What Should Businesses Consider When Choosing a Domain Name?

If you are a business owner or plan on starting a business, you likely understand the importance of having a website for your business. On your website, you can feature products, blast out announcements, and inform the world of what you’re all about. Though the format of your website and the content you display on it are, obviously, very important, selecting a domain name is an often-overlooked part of the process. That said, it is paramount you don’t choose just any domain name, or automatically go with your first idea, as your domain name can play a significant part in the success of your website and, by extension, the future of your business. Read on and reach out to a seasoned Orleans Parish, Louisiana intellectual property lawyer from Lemler IP to learn more about what businesses should consider before selecting their domain name.

What should businesses consider before choosing their domain name?

The first thing you should understand is that your domain name is the web address that will help others, i.e. prospective customers/individuals interested in your business, find your website and recognize your brand, so choosing your domain name is not a decision to make lightly. Just some of the most important considerations when it comes to choosing a domain name for your business are as follows:

1. Be specific. Your domain name should be related to your business name and the services you provide. It should also be easy to remember and spell, so in most cases, domain names with fewer characters (and without hyphens or numbers) are optimal.
2. You may use relevant keywords, but don’t “keyword stuff.” While you can absolutely include certain relevant keywords related to your services, as there may be a potential SEO benefit to doing so, you should never “keyword stuff,” meaning adding too many keywords for the sake of adding keywords. This can make your domain name unnecessarily cluttered and too long to remember.
3. Consider what extension you want to use. Some of the most common domain extensions are .org, .com, and .net. That said, most businesses use .com, so you may consider doing so yourself, as this tends to be the most memorable extension.
4. Consider how much you’re willing to pay for your domain name. Believe it or not, some domain names are more expensive than others. The length of registration, the extension you choose, and a variety of other factors can impact the cost of your domain name, so this is something worth looking into before moving forward with a name.
5. Make sure the domain name is available. This may seem obvious, but it’s important. If someone else is already using a given domain name, you can no longer use it.
6. Make sure your domain name can potentially accommodate future growth. For example, if you think that your business may expand the goods or services it offers in the future, you may want to account for this when choosing a domain name; if your business offers new goods or services, its domain name should still apply and make sense.

Ultimately, these are just some of the most important considerations when establishing a domain name for your business, and it is always best to consult with a seasoned IP lawyer before moving ahead. Contact Lemler IP for competent legal guidance today.