The exponential growth in the Internet infrastructure in India has led to a corresponding boost in the e-commerce industry. With over 900 million Internet users, India has become the second largest online market, just behind China in the global index. Pair it with supportive government policies and an increasing share of organized retail markets, and you get a strong foundation for e-commerce proliferation.
If you also have plans to start an e-commerce business in India, you need to understand various aspects of business, product sourcing, etc., one of which is choosing a domain name.
Interesting Read : comprehensive guide to starting an e-commerce business in India
Choosing a domain name for your business is one of the most important decisions you will make. If you are wondering what’s in a name, it matters a lot when it is about setting up a brand. Ultimately, it is how your target audience will remember and find you. If chosen poorly, it can hurt your brand’s reputation. But a custom domain name can also help your website stand out. With over 351 million registered domain names across the Internet (as of Q2-2022; Source), choosing a unique domain name might seem difficult. But it is not over-complicated.
If you are facing trouble understanding how to choose a domain name as the ones you select are already in use, you’ve come to the right place. With the right research and a good understanding of domain name importance, you will find it easier to choose the most suitable domain name.
Before we take you to the pro tips for choosing a domain name, let’s cover the fundamentals.
What is a Domain Name?
A domain name can be considered a website’s equivalent to a physical address. If referred to as a part of a larger Domain Name System (DNS), it is your website’s address – a string of text that is mapped to your website. Your target users can type this name in the address bar or search engines to locate your business website. In fact, it is the first impression a user will have with your brand – irrespective of what you sell online.
Your domain name will be linked to its respective IP address and point to a web server that hosts your website data.
In simple terms, you need a domain name for your e-commerce website that is short and easy to remember, projects/represents your business quite well and is aligned with your brand’s mission and vision. A lengthy name may seem like a red flag to some customers, will be hard to recall, and may prevent users from revisiting your online store.
Luckily, we have done the hard work to bring you actionable tips to learn the best way to choose a domain name.
How to Choose a Domain Name for Your Business – 9 Pro Tips
Select the Top Level Domain (TLD) extension carefully
When it is about researching how to choose a domain name, you might have already found that ‘.com’ is the most popular domain extension while other trusted domain name options include .in, .org, .net, etc.
In technical terms, they are Top Level Domain (TLD) extensions. The range of TLD extensions varies from .xyz, .club, .inc, .tech, .marketing, and more. Similarly, there can be Country Codes TLD extensions (ccTLDs) like .in (for India), .au (for Australia), and .jp (for Japan).
While the most preferred option is a .com domain name extension, the name that you want to use with this extension might be already in use. In this case, you can select some other TLD extension based on your brand’s identity, niche, or region for your e-commerce business.
Add target keywords in the domain name if possible
Keywords are not meant only for optimizing your website in terms of search engines. In fact, different search engines use the select domain name to understand what your online store sells to determine search rankings. Therefore, if possible, include business-related keywords in the domain name of your website.
When you take this route to choose a domain name for your business, you will most likely benefit from an SEO boost for your brand. To get ideas about the right keywords, you can use Google Keyword Planner – a free tool that can help you explore different keywords in terms of search volume and competition. Make sure the keyword you select reflects your brand.
Keep your domain name short and memorable
Several reasons attract business owners to choose short domain names. First, they are faster to type and easy to remember, hence will most likely lead to a positive user experience. Considering this aspect is quite important with more and more users browsing the Internet through their mobile devices. A short domain name also implies easy brand recall.
On the other hand, if you end up choosing a long domain name, it might be hard to remember and can scare off visitors. As a rule of thumb, you should choose a domain name that has 6-14 characters.
Choose the one that is easy to spell and pronounce
Like every other e-commerce business owner, you would also want your domain name to be unique and memorable. However, depending on the unavailability of your domain name, modifying the spelling of a common word just to get the .com extension can confuse your audience. For instance, if you want to choose ‘bookshelf.com’ and it is available, it does not make sense to select ‘boookshelff.com’ for your store selling books online.
You can also go with the popular domain name pattern of 4 letters that goes like: consonant-vowel-consonant-vowel. For example: Meta, Snap, etc.
Keep in mind that even word-of-mouth marketing only helps when users can actually pronounce and spell your domain name easily.
Avoid using hyphens, doubled letters, and numbers in your domain name
Using a hyphen as a part of your domain name may seem necessary to get the brand name you want and is also in use by some brands. But you cannot deny the fact that they are difficult to express verbally. To clarify the brand name to someone, you must say ‘dash’ or ‘hyphen’ out loud. Similarly, typing the overall domain name with a hyphen can lead to a poor consumer experience.
Although exceptions are everywhere, it makes sense not to add a hyphen or number while brainstorming the most suitable domain name ideas. Avoid replacing letters in the name with a number which can eventually make the probability of mistyping the brand name high.
Similarly, doubled letters are hard to read and type correctly. Ultimately, it can also steal your website’s traffic.
Keep it unique
Choosing a unique domain name can help your e-commerce website stand out amidst the competition. Most importantly, it can help avoid potential legal troubles that can come up if your domain name resembles the name of an already-established brand. A unique domain name will also help in your marketing efforts.
For example, Paytm is certainly unique and comes to a user’s mind quickly. It is short, easy to spell and pronounce, and type. If you replace it with some generic name like onlinepaymentsthroughmobile.com or sendmoneyonline.com, the users may not get it right.
Check existing social media handles
While selling online, you might also have plans to create social media accounts for your brand to engage with potential customers. In doing so, you would want to use the main domain name as the social media handle on almost every platform. But what if it is already in use and cannot be taken again?
This is why it is important to check preferred social media platforms if the domain name you have selected is already in use by some other brand. Alternatively, you should also check which variations of your domain name are available.
Use an online domain name generator
While the information given above may seem like a lot to digest, you can also use online domain name generators to help with choosing a domain for your business. Using these free tools, you can simply input the keywords or brand-related words or product types you have already brainstormed using the above tips to find relevant domain names.
Even if you do not want to pick the names suggested by these tools, you can take inspiration from the suggestions they provide. Here are some of the popular domain name generators you can use:
- Domainwheel
- Namecheap
- Nameboy
- Panabee
Assess domain name pricing
In reality, you are most likely to have a certain budget for different sides of setting up an e-commerce business. If you are self-employed or launching a small-scale e-commerce business, that budget is probably pretty tight already.
A crucial part of learning how to choose a domain name is to consider the domain pricing, which may vary depending on the popularity of an option. In most cases, a unique domain name qualifies for a low introductory price. But if the name you have selected already falls into the ‘Premium’ category, the cost of buying a domain name can go up to a few thousand dollars or even more.
Also, keep in mind that domain name cost is recurring in nature and you need to renew the same periodically to avoid losing it to a competitor.
FAQs
What are the top five domain name extensions?
You can choose from .com, .net, .in, org, and .co. domain name extensions at the time of selecting a domain name.
All are domain names already in use?
You can check it via online domain name registrars and select the ones that are available and fairly priced.
Can I choose a long domain name for my online store?
It is advisable to use a short domain name free from hyphens, numbers, and doubled letters to make it memorable.
The bottom line
As detailed above, choosing a domain name isn’t a casual task but requires in-depth research in several different spheres. Once you are done with selecting a suitable domain name for your business, you can proceed with building the website and making your brand live.
Interesting Read : comprehensive guide to starting an e-commerce business in India
Read more ‘Knowledge Base’ blogs
