When it comes to branding your business, absolutely nothing is more important than having a domain name! More importantly, having the RIGHT domain name!

In this article, we’ll cover the following to help you brandish your business, as well as make it more memorable for your potential visitors!

Aligning your business with the Brand Name!

Picking the Right extension

What to do if you have the WRONG domain name!

In short, this is a crucial part of making the right first impression, so let’s make it count!

Getting The Right Domain Name

Finding the right domain name can be challenging, however if you have a vision for your Business, the idea will come to you sooner than later.

With that said, it’s important to keep some of the following recommendations in mind:

Keep It Under 15 Characters – No one, including you, would like to either type (or remember) https://supercalafragalisticexpealidoucious.com on a phone.

Make It Easy To Spell – getting the domain name wrong or with complicated spelling can lead your visitors (and potential customers) to either a dead-end (404 Page) or possibly to your competition. In short, this should be self-explanatory, if not See Above

Avoid Hyphens (UNLESS) – If at all possible, PLEASE avoid using hyphens ” – “ within your domain name. Google and other modern search engines will tend to consider them as Spam and knock your domain’s rating down. Also if visitors forget to enter your cherished hyphen, they’re going to possibly end up at your competitions site out of frustration of trying to find yours. HOWEVER whorepresents.com ,  could have surely benefited from a hyphen (“who-represents.com”), or just a different domain name altogether.

Avoid Double Letters – If possible, try to avoid double letters within your domain name. For example, when we developed the domain name reedesignweb.com, it was essentially a play on the owners last name (Reed) and the brand’s primary focus of designing existing company websites’ visual experiences.

Getting The Right Extension

The most common extensions are known to most people are usually “.com”, “.net” etc. These two extensions alone are the most common across the online landscape. While it may tempting to snag the latest, trendiest extension like “.co” or “.sandwich”, 9 times out of 10, most people will NOT remember to type in that fancy extension correctly, if at all.

Since those latter extensions are usually called “Vanity Extensions” they’re just that, for show. So unless your business is so well known and can afford to branch out in this fashion, it’s best to stick with the tried and true “.com” or “.net” extensions.

The WRONG Domain

In the event you find yourself wondering if you have the wrong domain for your brand, all is not lost. There are steps you can take to correct this:

Choose The Right Domain (Really) – If you’re in this particular situation and reading this, scroll back up to follow the steps to establishing the RIGHT domain name. Remember, think of your domain name as your ACTUAL home address! Sure you may “move” but you want to make sure all your visitors know about it too!

Access Your Hosting Control Panel – This may be a tricky part for some of you for the following reasons:

• Limited or no experience with the admin section of your hosting company
• You’re using a Free platform (ie Wix/Weebly) that does not allow you to change it at all

If you’re in either in these categories, please stop here and give RDG a call to help you navigate through the process.

However, If you are comfortable with accessing the admin area of your hosting, usually called a “C-Panel”, you will take the following steps:

• Go to your Domain’s option > Select the Redirects option
• Once you’re there, select the Option that reads Permanent (or 301 Redirects)
• Enter your current domain name you want to move from
• Enter your newly registered domain name in the appropriate field (Usually says “Redirects To:”)
• Enable the Redirect settings to reflect: Redirect with or without www.

Once this has been updated, your visitors will now automatically be redirected to the new site, and your brand will remain intact.

Pro Tip: Make sure you update any and all communication (social media channels, business cards, etc) to reflect your new domain name to your visitors. 

Conclusion

Coosing or changing to the right domain name is something that should not be taken lightly, as people need to find your business!

So now you know the steps needed to make the change, let’s get on it!

As always, if you need any assistance, don’t hesitate to give us a shout or leave a comment below!

If you need more information, or just have any questions, feel free to give us a call!

Call Us: 817.755.0893
contactrdg@reedesignweb.com

At Reed Design Group, we take the time to listen to your needs and establish an effective design/marketing strategy that helps your business grow!

Bottom Line:

When these elements come together, you, as the client will feel great about your design investment in that it has just paid for itself in increased visitor traffic and conversion rates!

Contact Reed Design Group today to find out how we can be a value-add partner to your team!