How can enterprises correctly choose brand domain names? Do these 12 things first!

Choosing a high-quality, correct, and brand-oriented domain name is one of the most important decisions for an enterprise in the process of business development. This sounds simple, but it is not easy to do it well. Recently, I saw an article in which the author summarized 12 key points that enterprises or platforms should consider when choosing domain names:

1. Do the domain name and brand name match?

If the company's brand name and domain name do not match, it will not only be detrimental to publicity, but also to search engine inclusion and ranking. More importantly, the mismatch between the domain name and brand name is extremely detrimental to user search, input and access; if there is consistency between the two, it will help the brand grow and develop, and penetrate into the hearts of users.

As Lei Jun said: Can you imagine that xiaomi.com is a random company? Wouldn't you be doomed?

2. Is it a good brand domain name?

In fact, apart from the degree of matching between the domain name and the brand name, whether it is a company or a domain name investor, everyone has basically the same characteristics of a good domain name, which mainly include several: unique, clear meaning, short, simple spelling, and meaningful!

In layman's terms, it means how the domain name sounds, whether it is easy to input, whether it can be remembered at once, whether it is meaningful to your company, and whether it is closely related to your company name.

3. What will appear when searching for brand names online?

For domestic companies, when you search for your website on search engines such as Baidu and 360, you need to know what the search results are when you enter the brand name, which will help you choose a domain name better because you have a reference point.

In addition, you also need to know what field and position the brand name you enter is in the search engine keyword ranking. If you want to compete with those top-ranked competitors, then you need to choose a domain name that is distinctive and conducive to improving website rankings.

For example, for the same "second-hand car" brand, there are many platforms participating in the competition for this keyword ranking. In addition to the paid advertising fees, platforms with better domain names usually have a better chance of ranking in the front.

4. Is the domain name easy to read/write?

Like phone numbers, regular numbers are often easier to remember; similarly, no one is willing to remember a domain name with long characters, difficult to read and write, or even incomprehensible meanings. For example, many people cannot remember China Unicom's official website chinaunicom.com.cn, but the official customer service phone domain name 10010.com is much easier to remember.

5. Use of keywords

For the use of keywords, many corporate websites need to carefully choose. For example, keywords such as industry vocabulary must have many competitors, so it is recommended to choose a brand domain name that is both high-quality and creative.

For example, if the keyword is "car (qiche)", it is great to enable a domain name like qiche.com, but there are many competitors competing with you for the keyword ranking of "car (qiche)" on the search engine, and you may not be ranked in the front. On the contrary, if you choose a keyword such as "XX car" in combination with the brand name, the effect may be better.

6. No hyphens

Domain names with hyphens (domain names with hyphens) can sometimes sell for a good value, but for most companies, enabling domain names with hyphens is actually a low-quality behavior. Looking at many large companies and well-known brands at home and abroad, they rarely use domain names with hyphens.

7. Can it be optimized?

Choosing a good brand domain name, rather than relying solely on search engine optimization, can speed up the rise of your brand. If possible, try to extract a more suitable keyword from the domain name you choose, and then do some optimization work. For example, when sending emails to your users, a good domain name will not make the other party feel that the email you sent is spam.

8. Is it short?

A short and exquisite domain name makes people look concise and clear, which is also a factor that companies need to consider when choosing a domain name. Short domain names are not only good-looking, but also easy to remember and enter in the URL bar. They are also suitable for email services and corporate business cards.

The domain names of many well-known brands at home and abroad are not too long, such as LE.com, LU.com, MI.com, VIP.com, Uber.com, ofo.com, etc.

9. What suffix to choose?

There are thousands of domain name suffixes, but there are not many top suffixes that are commonly used internationally and accepted by many Internet users. When choosing a domain name, companies must know what kind of domain name suffix they need. For example: if your target market is global, try to choose a .com domain name; if not, you can choose the corresponding suffix for the region where the business is located, such as .cn/.com.cn in China, .us in the United States, and .co.uk in the United Kingdom.

Of course, different industries and natures of websites have different suffixes to choose from, such as .edu for educational websites, .org for some institutional websites, and so on.

10. Is it unique?

You need to check the domain name you want to see if it has been used, and then see if other domain names with the same domain name but different suffixes are used.

Ideally, companies need to ensure that the domain name they use is "unique". Of course, the domain name itself is unique, but the uniqueness here is mainly to ensure that when the domain name body is the same, no one is using domain names with other suffixes. This can effectively protect the brand and avoid problems such as user loss caused by domain name keyword conflicts.

11. Availability of social platforms

In the Internet age, social media is also one of the indispensable channels for business operations. Being able to register a social account or ID that is consistent with your brand name and brand domain name on mainstream social media is undoubtedly a good way to maintain brand consistency.

When you think of a perfect brand name and get the corresponding domain name, you find that this name has been occupied by others on some mainstream social media. It can be said to be a pity. Therefore, when choosing a domain name, you should also investigate whether the corresponding account ID can be registered on mainstream social media.

12. Check the trademark

Trademarks are also important brand marks for enterprises. When you choose a domain name, you need to do some preliminary investigation to see if the corresponding trademark has been registered. Try to ensure that you can register the corresponding trademark. This is more conducive to brand protection for enterprises and can also avoid domain name disputes as much as possible.

In the domain name circle, you can often see news about corporate arbitration domain names. Among the three factors for determining the arbitration results, the confusing similarity between trademarks and domain names is very important. From this point of view, it is a wise move for enterprises to have both domain names and trademarks in their own hands, which can save a lot of trouble.

Summary:

There are many reasons for individuals to build websites, and many times they may not necessarily need a good domain name. But enterprises are different. Without a domain name that matches the brand name, is conducive to search engine optimization, and is easy to remember and input, it is often difficult to quickly build their own brand effect. Therefore, there are many factors to consider.

In addition to enterprises, many individuals now also have the need to build websites. Some people even build a website for their pets. It is precisely because of this explosive growth in demand that the choice of domain names has become increasingly limited. It is not only difficult to buy a good domain name, but also usually requires expensive fees, not to mention wanting to register a suitable domain name.