Bad Domain Names – Avoid These Mistakes When Choosing Your Domain Name

Do you have a new brand or business that is just getting off the ground?

In order to be a respected business, you’ve got to have a website. The internet is booming with businesses and people selling things. But this begs the question, what domain name should you pick?

There are a few common mistakes that people make when they’re trying to choose a domain name. While these are simple and common mistakes, they lead to very bad domain names.

Read on if you’re ready to jump on the website bandwagon, but haven’t picked a name yet.

Choosing a Name Different from the Business Name

When choosing a domain name, you should try to get the name as close to your business name as possible, without changing the meaning.

Search engines, Google, for example, uses algorithms to rank websites based on different criteria. Search engines look for keywords, relevancy, consistency, and much more. Having a domain name that closely matches your business name can help bump up your SEO score.

Additionally, having a matching name helps with marketing in general. You don’t want people to remember your business name and not your website, or vise versa.

ProTip#1: Be careful picking your business or brand name before you pick your domain name. There are over 600 million websites active today, so there’s a high probability that someone else already has your business name as their domain name. While you’re coming up with a business name, don’t forget to think about your domain.

Choosing a Name That’s Difficult to Read

You’ll want to choose a domain name that is easy for people to read. If a person has trouble reading a website, they are much less likely to be able to remember it. Having people remember your website name is not only important so that they come back, but it is especially important so that they’re able to tell their friends.

Remember that just because it’s easy for you to read, doesn’t mean it’s easy for everyone else to read. Try having a few friends review your domain name before you make it public.

Or Difficult to Spell

Just like it’s important to have a domain name that people can read, it’s equally as important that they’re able to spell it. Getting people to remember your website name is a hard enough obstacle, you don’t want to create a new one because no one can spell it.

It’s highly encouraged to be bold when picking a domain name, but using odd spellings in your domain can be disastrous. Some words sound very similar but have very different spellings. For example ‘peace’ and ‘peice’. Be very careful, as you don’t want to confuse potential customers.

ProTip#2: If you’re going to have an odd spelling in your domain, see if the correct spelling is also available. This way you will generate more organic traffic to your website.

Not Considering All Pronunciation Variations

Similarly, you will want to consider all pronunciation variations for words. You might be thinking that pronunciation isn’t important, after all, you don’t need to read it out loud. You have to consider that if a person likes your website and thinks it will benefit a friend, they will refer them to you.

Let’s look at an example.

Let’s say your name is Jenna and you want to start a blog. You pick the domain “Jennas-side.com”. You might think that it’s a perfect name, of course, until you tell your friend about it. Typed in the computer it’s a wonderful name, but try saying the website out loud and you’ll wish you didn’t say it in public.

Make sure that you read your domain very carefully, front and back, and remember to say it aloud. The same friends that are spellchecking your domain can help you here, just remind them to say it aloud.

Using Special Characters

Using special characters is a great way to find a domain name that no one already has.

If you’re trying to create a website about traveling, you might want to have a domain name like “travel.com”. Oops. That domain is occupied. It’s really easy to change it to “trave!.com” or “tr@vel.com”.

Beware, as adding special characters can be a grave mistake for multiple reasons. You might have a communication error when customers are trying to share your website with their friends. You might have someone trying to access your website, but the special character button on their keyboard is broken.

You want to eliminate as many mistakes as possible before they even happen. This will help you increase your organic traffic.

Choosing the Wrong Extension

Choosing the right extension is pertinent to the success of your website. You want to use extensions that are commonly known for several reasons.

First, because it will help people remember you. Everyone knows the extension “.com”, as it is by far the most common extension for any website. Unfortunately, that means most of the names are taken.

Second, having a domain name that people are familiar with makes customers feel more comfortable with using your site. There are so many different scams and viruses infecting the internet that people are scared to click on anything new.

Last, choosing an extension that’s relevant is crazy important. You don’t want to have a website about selling popsicles with a “.edu” extension. Having a “.org” extension typically makes people feel like your brand or business is more of an organization, as this is what org stands for.

It’s important to keep in mind what you’re trying to accomplish with your business while you are picking an extension. You want to keep it relevant, short, and trustworthy.

Forget the Bad Domain Names

Having a good, memorable domain name is equally as important as having a good business or brand name. Since the world is turning to technology, a business has to have a website or they might not even be thought of as a real business by many people.

Having a bad domain name is a fatal mistake. Be sure to avoid these common domain mistakes so your business can outshine the others and radiate success.

Now that you are aware of what not to do, let’s take a look at what you should do when choosing a domain name.

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