When it comes to choosing a domain name for your new business there are a lot of things to consider. And if you have never done it before, it can be quite daunting.
What is a domain name?
A domain name is the address that you type into your web browser to locate and access a certain website.
A domain name is made up of three parts: the word, the dot and the extension. For example, if you want to access Google’s website you will have to type www.google.com into your web browser.
A domain name can only be registered by one individual or company at any one time. If the domain name you are looking to purchase for your business is already taken, you have two choices. Either wait until the current owner leaves it to expire – this will likely take years, or will never happen!. Or you can contact the current owner and make an offer for that particular domain name.
Keep in mind that the domain name market is a huge business and that companies are ready to spend millions on a good domain name. So we would recommend that you just keep searching for a good domain and register the best one that you can find.
For instance, for our business, Grow Digital, www.growdigital.com was already taken, so we settled for and purchased www.grow-digital.com.
There are no limits on how many domain names you can register. However once registered, there is an annual renewal fee for each domain name which needs to be paid, otherwise, you will lose your domain names.
Some businesses choose to protect themselves by purchasing a .com domain and a country domain, like Amazon for instance with www.amazon.com and www.amazon.co.uk. A business might not use both domains, but owning them stops another business from purchasing them. Another option is to redirect one domain to the other, so accessing either domain will show the same website.
Searching for a domain name
Searching for a domain name is straightforward. Most hosting providers will also offer domain name registration. But if you want to keep your domain names separate from your hosting company, then take a look at GoDaddy and 123Reg. They offer a quick way to check domain name availability as well as affordable pricing.
One of the recommendations we always make is, try and get your domain name registration and your website hosting with the same company. This isn’t critical – it just means you will have one company to contact and one annual invoice – Keep it simple.
Remember to think about how your domain name choice could impact your social media profiles. Check out our recent blog post (for more information). If you are still trying to decide on a name for your business, then take a look at our business name blog post.
Hopefully this blog post has helped you in choosing a domain name for your business.
