Choosing a domain name for your business can feel like a huge, scary decision. It’s the address people will type into their browser, see on your promo material, and it will sit right next to your name in your business email address. While it is important, it doesn’t have to keep you awake at night.
With a few guidelines, you can pick something professional, memorable, and stress-free. In this blog, we’re sharing our top tips for choosing a domain name that works for you, your brand, and your customers.
1. Keep It Simple and Memorable
Your domain should be easy to remember, easy to spell, and quick to say out loud. If you have to repeat it three times or spell it out every time, it’s going to get old quickly.
Think something like mas-bristol.com instead of millennium-automotive-services-knowle.com.
Aim to keep it short and sweet, and avoid words that are tricky to spell if possible. This includes names and areas. In the example above, while most locals would spell Knowle with an ‘e’, someone coming from further afield might not, but most people in the UK would know how to spell Bristol. You don’t want to miss important emails or have customers struggling to find you because they can’t quite remember if it’s two ‘n’s or one.
A short and simple domain:
- Reduces the risk of typos when customers search for you or send you emails
- Fits into small spaces, so it looks cleaner on business cards, flyers, and signage
- Can be more memorable and look more professional
Remember, you are buying a domain, not rebranding your business. Even though you might have good reasons to have a long and complicated name in real life, try to reduce it to initials or a shortened phrase for the domain to make things as easy as possible.
2. Check for Conflicts and Copycats
Before you settle on a domain, make sure it isn’t already taken or uncomfortably close to someone else’s brand. You don’t want customers accidentally landing on another business’s website, and you definitely don’t want a legal letter turning up because your name is too similar.
A few quick checks to do:
- Search the domain in your browser and see what already exists, or what you get redirected to
- Check if the domain and variants are available to buy
- Look out for registered trademarks, especially if you’re in a crowded or regulated industry
You’ve probably done some of this work already when you decided on your brand name, but it’s worth double-checking before you spend money on a domain, especially if you are planning to use abbreviations.
For example, if you decide to abbreviate Burnaby’s Boating Company to bbc.com, it’s not going to go well. First of all, the domain is already in use by someone else, and people typing it in want to watch ‘Strictly’, not buy a life jacket. Burnaby.com is also already taken, by a town in Canada of the same name, and burnaby-bc is also not a good idea, as Burnaby is in British Columbia (BC) so that’s also going to cause confusion.
3.5. What should you do if you can’t use your first choice?
It’s not uncommon to find that your first choice domain is not available, or is too close to another business’s URL. In these cases, try adding a location or market sector to help distinguish you.
For Burnaby’s Boating Company, maybe the next choice is something like bbc-maritime.co.uk, which is available as a domain. Except searching for that brings up a BBC streaming service designed for cruise ships, so again, it’s likely to be confusing and not help customers find the right place to buy a flare gun. Adding a location, like bbc-bristol, also doesn’t work, as again, searching for this just brings up information about BBC production in Bristol.
However, burnabyboatco doesn’t seem to overlap with anything else, and burnaby-martime and burnaby-bristol also don’t produce confusing results, so any of these would be a good choice.
3. Watch Out for Misreadings (or Embrace Them)
This one’s sneaky but vital. When several words run together in a domain, they can spell things you didn’t intend. You might already have heard of classic examples like penisland.com and susanalbumparty.com. Once you see it, you can’t unsee it.
Before you commit:
- Type your domain out in lowercase and read it slowly
- Ask someone else to look at it with fresh eyes
- Start typing it into Google and see what auto-suggest shows you
If there’s any chance of a rude or confusing misreading, consider changing the wording or using hyphens to separate key words. Hyphens aren’t always ideal for radio ads or conversations, but they are better than an unfortunate double meaning.
Alternatively, you could deliberately look for an innuendo or potential misreading, especially if your brand is already a bit edgy. For example, yourwebsitesux could be a good domain for UX agency looking to stand out from their more corporate competitors.
4. Keep It Professional
Your domain is something you’ll say to clients, partners, suppliers, and maybe even investors. It needs to reflect your business and feel like the right fit. You don’t have to be super-serious if that’s not your vibe, but you shouldn’t end up in a position where you feel embarrassed telling people your URL. Again, if you’re using your business name, this shouldn’t be a problem, but be careful if you plan to use a variation, abbreviation or something gimmicky.
Ask yourself:
- Would I feel confident saying this name in a presentation?
- Does it sound like a legitimate business?
- Does it match the tone of my brand? Is it playful, corporate, creative, for example?
The domain getwilde.co.uk might be perfect if you are running an eco-friendly campsite, but might not be a great idea for Wilde & Partners Accounting.
You don’t have to be boring, but you do want to sound credible.
5. Choose the Right Ending (TLD)
The part after the dot is called the Top Level Domain (TLD), and it can affect price, availability, and how people perceive your website. Some endings are mainstream and familiar, while others are more niche or playful.
In most cases:
- .com, .co.uk, .uk, and .org are your safest bets for UK-based websites
- A .co.uk is often cheaper and more available than a .com
- .org is usually associated with charities, non-profits, and community organisations
- .net is also available, and is usually associated with tech companies
Sometimes, there’s a good reason to mix it up. You can use location domains from almost anywhere as part of your URL, like birthdaybonan.za, or youtu.be. Some location TLDs, like Tuvalu and Indian Ocean Territory, have become linked to certain industries, meaning domains like studio-services.tv and tech-team.io might work for you.
If it fits your brand and your audience will understand it, that can work well. Otherwise, stick with what’s familiar and easy to remember. For most of our clients, we recommend .co.uk, .com or .org as first choice.
6. Consider Buying Variations
If you’re worried about mix-ups, misspellings, or competition, it can be smart to buy two or three versions of your domain. You only need to use one as your main address, but you can point the others to the same website.
You might:
- Buy both the .com and .co.uk versions of your domain
- Grab common misspellings if your business name is tricky
- Secure alternate versions so other businesses can’t use them
- Pick up planned locations for future expansion (e.g. smiths-bristol and smiths-liverpool)
- Use a word or phrase to redirect to your real site (e.g diy.com and bandq.com lead to the same place)
Buying similar domains to your main one can help customers find you even if they don’t type it perfectly the first time, and gives you a bit of protection from anyone trying to poach your customers with a dupe website. Having multiple domains also works as a good insurance plan if you want to buy a more gimmicky domain that might get tired quickly.
Be careful if you do buy multiple domains to get the redirects set up correctly. Having multiple addresses with the same content can negatively impact your SEO strategy and can be confusing for visitors if they see a different URL each time they visit. We rarely recommend buying multiple domains for this reason, but there are specific situations where it makes sense.
Your domain name is a decision you need to consider carefully, but make practicality your main focus. Keep it simple, straightforward, professional, and easy to share, and avoid gimmicks, weird spellings and obscure TLDs unless you have very good reasons not to. If you follow these steps, you’ll avoid the major pitfalls and choose a domain that supports your brand.
Do you want more help choosing and registering your domain? At Red Spark Digital, we can guide you through your options and make sure your online presence starts strong from day one. Book in for a free call, or send us a message to get your project started.
