The main reason why I think that choosing a domain name is a major task is related to a technological issue. Numerous times, I have found that moving a website to a new domain name always triggered a series of problems. Consequently, it is important to choose a good domain name right from the beginning.
Less than 10 chars
People use smartphones and tablets to type their domain names in the browser, the less the keys to type and the better it is. All the domain names related to an online business have less than 10 characters in their name. For sure, they registered their name when there were many available names.
Keyword-rich vs Meaningless domain names:
Meaningful domain names are usually longer than meaningless domain names, especially now since the best keyword-rich domain names have been registered. There are many popular websites with meaningless domain names. Among the famous meaningless domain names there
I think that in the future it is going to get more and more difficult to get a short and keyword-rich .com, .net, .org domain name. If the domain name exceeds the 10 chars, it is a problem for people who have to type the domain name on a small screen like a smartphone.
The keyword-rich domain names have a major downside. It limits the scope of the website to the scope of the domain name. For example, if your domain name is called teddybearsdelight.com it is expected that you sell teddy bears. If you start selling plastic ducks people will not understand why there are plastic ducks on sale at teddybearsdelight.com. On the other hand, if you choose a meaningless domain likes Chipaku.com you can sell everything you want.
Click here to read my investigation about the ranking of keyword-rich domain names in Google.
Prefer when the trading name is the domain name
People get confused when they reach a website and when they buy a service or a product and see a completely different name on the invoice or in the email signatures. If the trading name is different from the domain name it may harm the reputation of the company, since people may not understand why there are different “brands” everywhere (in email domains, in email signatures, on invoices). If the customers have to interact with a company offline related to the website, it is much better when the trading name is equal to the domain name. For instance, in Ireland a company formation business named Company bureau ltd has a website named companyformations.ie when people need to interact with the said company, they don’t know if they should address their communication exchange to Company Formation or Company bureau.
Avoid plural / singular confusion
People are confused by domain names that could be singular or plural. People including me never remember if the domain name is plural or singular. For example, 2thehasting.com. People may wonder if the website is named 2thehasting.com or 2thehastings.com
Avoid the following domain names which cause confusion because people will not remember if the domain name is plural or singular.
- homeofpreschooler.com or homeofpreschoolers.com
- girlatwork.com or girlsatwork.com
- dayofroses.com or daysofrose.com or daysofroses.com or dayofrose.com