixes will be also. If the .com is already registered our domain search will display what alternative suffixes are available.

These suffuxes or extensions are known as the Top Level Domain (TLD). Responsibility for management of top-level domains is delegated through Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Costs for registering domain names varies a great deal with some regional and less popular suffixes costing a lot more than .com. This is an important consideration because the registration costs for your domain name are an anual expenditure. Some domain registers offer introduction offers; it is worth looking beyond the offer to find out what the real long term costs are!

It is important to check that your domain name has not already been registered as a Trademark by someone else. If the name is registered as a trade mark you risk expensive legal fees to defend a case you will loose and your website is finished.

The other risk with using a suffix other than .com is that some of your customers will no doubt end up at the .com website. Dot com is the most popular and trusted extension, by far. All the top websites are dot com. "MyCompany.com" is more memorable and creates a better impression than "MyCompany.biz".

The original alternatives to ".com" are ".net" (internet), ".org" (organisation) , ".info" (information). Today there are hundreds of suffixes, listed below. These have provided new opportunities for short memorable domain names. The downside is many are language dependant whereas ".com" is internationally recognised. Also there are country and geographic suffixes, for example: ".uk", ".fr", ".eu", ".asia". These are fine but restrict your website to a geographical area, If your company or organisation wants visitors from different countries then a country specific suffix is not for you. Some large companies use "mybrand.com" as the main site and country suffixes for language/local specific content: "mybrand.fr", "mybrand.de" etc.. Each country has control over its own suffix and different regulations. Sometimes registration for a country specific suffix takes 24 hours to be confirmed by the relevant country. Sometimes you may have to provide more personal information than you would have to for other domain names.

 Hopefully this artcile will be of use in choosing your domain name. The domain name is the crucial first step to your online presence and is very important. It is worth putting in a bit of time and research before making the purchase. Below are some examples of domain name fails:

IT scrap - itscrap.com

Who Represents - whorepresents.com

Speed of Art - speedofart.com

Experts Exchange - expertsexchange.com

IHA Vegas - ihavegas.com

Pen Island - penisland.net

Les Bocages - Lesbocages.com

Therapist Finder - therapistfinder.com

Winters Express - wintersexpress.com

Choose Spain - choosespain.com

Powergen Italia - powergenitalia.com

Top-Level Domains:

academy
accountant
accountants
actor
adult
ag
agency
ai
airforce
am
amsterdam
apartments
app
archi
army
art
asia
associates
at
attorney
auction
auto
autos
baby
band
bar
barcelona
bargains
bayern
be
beer
berlin
best
bet
bid
bike
bingo
bio
biz
biz.pl
black
blog
blue
boston
boutique
build
builders
business
buzz
bz
ca
cab
cafe
camera
camp
capital
car
cards
care
careers
cars
casa
cash
casino
catering
cc
center
ceo
ch
charity
chat
cheap
church
city
cl
claims
cleaning
clinic
clothing
cloud
club
cn
co
co.in
co.jp
co.kr
co.nz
co.uk
co.ve
co.za
coach
codes
coffee
college
com
com.ag
com.au
com.br
com.bz
com.cn
com.co
>com.es
com.mx
com.pe
com.ph
com.pl
com.ru
com.tw
com.ve
community
company
computer
condos
construction
consulting
contractors
cooking
cool
country
coupons
courses
credit
creditcard
cricket
cruises
cymru
cz
dance
date
dating
de
deals
degree
delivery
democrat
dental
dentist
design
dev
diamonds
digital
direct
directory
discount
dk
doctor
dog
domains
download
earth
education
email
energy
engineer
engineering
enterprises
equipment
es
estate
eu
events
exchange
expert
exposed
express
fail
faith
family
fan
fans
farm
fashion
film
finance
financial
firm.in
fish
fishing
fit
fitness
flights
florist
fm
football
forsale
foundation
fr
fun
fund
furniture
futbol
fyi
gallery
games
garden
gen.in
gg
gifts
gives
glass
global
gmbh
gold
golf
graphics
gratis
green
gripe
group
gs
guide
guru
haus
health
healthcare
hockey
holdings
holiday
homes
horse
hospital
host
house
idv.tw
immo
immobilien
in
inc
ind.in
industries
info
info.pl
info.ve
ink
institute
insure
international
investments
io
irish
ist
istanbul
it
jetzt
jewelry
jobs
jp
kaufen
kim
kitchen
kiwi
kr
la
land
law
lawyer
lease
legal
lgbt
life
lighting
limited
limo
live
llc
loan
loans
london
love
ltd
ltda
luxury
maison
management
market
marketing
mba
me
me.uk
media
melbourne
memorial
men
menu
miami
mobi
moda
moe
money
monster
mortgage
movie
ms
mx
nagoya
name
navy
ne.kr
net
net.ag
net.au
net.br
net.bz
net.cn
net.co
net.in
net.nz
net.pe
net.ph
net.pl
net.ru
net.ve
network
news
ninja
nl
nom.co
nom.es
nom.pe
nrw
nyc
okinawa
one
onl
online
org
org.ag
org.au
org.cn
org.es
org.in
org.nz
org.pe
org.ph
org.pl
org.ru
org.uk
org.ve
page
paris
partners
parts
party
pe
pet
ph
photography
photos
pictures
pink
pizza
pl
place
plumbing
plus
poker
porn
press
pro
productions
promo
properties
Protection
pub
pw
qpon
quebec
racing
re.kr
realestate
recipes
red
rehab
reise
reisen
rent
rentals
repair
report
republican
rest
restaurant
review
reviews
rich
rip
rocks
rodeo
ru
run
ryukyu
sale
salon
sarl
school
schule
science
se
security
services
sex
sg
sh
shiksha
shoes
shop
shopping
show
singles
site
ski
soccer
social
software
solar
solutions
space
storage
store
stream
studio
study
style
supplies
supply
support
surf
surgery
sydney
systems
tax
taxi
tc
team
tech
technology
tel
tennis
theater
theatre
tienda
tips
tires
tk
today
tokyo
tools
tours
town
toys
trade
training
travel
tube
tv
tw
uk
university
uno
us
vacations
vegas
ventures
vet
vg
viajes
video
villas
vin
vip
vision
vodka
vote
voto
voyage
wales
watch
web.ve
webcam
website
wedding
wiki
win
wine
work
works
world
ws
wtf
xxx
xyz
yoga
yokohama
zone