What makes a good website address?

People are often ignorant of the fact that you can have several domain names or website addresses registered that point to the same website – a primary and secondary domain names. The primary domain name is the domain name that you want the search engines to recognize and index with the secondary domain names perhaps the ones that you would like to advertise for ease of remembrance and/or advertising.

Secondary domain names can too be registered to ensure you get the traffic intended for your site and to protect your brand by discouraging poachers from buying up the variants.

Consider a good domain name to be a marketing bargain. A memorable, catchy domain name can make a lot of difference in setting you apart from the competition and even if you have to pay several hundred or thousands of Rand for a super name that someone already owns and is not using.

Here's what to look for in a good website address:

1. A good domain name is short.

A short name is important for several reasons:

• It fits onto advertising material more easily.
• It is harder to misspell.
• It is easier to remember.

2. A good domain name is easy to remember.

Try to avoid using usual spelling, dashes and numbers. Unless the correct variations are available for domain registration and can be registered too and used as secondary domains. Whatever your domain name is, it should stick in the mind.

Another consideration is how you'll need to say your domain name over the phone. If you always have to say "spelled lane-dash-4.com and the four in the number 4" you'll soon wish you'd left out the dashes and not used the 4.

3. A good domain name isn't easily confused with others.

Be sure to check that your competition does not use domain names similar to yours and in so doing be sure that you are not violating any trademark laws or be seen to be trying to leverage off another established brand. All of the above can damage your brand, reputation and sales/leads.

4. A good domain name is difficult to misspell.

The longer and more complex your website address is, the harder it is for your customers to type it in correctly. Understandably this is often unavoidable, so if you feel that your name can be easily misspelled it may pay to register the misspellings of a domain name too.

5. A good domain name relates to your business name or core business.

It's best if your domain name can be guessed from your company name. But in your search for a domain name, don't give up if you can't find the domain for your exact business name. Find functional names, names that can describe your business.

6. Consider you audience.

Casein point: Customers looking for a website in South Africa would primarily use the .co.za, .com or .net namespace. Likewise in the UK one would suppose .co.uk, com and .net be used. Avoid using the lesser known .biz, .info, .cc, .ws, .tv, .to or namespaces of countries that you do not do business in.

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