Best practises on choosing the right domain name for your business. Which should be memorable, brandable and offers SEO benefits that leads to a better exposure.

1. How to Choose The Right Domain
Name For Your Business
Mohamed Anan
Internet Entrepreneur
www.valuestartup.com

2.  Choosing the right domain name for your new
startup is a very important task.
 Your perfect domain name should be a brandable
domain, should be easy to remember. It should
help you with your SEO "Search Engine
Optimization" by adding your main keyword.
 You should take your time to select a domain
name by the guide lines and best practices that
we would discuss in a moment.
 Here I am assuming that you have chosen to go
with a self hosted website. And will not be
relaying on a domain supplied by a blog hosting
company such as wordpress, blogger, live
journal, etc. For branding purposes you should
always host your own website.

3.  Why should you purchase your own domain name?
 There are many reasons for this.
 Firstly for creditability and professionalism, anyone can
start a free website with any blog hosting company
mentioned earlier. Having your own domain shows that
you take your website and your business seriously.
 Secondly for branding purpose, a carefully picked domain
name would enhance the brand of your products and
services. Think Apple.
 Thirdly when you purchase your own domain. You can
have your own branded email address "Eg.
Mohamed@valuestartup.com" which add to your
professionalism, creditability and your SEO authority in the
long run.
 Tips and rules for choosing the right domain name
 Before we start please consider that many businesses like
facebook, google, pinterest. Don't have a great looking
domain names but still became some of the brightest
brands in the world.
 But these best practices would give you a better chance to
choose a brandable domain name that is right for you.

4.  Have a Vision for your Business and Target
Audience
 First rule on how to choose the right domain
name for your business Is to know your
business. Have a vision what should it look like?
What do you want to achieve with it? What tone
and voice will it be written in? Who is your target
audience?
 Why this is important? to know your limits. If your
target audience is teenagers then it would be
totally acceptable to have a domain name like
"awesomestuff.com" It will not do good if your
target audience is a C level executives in fortune
500.

5.  Brainstorm Your Top Keywords
 As usual I always start with a pen and a paper.
Write down the best keywords that is
describing your business. Put your top keywords
in Google. Write down the most notable domain
name ideas.
 With the list completed start pairing them and
adding prefixes and suffixes. Play with them until
you get a good name for your website.
 Easy Spelling
 Try to choose a domain name which is easy to
spell. Many people are having some problems
spelling certain words. Try to make your name
easy to remember without confusion.

6.  Choose a Well Known Top Level Domain ".Com .Net .Org"
 This is one of the longest debates in the internet business world.
Are these top level domains are good for SEO? Do they enhance
business creditability?
 I try to look at it in a different way. the COM was the oldest and
it's the most recognized top level domain. Followed by NET and
ORG.
 Browsers are configured to auto fill the COM. Ex. When you type
Valuestartup in your browser then press Ctrl+Enter you
automatically go to www.valuestartup.com.
 Because of this it would be safer to choose a COM followed by
NET or ORG. They would give you the biggest chance to score
higher creditability. And it would be easier for people to find
and REMEMBER.
 Keep Your Domain Name as Short as Possible
 It would be easier for people to remember and to type on their
browsers.
 It would look better in the search engine results and would all for
more characters in your URL for future posts.
 And finally it would fit nicely in your business cards and other
offline media.

7.  Avoid The Mistake of Using
Copyright Infringement
 Imagine building a great website with a great name
and suddenly discover that part of it is copyrighted.
This would be painful.
 So please go to copyright.gov and search your
chosen names before you purchase them.
 Avoid Hyphens and Numbers in Your Domain
Name
 Again using hyphens was one of the biggest and
longest debates in the internet marketing world -I
don't know why these people argue so much- But as
always I look at it differently -From
the customer's eyes and you should always do this-
 Hyphens would not make it easy for a visitor to
remember it's location! And he may forget it all
together and land on a competitor website and lose
him.

8.  Purchase Other Extensions
 You may consider buying other extensions
besides the main .COM and redirect them to it.
You may buy NET. ORG BIZ domains and
redirect them to the main .COM domain. To avoid
any future manipulation of your brand by any
competitor.
 Best Domain Registrars
 You can use Namecheap . You would get a .COM
domain for 11.69 USD per year and some
premium domain would be valued at tens of
thousands! Just stick to the 11.69 Domains for
now.

9.  If you would like a free domain, you can always
subscribe to my email newsletter and within a
couple of weeks I will send you an offer. 50%
Discount on our premium web hosting service
and a free domain name -With less than 30 USD
you can enjoy a full year of premium web hosting
and a free domain- PLUS two months money
back guarantee if for any reason our service
didn't meet your expectations.
 I would love to hear your thoughts about this
article. Please share and comment.
 - Mohamed
 www.valuestartup.com
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