In this lesson, we delve into the crucial process of choosing the perfect domain name for your website. A domain name serves as the digital identity of your online presence, and selecting the right one is paramount to establishing a professional, memorable, and brandable image. We will explore the criteria for a good domain name, emphasizing relevance to your content and business, simplicity, memorability, and “brandability”. Additionally, we’ll discuss what to avoid, such as using hyphens and numbers. The lesson will guide you through the considerations of choosing a domain TLD extension, with a recommendation to opt for .com for its universal appeal. Lastly, we’ll tackle the practical aspects of checking the availability of your desired domain name and offer insights into creative alternatives if your preferred name is already taken.

Your website should have the domain name. How do you choose one?

Criteria for a Good Domain Name

Here are the criteria for your website Domain name to be professional, recognizable, and memorable.

Relevant

Ensure your domain is relevant to your content and business. You can give your website a name that reflects your products and major topics. But I think, that when YOU BUILD A PERSONAL BRAND, it is better to stick to your name or nickname. Connecting the Website to the Topic you are focused on right now will not allow you to expand easily and add products related to a different topic. So think of the future and BRAND YOUR OWN NAME if possible. In this way, you are going to IMPRINT IN THE MEMORY of your potential customers whom they should be looking for when they need help in the area of your expertise.

Short and Simple

I can’t overemphasize the importance of this, but if we use our names for the Domain name, sometimes it can be not that short. Let’s say here in Greece they have names like Papazaharopoulou. Can you say it simply? Even for locals, it is too long. But there are some famous local brands with a similar name. But for the international business, it is close to a disaster.

Memorable

Sometimes our national names and surnames are DIFFICULT TO PRONOUNCE for people from another culture, so it might make global development more challenging. Difficult-to-pronounce names are not readable, let alone memorable. So if you want to build your business locally and it is easy for people to pronounce your name, you can use it. If you want to develop globally and you have a complicated surname look for ways to shorten it.

Brandable

Your domain name should be the PART OF YOUR BRAND. You should think about how this name would be memorable as a logo, as a signature. Because all your content, your platforms, and your products will be branded with this name.

What to Avoid

Avoid using hyphens and numbers because it might be confusing when telling your website address to someone VERBALLY Like KoronisFive.com or Koronis5.com? Sounds the same.

Choosing the Domain TLD Extension

TLD extension is used to CATEGORIZE websites based on their PURPOSE OR GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION. Also, the price of the domain will differ depending on the Domain Extensions.

For example:

• .com – extension for websites created for commercial purposes
• .us or uk. or any other country code as an extension – used for websites that focus on a specific region and usually require you to confirm that your business belongs to this region.
• .edu – for educational institutions
• .biz – for businesses
• .info – for information (not good for brand building, but can be used as a secondary website, like internal Wikipedia)
• And so on

My recommendation is to use .COM. However, you might find that your name and even surname is taken by some website owner out of 1.7 under this extension but this domain name is available with another extension.

Availability of the Domain Name

There is a very big chance that the domain name you would like to have is ALREADY TAKEN BY SOMEONE. In this case, you can:

1. LOOK INTO OTHER EXTENSIONS but the .com and see if the domain name of your choice is available there. But keep in mind that it most probably will be more expensive.
2. LOOK FOR CREATIVE WAYS to have your name and the .com extension. For example, KoronisOnline.. and others which are going to be suggested to you by the registrar. Sometimes those suggestions come in handy.

How to Check the Domain Availability

The video shows you how to check for Domain availability using my Hosting and Registrar services. If you want to find your own registrar use Google Search “list of registrars” and you will get a list as shown below:

Many of the registrars in the list are also Hosting Providers like DreamHost and BlueHost, GoDaddy and HostGator..

Let me know in the next quiz what is the domain name of your choice.