How to choose a good domain name for your business and which mistakes to avoid

What a domain is and isn't

The domain is your website's name, such as yourcompany.com. It isn't the hosting, which is where the website's files are stored, although they are often bought together. I explain it in the difference between hosting and a domain.

A domain isn't bought forever: it's registered for one or more years and has to be renewed. If it isn't, after a grace period it becomes available and anyone can register it.

How to choose the name

• Short and easy to type. Try the phone test: say it out loud to someone and check whether they type it correctly first time.
• No hyphens or numbers, unless they are part of your brand. They are easy to forget when you dictate it.
• No ambiguous letters: accented characters or words that can be spelled two ways cause errors.
• Your brand before keywords. These days a keyword domain (“cheaplawyerspalma.com”) barely helps on Google and inspires less trust than your trading name.
• Room to grow: if today you do renovations in Palma, tomorrow you may cover the whole island or other services. Avoid tying yourself to a city or a single product unless you need to.
• If you work under your own name, first name and surname is usually the best option; I cover it in personal branding.

Country extension, .com or something else?

Country extension (.es, .de, .co.uk…)

The natural choice if your clients are mainly in one country. In Spain, .es is managed by Red.es; it feels local and is often more available than .com.

.com

The best-known extension worldwide. Worth it if you work with clients in several countries or your brand is already international.

Others (.net, .eu, .online…)

They can work if the main ones are taken, but people tend to type the usual extensions out of habit, and some newer ones inspire less trust.

If you can, register both your country extension and the .com and redirect one to the other. That protects your name and stops someone else taking advantage of it.

What to check before registering

1. That it isn't someone else's trademark. Search the trademark databases of your national office and the EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO).
2. That the social media handles are free with the same name, or one very close to it.
3. That it doesn't have a suspicious past. If the domain was registered before, check on archive.org what was there. A domain used for spam can carry problems with Google, something I know first-hand: I tell the story in my website was hacked.
4. That it reads well as one word. Write the name without spaces and read it: some combinations form unintended words.
5. The renewal price, not just the first year's, which is often discounted.

Make sure it's really yours

This is the most important advice and the one that prevents most problems: the domain must be registered in your company's name or your own, with an email address you have access to, even if your designer or provider manages it.

• Ask for the login details to the registrar's panel and keep them safe.
• Turn on auto-renewal and check the card on file is valid.
• Check whose name it's in if someone else registered it years ago. Recovering a domain from a former provider who doesn't reply can be very difficult.

It's also one of the risks to clarify when hiring someone; I discuss it in freelance web designer: pros, risks and how to choose.

Common mistakes

• Choosing a very long name or one that's hard to dictate.
• Registering the domain in the designer's or agency's name.
• Letting it expire because of an expired card or an inbox nobody reads.
• Changing domain without redirects: if you change it, old addresses must redirect to the new ones so you don't lose visitors or rankings.
• Using a Gmail address when you have your own domain. With the same domain you can have business email that inspires much more trust.

Common questions