One of the biggest problems when it comes to building a website and getting online is what domain to register. It’s often the case that the domain you desperately want and crave has been registered by someone else, forcing you to think of alternatives. Here are a few pointers when it comes to choosing that all important domain name:

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1)      You don’t necessarily have to register a domain that mentions your company name. Instead, why not choose a generic domain name that says exactly what you do in terms of your products and services? Not only is this likely to be more memorable to your clients, it will help with your search engine ranking too. For example, if you were to register the domain www.widgetsforgadgets.co.uk then this gives you an immediate advantage over your competitors if someone searches for ‘widgets for gadgets’

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2)      You are allowed up to 63 characters between the www. and the domain extension (e.g. .co.uk) but you don’t have to use all of those characters. In fact it’s good practice to keep your domain name as short as possible. If it’s too long then customers are less likely to visit your site and this also increases the risk of your domain being mis-typed and you lose a potential customer.

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3)      Also, don’t forget that your domain is likely to be used for email purposes too so you’ll have to give out your address as whatever@yourdomain.co.uk and if your domain is long to start with then your email prefix will only lengthen this, meaning people won’t visit your website and they won’t email you either! This is obviously something you will want to avoid!

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4)      Some tips on shortening your domain are the use of numbers and dashes. For example, www.widgetsforgadgets.co.uk could become www.widgets4gadgets.co.uk.

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5)      Remember, you’re only allowed to use letters, numbers and dashes in your domain name. Spaces and special characters are not allowed. As a general rule you should replace a space with a dash or replace an amperes and with just the word ‘and’.

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Part 2 of ‘Choosing your Domain Name’ will be published on 4th November. Be sure to return. Or if you’d like to register a domain for your company right now then why not contact us on 01942 225900 or email to check availability and obtain a price?

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