Tips On Choosing A Domain Name For Ecommerce

By: Rebecca Prescott


Choosing the right domain name is an important foundation for any ecommerce business. Not only should it be memorable and relevant to your target audience, but there are specific considerations relating to search engine optimization, as well as implications associated with the domain name extension itself.

More so than a simple, offline street address, domain names can convey a lot of information to your prospects. Fortunately, this is something you have a lot of control over. Whereas you cannot rename a street, you can define your web address, within the limits of what is available. Because prospects cannot see your site in directory and search listings, the domain name should communicate the nature of your site, and if possible, something of your business.

When brainstorming a domain name, start with your main keyword. Whilst it's not essential to include this in the final name, doing so serves two purposes. First, it tells your visitors what they can expect. It identifies your site as being relevant to their inquiry, and it also helps search engine bots determine the relevance of your site. Whilst no-one truly knows what goes into a search engine's ranking algorithm, most of the sites in the top 30 tend to include their main keyword in the domain name for a given query.

Keywords are not enough, however. Simply stringing keywords together creates a very weak domain name. It tends to be cumbersome, and poorly remembered. Try to thing of a way to convey some value or description of your site, in as few words as possible. If you can create a short phrase, perhaps three words, including your keyword, then it will sound both memorable and natural. For example, my sister called her site "Sane Parenting". My business website is called "Pick The Business".

This exercise requires a little lateral thinking. It can be a good idea to use a thesaurus to find synonyms as many combinations are already taken. Unfortunately, this is the case with a lot of two word combinations, although with a little patience you can still find some good ones.

The best domain extension to choose is generally .com, though there are exceptions to this rule. The reason you should opt for .com in most cases is because this is the extension that most people default to when they try and remember web addresses. If you choose a different extension, perhaps .biz or .org, you will potentially lose some traffic to the .com extension as people mistakenly type in that url. Conversely, if you own the .com extension, this can be to your benefit.

Country specific domain names are another case entirely, particularly if you have a business that is not global. They essentially act as a filter, and can deliver more targeted traffic. If your business is global, however, this filtering could have a detrimental effect, as people may assume you don't service their country. In that case, choosing a .com extension would be better.

Avoid using dashes and numbers in your domain name. They are hard to remember, and look cumbersome. There are no search engine advantages to using dashes, if anything, the opposite. In any case, you will probably lose traffic as people are likely to forget to type them in. Numbers can be easily confused, as they can be spelled or written numerically. And they don't look professional.

If you can create a domain name that communicates the intent of your business, or a sense of your business' values, then you assist your visitors in remembering it, as well as creating a favorable first impression. And if you're looking at selling your domain name (or site) further down the track, short domain names that are catchy always fetch higher prices.