Are you currently in the process of building a beautiful website that you’re going to use to give your Irish business a big boost?
Before you push it live, there’s one important step that you have to take to make sure it brings in as much traffic as possible. And it doesn’t have anything to do with all of the content that you’ll actually have on your site.
Rather, you need to spend some time considering what the best domain name for your website would be. If you don’t choose the right name for your site, it could limit the number of people who see it and result in lower web sales than expected.
There are a handful of tips you should use to come up with the best domain name possible. Here is how to pick out the best domain name for your Irish business.
When it comes to creating the best domain name for your business, the more specific you can be, the better!
There are some businesses that will go the super generic route in the hopes of capturing attention from people all over the country and, to a larger degree, the world. They’ll snatch up a domain name like SuperAmazingAutoRepair.com and think that it’ll help bring in more business to their auto repair shop.
It might work in some cases if you market your business properly. But it might also confuse people since it’s not necessarily as specific as it could be.
If you own an auto repair shop in, say, Dublin, Ireland, something like DublinAutoRepair.ie (more on the .ie extension later!) would likely be the best domain name for you. It’ll let people know what you do and tell them where you’re located even before they click on your URL.
One of the simplest ways to come up with a specific domain name for your business is by working an important keyword into it.
What product or service does your company provide to customers? Whatever your answer to that question is should probably appear somewhere in your website’s domain name.
For example, if you’re in the business of providing auto repair services to your customers like the Dublin auto repair shop mentioned above, then “auto repair” is something that you should find a place for in your domain name. It’ll make it very easy for people to understand what it is that your company provides.
As an added bonus, incorporating a keyword into your domain name will often work wonders for your search engine optimization. Google will recognize your business as an auto repair shop when you have the words “auto repair” in your domain name and bring you up in more searches when people search for “auto repair” in Dublin and the surrounding areas.
You want to be as specific as you can when coming up with a domain name. You also want to work a keyword into it if you can.
But–and this is important, so pay attention!–you don’t want to make your domain name too long in the process of doing it. Something like AmazingDublinAutoRepairServices.com has too many words and characters in it to be the best domain name for your business.
You should only have two or three words in your domain name max. Those words should also be on the shorter side, if possible.
Remember: Your whole goal in creating a domain name should be to have people remember it without you having to remind them of what it is. If your domain name is too long or has really long words in it, there’s a good chance they’ll forget it and won’t visit your site very often.
This is one of the biggest mistakes that you can make when creating a domain name for your business.
There are, unfortunately, some companies that have built amazing websites filled with incredible products and services that people love. But unfortunately, they’ve also included one of the many frequently misspelt words like “accommodate” or “rhythm” in their domain name.
Now, they have people trying to access their site and struggling to do it because they’re misspelling the domain name.
If you have a word that’s hard to spell right in your business name, there might not be any getting around using it in your domain name. But if you can, you should avoid using any words in your domain name that are going to present problems for those people who aren’t great spellers.
You: “Make sure you check out our website. You can find it at No1DublinAutoRepair.ie”
Customer: “I will. Is it the number 1 and then DublinAutoRepair.com, or is it Number1DublinAutoRepair.ie?”
You: “No, no. It’s N-O-1 and then DublinAutoRepair.ie.”
Can you imagine how frustrating it’s going to be to have that conversation over and over and over again with customers in the coming years?
You might think that you’re being clever and really selling your auto repair shop by including something like “No1” in the domain name. But between the awkward abbreviation for the word “number” and the number 1, you’re going to confuse a lot of people with a domain name like that.
Generally speaking, you should shy away from using numbers in a domain name. They’re always going to make people wonder if they should use the actual number or the number written out as a word.
Furthermore, you should also avoid using hyphens in a domain name at all costs. The only way to make the example listed above any worse would be to go with something like No1-DublinAutoRepair.com. It’ll force you to literally spell your domain name out every time you tell it to someone.
When you first start looking around for a domain name to use for your business’ website, you’re likely going to find that many of the most obvious names will already be taken.
The internet has been around for years now, and as a result, most businesses have already used some of the first domain names that’ll pop into your head.
That’s not necessarily the worst thing in the world. It’ll force you to come up with something that’s unique and specific to your business.
But you do want to try and avoid using a domain name that is too similar to the one used by another business. It could end up confusing both your customers and the customers of the other business.
You also want to check to see if the domain name you’re going to use is copyrighted by another business. That business might not own the domain name, but they could very well have a physical store that will end up sharing the same name as your website.
You might also attempt to use your domain name to create social media accounts later, only to find that another business is using the name for their social media accounts. That could potentially get messy and lead to a legal battle over the name.
It’s best to choose something that no one else is using in any form or fashion when creating a domain name. It’ll prevent you from enduring any headaches later on.
You have the perfect domain name for your business in your sights. No one else has laid claim to it, and you’re ready to pounce on it right away. Amazing!
But before you do, there’s one last step you’ll need to take. You’ll have to choose the best domain name extension for your URL.
There will be no shortage of options. But as an Irish business owner, your best one will likely be the .ie extension. It’ll allow you to let your customers and fellow businesses know that you’re operating in Ireland and proud of it.
A company like Host.ie can set you up with a .ie extension and talk to you more about the benefits of using one. They also have web hosting options that would be great for your Irish business.
Have you come up with the best domain name for your business?
You should register it right away so that no one swoops in and steals it from you. You should also strongly consider using a .ie extension when you do it.
Once you have your domain name registered, you can finish working on designing your website and push it live. This will give your business a chance to grow by leaps and bounds and allow customers to find you quicker than ever before.
It won’t be long before you’re doing more sales and connecting with more people who are interested in what your business has to offer.
Contact us today if you have any questions about working with one of Ireland’s leading web hosting providers.
