In web design and hosting, flashy designs and appealing interfaces alone do not guarantee your website success, which can best be achieved with a great domain name, which are the cornerstones of your website. In this regard, they have to be well thought out and possess most or all of the five major characteristics discussed in this article.
5 Characteristics of Great Domain Names
1. They are Short and Easy to Remember
As much as there is no definite number of letters that domain names must have, it is crucial to make it as short as possible. Most three and four-letter domain names are already taken and currently, the five letter ones are also disappearing pretty fast. Ideally, go for domain names with less than ten characters, but having a domain name with over two characters is not such a wise idea. On wording, those with one or two words are great, those with three are somehow average but it is a bad idea to buy a domain name with four words or more.
2. Easily Memorable and Easy to Spell
Just because a domain name is short doesn’t make it good as it can be difficult to remember. You have to note that many internet surfers don’t use bookmarks and having complex domain names is likely to see you lose your visitors to competition. Users must be able to remember the domain name easily for return visits, as well as spell it appropriately. A domain name like Phhrst.com even though short, is very unlikely that someone will remember as spelling it might be a bit tricky. Furthermore, desist from using names in foreign languages however unique they might be to avoid misspelling.
3. Have the.com Extension
The domain name extension is very important. The most common and best preferred extension is the.com. Unless your website is for an organization or a company that has its main focus on a specific geographical location, .org, .uk, .cn and related extensions are not recommended. Many organic links and search engines usually type the name plus the.com extension and rarely do they follow the URL. Even though there are many.net websites doing well on the web, .com is still the best extension to go for.
4. Don’t Contain Hyphens and Numbers
When shopping for a domain name, you are likely to note that names that contain hyphens and numbers are relatively cheaper. This is because they suffer from the same problems like the ones that don’t have a.com extension do. Numbers and hyphens make it tough for web users to type the web addresses appropriately and they are likely to be misspelled.
5. Descriptive and Easily Brandable
Since the majority of users are likely to be referred to your site through the aid of search engines, it is highly recommended, your domain name must be as descriptive as possible. An appealing domain name is likely to attract users than a less descriptive one. On branding, users must easily associate the website content as well as the products and services with the domain name.
