Choosing a domain name for your e-commerce website should be the first step in your online business plan. Think of your domain name as your online identity that reflects your business, like a big flashing sign in front of your online store. It should tell your visitors who you are and what you do. Many business owners don’t put much effort into picking the right domain name, which might become a big problem in the future.
As your brand name, it is essential to invest some time, and pick the right address for your online shop. The process can be time-consuming and might require some research, but the good domain name for your e-commerce can be a valuable asset in the long run.
Why Is Your Domain Important for Your Business?
In online business, your web address is the first impression you make to your visitors. As we all know the first impression creates a long-lasting memory, and you want to make that memory positive. When choosing your domain, you have the unique opportunity to define your brand and make it more visible. Don’t forget that SEO benefits much if you have a good keyword in your domain name.
Seo is an Important Part of Your Domain
Since e-commerce business relies on high visitors’ traffic, SEO is a very important part of achieving that. There are a lot of tips and tricks on how to help your business grow, but don’t underestimate the power of your domain. You should give it some thoughts into using business-related keywords for your domain name.
If you plan organic traffic growth, having your target keyword in your domain name can be a big advantage. Of course, there are some downsides to this strategy. Since you are not the first one to come up with it, most of the names are taken, and if not, they are usually very expensive.
Also, there is a potential downside of choosing a very targeted domain that can restrict the products that you sell – if your website name https://ift.tt/3clarIh your visitors will not expect to buy furniture and DVDs on your e-commerce website.
.com is Still the Best
With almost 41 percent of all registered domains, .com is still the most recognized and the most wanted top-level domain name. With .tk and .cn being the second and third with around 4,7 and 4,57 percent of all TLDs the numbers speak for themselves. The good thing with e-commerce websites is that there are many desirable domain extensions that you can use and that perfectly tells your visitors what you do.
The extensions you should first look up are .shop and .store. They make a relevant and very clear definition of what you do and what can people expect when they visit your website.
Keep in mind that you can be creative and choose domain extensions that can correspond well with your domain name like .me .it. You should always register a local domain in case you have products that are specific to some markets, regardless of .com availability.
The Unique Brand Stands Out from the Competition
Brand names that correspond well with your e-commerce website can help you stand out among competitors. Even if your desired keyword is taken, try to be creative and pick something similar but memorable. Thesaurus can be very helpful with this approach. You can use different domain extensions to make the best choice.
For example, if www.toysforkids.com is taken, try www.toysforkids.store and work your branding around the “Toys For Kids Store” phrase.
You should not be afraid to create new and unique words, just look at Google, Yahoo, and Bing. Even if this does not help there are a lot of domain name generators that can help you pick a domain name that is best for your online business.
Keep it Short and Simple
There are some general rules about any domain that you should follow: your domain name should be short, simple, easy to pronounce, and easy to spell. A good domain name for an e-commerce website should pass the so-called “radio test”, which is a great indicator that you are on the right path. A radio test means that people should easily spell your domain name when they hear it.
Using hyphens and numbers doesn’t help with easy pronunciation and explanation. “Hey check out my new e-commerce website Ali-Express. Just remember to type hyphen between Ali and Express”
Good Hosting Matters
Once you pick the right name, stay on the right path, and hurry up with the registration, until someone else takes it. Trustworthy hosting providers like Hostinger can speed up the process and offer you a ton of possibilities related to your business needs.
Picking your hosting provider should not be a difficult task but be sure to choose a plan that will help your business expand and grow in the long run, without any hiccups along the way. This is especially important for e-commerce websites that can have exponential growth and sudden surges of visitors that can be hard to handle by servers that are not prepared.
Once you decided about your domain name and finished the registration, you should also buy the common misspellings of your domain. That way you can redirect a lot of misspelled hits to your website.
Check for Social Media Availability
Social media plays a big part in the promotions, growth, and expansion of your online business, which is why you should immediately register appropriate social media handles. If there are handles that are the same as your domain name, you should go ahead and register them. If these are taken, social media allows you to be creative and use prefixes and suffixes, so don’t be afraid to use them. Since we are talking about e-commerce websites you can use buy, get the shop, now and a lot more words to create the handle that you like.
Register Your Domain Name by Yourself
The golden rule related to domain registration is to do it yourself. Instead of using agencies, and giving anyone a hold over your domain, and social media accounts, you should save yourself possible problems in the future and do everything yourself. This way your domain name is registered to you, along with corresponding social media accounts, and it is not depending on anyone else but you.
While you are at it, make sure that you check the auto-renew box, so that your domain doesn’t become inactive in case you forget to renew it after 12 or 24 months.
Hard Work
Choosing the right domain for your e-commerce website can be hard work, but it is a first step that will determine the future of your business, so you shouldn’t use shortcuts in the process. Hard work, in the beginning, will pay up in the long run, hopefully with a lot of users visiting your successful online shop.
The post How to Choose a Domain Name for Your E-commerce Website and Not to Fail? appeared first on CareerMetis.com.
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