The Pertinence of Domain Names for Websites

The pertinence of the right domain name for your website is frequently overlooked and this can become a setback that may not come to the fore until it is too late to remedy. An easy way to make sure traffic to your website is to select a domain name (URL) that is as close to your company name as possible.

Imagine you have managed to design a website that is focussed on your niche product or services and then it suddenly dawning on you that you need to give it a name. You may think to yourself that perhaps it is a good idea to give the site a name reflecting what you are about, only to discover that your competitors are already using all of the best domain names that would have been so appropriate. You will then realise that you should have started your search from the outset, prior to even starting the design for your website.

Having a website with the name being the same as the URL is a great marketing tool, because when people think about your website, they will think of it by its name. Therefore, if your URL is also the same as your website name, they will automatically know where to look. An example of this is when people think of raincoats, they will not have to ponder over which URL to type into their browser search box to find the answer. In the circumstances, it will make perfect sense if the name of the website is also the URL address, e.g. ‘raincoats.com’.

Imagine that your company website is called Raincoats, but then you discover somebody else has that domain name, so you will instead have to come up with some obscure domain name, for example ‘raincoatsforrian.com’. However, what will happen is that when potential customers type ‘raincoats’ into the search box of their browser, they will end up on the site of your competitor, ‘raincoats.com’. The more often this occurs, the more sales you will lose to the detriment of your business.

People should remember that wherever possible, people searching for information on a service or product will automatically turn to the Internet for the information they seek and this is why it will pay dividends to have a domain name that is reflective of the services or products you have on offer. This in turn equates to the fact that there will then be less for your potential customers to remember.

Supposing you are unable to purchase the URL that you really want? This really is dependent upon how much you really want a particular domain name. If you currently have an existing brand name that you are already known for, you will almost certainly not want to ditch that name just because you were unable to buy the URL for it. After all, you will have spent a considerable amount of time and effort on establishing that name in your market. In this case, you may consider trying to purchase the domain name from whoever owns it, as there are some people who earn a living from purchasing domain names for products and services that are well known.

Carol Forrest is the Managing Director of Webs Galore Limited which is a professional website design agency specialising in the creation of cheap and affordable website design for small and medium sized companies. Website:
http://www.websgalore.co.uk