Do domain names matter? Yes. You must’ve heard or thought if you’re branding is on point, and you’re selling top-notch products, having a good domain name isn’t that essential. Well, that is how many websites with great potential don’t reach broader audiences.
A good domain acts as a marketing tool. And one of the critical characteristics of an effective domain name is its short length. Short domains are easy to remember and contribute to creating brand recognition.
Continue reading to know how to think of branded short domain names, their benefits, how to register them, and which domain extension you should go for.
Advantages of a Short Domain
The ideal length of the short domain name ranges from six to twelve characters. Here are some benefits of short domain names you wouldn’t want to miss out on.
1. Easy to Remember:
You wouldn’t have trouble remembering your brand or domain name as the owner or employee because you always hear it. But your target audience doesn’t. Therefore, your ads might be less effective for them.
A short domain name is easy to remember and pronounce. When your target audience has your website’s domain in mind, it would be convenient for them to type it in the search bar anytime and learn about your services or products.
When your domain name is easy to remember, it’s also easy to share. If your target audience cannot pronounce or spell your site’s address easily, they may not bother to go through the inconvenience of sharing it with others.
2. Authoritative
Google recognizes unique and creative domain names as having a higher authority than the ones that are long and contain common words. And having Google’s attention, in a good way, helps your website grow rapidly.
Moreover, short domain names involve creativity and meaning behind them, which contributes to creating brand authority. Here are some examples of unique and creative domain names.
- Google.com
- Amazon.com
- Facebook.com
- eBay.com
- Twitter.com
- Instagram.com
3. Lower Chances of Typos
With a longer domain name, there are chances of mistyping. And you don’t want your audience to enter the wrong name and end up on another site or an error page. If typos lead them to another website with a bad user experience or interface, they may leave with a wrong impression of your brand.
Ask yourself, which word is more likely to be misspelled? “Amazon.com” or “moneysavingexpert.com”?
4. Contributes to Making Your Site Mobile-responsive
More than half of the website traffic comes from mobile devices. And a short domain name is easy to type on mobile phones.
Long Vs. Short Domain Names
Any domain name having a length longer than 12 characters counts as a long domain name.
A long domain name vs. short domain name is hard to stick to someone’s mind, easy to misspell, hard to pronounce, and inconvenient to type on mobile devices. However, a long domain allows you to use your brand’s full name (when it’s long).
Also, long domain names don’t sound professional, while short ones do. We suggest going for a short domain because it would benefit your business with branding and promotion.
Which Domain Extension to Go for?
A domain extension is a suffix placed after the period in a website address. For instance, in Strikingly.com, .com is the domain extension.
Which is the best domain extension for your site? The .com extension. It is widely used, contributes to boosting SEO, and has no specific requirements. For example, if you use the .ca extension, you must be a Canadian resident.
If the .com domain isn’t available, try going for .net or .org. No matter what, avoid using extensions like .space, .pizza, etc.
Dos and Don’ts to Come Up with a Short Domain Name
Coming up with a unique domain require effort and creativity. Sometimes thinking of the perfect name can be stressful. Use these strategies to ease the brainstorming process.
1. Use a Name Generator Tool
Using a name-generating tool can spark ideas in your mind. Even if you’ve come up with some ideas that need slight changes, a name-generator tool can be useful. Here are some tools you can use.
If you use the exact name suggested by the generator, checking whether it’s available or not is a must. That tool might have given the same suggestions to other people.
2. Avoid Using Hyphens or Numbers
The purpose of the short domain is to make it easy for people to remember your site’s address. When you include hyphens or numbers, the name becomes complicated and loses its purpose of being short.
Imagine if our site would’ve been Striking.ly and not Strikingly.com. People would have trouble pronouncing it, and the name would’ve not been punchy and easy to remember.
3. Go for a Brandable Name and Not Generic
Image taken from Strikingly’s user’s website
Your name should be unique to gain brand authority. Using generic names is one of the things that destroy the purpose of short domains, which is to stand out from competitors.
Here’s an example. “Shoponline.com” and “bycheapstuff.com” are generic domain names. They tell the users what the website is about but don’t seem professional or branded. On the other hand, domains like “Amazon.com” and “Target.com” sound professional and unique.
A brandable domain name makes trusting your site easier for consumers and brings recognition.
4. Play on Niche-related Keywords
Search for keywords in your business’s niche and play on spellings. When naming your brand, spellings don’t matter if you write them wrong purposefully. See how they’ve replaced a “c” with a “k” in “Flipkart.”
Another thing you can do to play on niche-related keywords is add a suffix like “Shopify.”
5. Ensure it’s Easy to Pronounce
Pronunciation is essential in creating a memorable domain name. If it’s not easy to pronounce, how would people remember it? Ideally, your domain name should roll right off the tongue.
You can check whether your domain name is easy to pronounce or not by writing it on paper and asking people to pronounce it. You should choose a different option if more than 20% didn’t pronounce it correctly.
6. Don’t Go for a Temporary Domain
You’re going in the wrong direction if you think you can keep a temporary domain now and change it later for the better. Only register a domain name when you’re ready to marry it.
If you decide to change your domain name in the future, it will cost money and ranking, and you will have to rebrand.
We suggest avoiding specific domain names such as “theMacaronShop.com” because you may extend your variety to cakes and other bakery items in the future.
7. Steer Clear of Double Letters
Remember how the purpose of short domains is to make your web address less prone to typos? Double letters destroy that purpose. For instance, three “s” together in Presssetup.com make it prone to typos and sound less professional and brandable.
8. Consider the Price
Registering a domain isn’t costly, and you can get discounts if you register for longer than a year with some platforms. However, it would be best to research because the same name can have different prices on different websites.
Search the web for domain registrars and go for the most credible and cost-effective one.
9. Check Availability
Before registering your domain name, check whether it’s taken on social media platforms or already trademarked. Having the same name across all platforms is essential to create brand authority. It will make finding your social media pages easy for your audience.
Avoid using a trademarked name because it can get you into legal problems. To check the availability of your selected domain name, try Knowem. This tool will tell about any trademarks on your chosen option and if it’s available across 25 popular social media platforms.
Where Should You Register Your Domain Name?
You will find thousands of options for buying domains on the internet. But we prefer only going for the trusted ones, like GoDaddy, BlueHost, Domain.com, Strikingly, and HostGator.
Registering a domain name with Strikingly brings multiple benefits, such as getting a custom domain for free for one year if you subscribe to any of the yearly plans. After that, the cost starts from $24.95/year. Here’s how you can register your domain with Strikingly.
1. Sign up for Strikingly and go to Pricing and Plans.
2. To register a custom domain with Strikingly, you need a premium account. Select the plan you like, and fill out the required information.
Image taken from Strikingly
3. Click “Start Free Trial.”
Image taken from Strikingly
4. Go to Dashboard and click “Domains.”
5. Type in your selected domain to check if it’s available.
6. Select the time duration, and click “Register.”
Image taken from Strikingly
If you find any trouble Registering a domain, you can always go to the knowledge base to find solutions or contact Strikingly support through email or live chat.
Once you’ve come up with the perfect short domain name for your website, get ready to launch your business online and gain recognition from audiences around the world.
