Whether it’s a company website, online store, private blog or forum: every Internet presence begins with the right domain name. The choice of the right domain can be decisive for the external appearance of your company. When choosing a domain, you should pay attention to spelling mistakes, the ending, the use of hyphens and property rights of existing names, among other things.
What else you need to consider when choosing a domain and where you can register a domain, you will learn on this page.
We all know it: the website domain. After all, everyone who regularly surfs the Internet enters it themselves every day, or at least stumbles across it. Simply put, a website domain is the Internet address of a company, such as “fuer-gruender.de”. The part before (i.e. fuer-gruender) and the part after the dot (de) have their own names, whereby the last part is the more important one. Each domain is assigned only once and is therefore unique.
To secure your personal domain, simply follow the 6 steps below:
1. What name should it be?
In the best case, your company already has a great name that can be used for your domain. Unless it is too generic, such domains are already taken in most cases. With a very fancy one, you will certainly still be able to register a domain, but can anyone remember it? If you are looking for a term of art for your company, it can be interpreted freely – whether it suits your company or not. Also, keep in mind that searchers rarely enter arbitrary terms of art, but rather generic words or words that exist in connection with the desired search query.
Our tip: research other domain names as well. By researching existing company or brand names as well as existing domains, you can avoid legal disputes over a domain.
Attention: think about copyright infringements! Third-party trademarks, book titles, city names and the like may not be used. You risk high claims for damages regarding injunctive relief of the affected parties.
2. Dot, period, comma, dash?
An easily remembered domain should be as short as possible and without frills. Unfortunately, however, many of the short domain names are already taken. For this reason, many companies use so-called multi-word domains, e.g. slogans. An important rule here is: no more than three words and two hyphens, otherwise it will be difficult again with the memorability. Rather, if not otherwise possible, spend a little more money for a shorter and easy to remember domain. Because remember: a good website also determines your business success or failure.
TIP: Since a domain name is and should be very individual, there are some online tools that can help you find a name.
3. Brevity is the spice of good taste
Can you remember the domain llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogoch.co.uk -? No? Neither do we. Domain names do not have a character limit, but therefore should not reach infinity, no one can remember that anyway. However, this should be your goal when choosing your future domain: the domain must be memorable. Short domain names are easy to remember and do not cause a cramp in the fingers, should the website also be accessed via mobile devices.
4. .com, .net, .info: which top-level domain is the right one?
The term top-level domain refers to the ending of the domain name such as, .com, .org or .info. For finding your website in a search engine, the choice of the top-level domain makes little difference. Rather, the choice of ending for the domain depends on the type of website and its national or international orientation.
For example, if the website offers information or products for the international market, the extensions .com, .net, .org may be a good choice for your domain. If, on the other hand, your offer is limited to a national audience, the country code .us for USA is recommended, because with it the website radiates seriousness and commitment.
TIP: Take a practical approach to name brainstorming: come up with names, ask your friends, family, partners for ideas, or even afford a copywriting agency.
5. Domain Check: find out if your desired domain is still available
First, check domain name first, then think about domain registration of your new website. However, since there are now more and more websites, it is also becoming increasingly difficult to obtain the desired domain. With the domain check you usually find out within seconds whether a desired web address can still be acquired or whether someone before you has already come up with the idea to secure the URL with the desired domain name.
If you find out that the desired web address is already taken, you do not have to bury your head in the sand. Often you can also check with the domain check, with which endings the domain name was already assigned. If you do not necessarily want to use a .com domain, you can, for example, acquire the desired domain with .net or .info as an alternative and thus also establish a memorable Internet presence.
If you find out during the domain check that your desired domain is still available, you can usually secure it directly via the respective provider.
6. Buy and register domain
When you register a domain, you only rent it for a certain period of time. If you do not extend the contract at the end of the contract period, your domain name will be released again and can be rented by other interested parties. Also, when selling domain names, only the registrant changes.
First come, first served. This also applies to the registration of a domain. So if you decide to buy a domain, check in advance with a domain check if your desired domain is still available.
The next step to buy your website domain: secure your new address in the net. Domains that have already been registered can be bought from the current owner, which usually involves additional costs.
