A domain is the human-readable text telling people where to find a website. For small business owners, a domain name typically is their company name. To choose an effective domain name, small businesses should follow the following guidelines:

1) Use only 5-20 letters – This keeps the name easy to remember.

2) Utilize your company name – Invent your company around the domain name or your domain name around the company, but don’t pick something arbitrary.

3) Pick something that accurately reflects your business – Include development or contracting, roofing, dentistry, whatever your business is. 

4) OR Make up a word and use your small business to create its definition – A company name that is becomes a common verb is the ‘holy grail’ of all business names. Think xerox, bubble wrap, and sheetrock.

5) Sound it out – Think about spelling it out for your clients, and think about how many times you’ll have to tell someone the name before they can spell it on their own. Remember, there is no spell check when typing domains into your browser.

6) Make sure it hasn’t been taken yet – Use a website like instantdomainsearch.com to ensure that your website hasn’t been taken yet.

7) Prefer .com or .org over .net or .biz – You should consider purchasing a domain with a com or org extension over info, biz, and others. If you are a non-profit go for a org extension, and if you are a for-profit company, use a .com extension. It’s much easier for clients to remember your domain name with these standard domain extensions.

Good luck!

Jeff Algera
JLA Development

Jeff Algera is the acting CEO of JLA Development, a full-service web design company providing small businesses with website representation. Jeff may be reached through his website, http://jladevelopment.com.

Edited by Chris Carera (chriscarera@gmail.com)
Written by JLA Development