When you create a new website, one of the first and biggest choices you will have to make is to pick a domain name. This isn't actually as easy as it sounds as what you choose could have a major impact on how successful your site becomes.

The Top-Level Domain (TLD)

The top-level domain (TLD) that you choose is very important. It needs to reflect what you do, what you are trying to achieve and who you are aiming your site at. For example, if you are a local UK business that is targetting UK customers, a "co.uk" TLD would be the perfect choice as it shows you are a uk company. It also means that you could get better rankings in the search engines, especially as UK based users are more likely to get relevant hits if you show that you are also UK based. Equally, if you are a site that is showcasing something that is personal to you as an individual, a "name" domain would be ideal to instantly reflect this.

The Domain Name

If not more important of a choice, the domain name you choose should be something that is easy to remember, highlights who you are or what you do and/or makes you stand out from the crowd. To make this a little bit more relevant lets take a simple example scenario:

Company "XYZ123" provides printing services to the local area of Leeds and are looking to set up an online presence to their already established high street outfit.

There are quite a few different options they have, with some of the most relevant and popular being:

   1. Using their company name with a UK domain (e.g. http://xyz123.co.uk)
   2. Using their company name with a international domain (e.g. http://xyz123.com)
   3. Use the services they offer (e.g. http://printing.co.uk or http://printingservices.co.uk)
   4. Use the services they offer along with the area (e.g. http://printingleeds.co.uk or http://printingservicesleeds.co.uk)
   5. Go for a more "funky" marketing based name (e.g. http://print.it)
   6. Name it something fairly random but memorable (e.g. http://printmonkey.co.uk)

Most people choose to go with option #1, it's a simple and safe choice that your customers will expect, will make you easy to find and will help you get better UK based search results. Option #2 is just about on a par with the first option but it doesn't necessarily give you that instant UK look that perhaps they would want. Option #3 is equally as good as it describes exactly what you do at a glance. Option #4 is also quite a good choice as it describes what you do and where you do it, however it does have the downside of limiting your growth; what happens if you become a national/international company? Option #5 is quite a clever choice and people will probably like it once they see it. However, it's probably a smaller minority of websites that actually make it successfully make it with this approach so it could be a bit more of a gamble. Also, in this particular case, the "it" TLD could indicate to search engines that you are an Italian company so you may not do as well in UK based listings. The last approach, option #6, is also a bit of a gamble but it does give you a theme to base the website on and that's something that those "marketing folk" would like as it instantly give you a sense of the brand.

I don't believe that any of the above choices are actually worng, or would do you much harm, but there are some that are perhaps more relevant than others. In this particular case, and if it were my choice to make, I'd probably go with options #1, #3, #5 or #6 and weighted in the order I just listed (so #1 would be my first choice).

Mark Smith
MDS Solutions - Web Design Darlington