Choosing a domain name for your small business
Choosing a domain name is a crucial step in establishing your online presence. I’ve often been asked to advise on domain name selection and I’ve seen some not-so-great choices.
Your domain name is not only a key piece of your brand that will show up on business cards, signage, merchandise etc., your domain name also plays a role in SEO. Here are some best-practices to help you select a well-branded, SEO-friendly domain name for your business:
1. Keep it Short and Sweet
Your domain name should be easy to remember and type. Avoid using long names, hyphens, or numbers that could confuse your potential customers. Ideally not much more than 15 characters. Think of a domain name as the nickname for your business.
Also, avoid filler words. ‘The’, ‘and’, ‘of’ — these are words that might exist in your business’ full name, but they’re unnecessary for a domain name.
Let’s apply this to an example. If your business is ‘The Market on Fourth Street’ consider the domain name ‘marketonfourth.ca’ rather than ‘themarketonfourthstreet.ca’. The first domain name is much shorter and sweeter. You get the idea!
2. Make it Keyword Relevant but Most Importantly: Brand Related
Using keywords of your product or service in your domain name can help improve your website’s SEO.
For example, say you own a local cafe named ‘Bartley’s’. Your domain name could include your service offering and be ‘bartleyscafe.ca’ to help indicate to search engines that you’re a local cafe. Or if you’re the owner of an auto shop in Morris named ‘Bill’s Auto’ you could consider ‘billsautomorris.ca’ to both indicate your services and location.
That being said, use discretion. If using a keyword makes your domain too long or detracts from your brand — don’t use it.
Your domain should be unique and specific to your business, making it easy for customers to remember and share with others. Ensure that your business’ brand is still reflected in your domain. On occasion I’ve seen businesses entirely exclude any part of their business name from their domain name. Just because ‘winnipegplumber.ca’ is available and has the perfect service and location keywords for your business, doesn’t mean you should use it if your business is named ‘DiamondDrain Repairs’.
3. Consider your TLD (.com, .ca etc.)
TLD stands for top-level domain, it’s the extension at the end of your domain. If you’re primarily targeting customers in Canada, stick with a “.ca” domain extension. Using a “.ca” lets search engines know that you’re Canadian and can help your website rank better in Canadian search results.
I only recommend ‘.com’ extensions if you’re a company that also services American clients.
4. Check Availability
Before finalizing your domain name, make sure it’s available for registration. Use a domain name registrar or hosting service to search for available domain names. Here’s a great place to do that.
Bonus Tip: Time to Stop Using ‘WWW’
I often see business’ sharing their domain name with ‘www’ in front. ‘Www’ stand for ‘World Wide Web’. There is a history behind including ‘www’ in the domain name (I won’t get into it but feel free to read about it here), but this practice is unnecessary. You may notice that when you type ‘www’ before a domain in your browser’s url bar you’ll be immediately directed to the url without ‘www’.
Go ahead and give out your business’ domain name without ‘www’ — it’ll make your web address shorter and, in my opinion, looks more modern — how often do we refer to the internet as the ‘World Wide Web’ anymore?
Conclusion
Remember, your domain name is an essential element of your online identity. By selecting a good domain name, you can help your business establish a strong online presence and improve your search engine ranking.
