7 Tips To Buying A Domain Name

Buying a domain name involves a lot of complexities such as background research, and comparing prices, etc. The act of buying a domain name itself is easy as there are dozens of service providers from where you can buy a domain name.

But before hurrying to buy a domain name that sounds good and is available at a reasonable price, you should consider going over a few important factors. We have created a list of tips that you should follow to get the best domain name for yourself.

7 tips to buying a domain name

You can buy a domain name from web hosting companies such as Hostinger.com, Godaddy.com, Bigrock.com, and many others. However, before deciding on buying a domain name, keep in mind the following things:

1. Easy to remember

Choose a domain name that is easy to remember and pronounce. The trick to choosing a memorable name is to select one that is related to your business or blog.

For example, if you choose a domain name like “www.flyingchicken.com” for your online food delivery website, it may not work.

Also, remember that you should not go with domain names that have weird spellings or numbers and hyphens in between. They create confusion when someone orally tells others the name of your website. For example, if someone tells you to buy shoes from “www.shooz4all.com,” you are not going to find the website unless you know the exact spelling.

If you are buying a domain name for a personal website, choosing a domain with your name is a good idea. But you will have to take some effort with SEO to make it easily searchable.

2. Avoid legal hassles

While shopping for a domain name, avoid names that sound similar to any existing brand. Even if it’s spelled differently, you should consider going for a different domain name.

Choosing a similar sounding or spelt name will invite trademark violation cases from companies that think your domain name is infringing on their trademarked name. If found guilty in the court, your website might get blocked.

A Delhi High Court recently ordered suspension of the domain name “My Voltas Care” in a trademark infringement case filed by Voltas. Similarly, Amazon India won a case against rogue websites such as amazonbuys.com and others for using its trademarked name.

That’s why, it’s important to search the Internet to ensure there is no similar sounding brand name that’s already there.

3. Domain history

Just like people buy and sell houses, very often domain names are also sold after purchasing. So there is a high chance you like a domain name that was in use before for a different business.

Before buying a domain name, it’s important to do the due diligence and check the history of the domain name.

The domain name you want to purchase might be blacklisted by Google for manipulative SEO practices, or might have been involved in an illegal business such as an adult site or a betting platform.

Such domain names, although not operational anymore, might impact your business.

4. Buy alternate domains

If you type Gogle.com in your browser, it will redirect you to Google.com. It is so because Google has bought the similar sounding mis-spelt versions of its domain name.

Companies very often buy domain names that have alternate, similar sounding, commonly mis-spelt words related to their original domain so that users reach the right website even if they typed something else.

Once you have decided which domain name you are going to buy, you can also look for alternate spellings of that domain and buy some, if not all.

5. Unique domain names

Look for a domain name that is unique and creative, but at the same time unambiguous and easy to remember. Think of your domain name as your brand identity.

The domain name you choose should not sound spammy or unauthentic. For example, discountonfood.com or cheapbuy.com sound dodgy.

If possible, go with a domain name that hints at the philosophy of your business. For example, the domain name Amazon gives the idea that the product listing of this e-commerce store is as vast as the Amazon jungle.

However, you don’t necessarily have to go with a name that has another meaning associated with it. You can choose your own unique name, but keep in mind short names that are not mouthful work the best when it comes to the recall value of a website.

6. Choose domain extensions wisely

A domain name consists of the unique name (the part after www in a website address) that you want to give to your website and the domain extension, the last part of a website address.

These extensions are called top-level domains, whereas the unique name you choose is second-level domain.

You can either buy the .com extension, which is the most expensive one to buy, or can choose something that’s relevant to your business or geographical location. While extensions such as .com, .net, .org, .gov, are one of the most popular ones, there are more than 1,500 domain extensions you can choose from. 

There are domain extensions such as .coffee, .studio, etc that represent niche business websites. Depending on what your website is about, and the price you are ready to pay for the desired extension, you should research the available domain.

Consider buying the domain name with the .com extension as it’s easy to remember and is the most popular.

7. Social media handles

It is ideal to check the name of your domain name on social media platforms to ensure that no one else has a social handle with that name. Ideally, you would like to keep your social media handle the same as your business name and the domain name.

If there are no other pages that are similar to your chosen domain name, you should immediately create a page of the domain name that you are going to buy.

Conclusion

Buying a domain name is sort of an investment, so the decision to buy one should not be hurried. Take your time and do detailed research on what kind of domain you want to own. In addition to the above points, you can also talk to people in your social circle to understand how they went about buying a domain name.

Read more of our Knowledge Base articles here.