7 Common Mistakes When Selecting a Domain Name
Selecting a domain name is one of the most important aspects of running an online business. It affects every aspect of your business from brand recall to SEO.
Since it’s the first thing that people do when setting up a website, they may fall prey to common mistakes. Here are some of the top mistakes when selecting a domain name and how you can avoid them:
1. Irrelevance:
A common mistake new online business owners make is choosing a domain name that is irrelevant to their business/niche. Irrelevance may seem harmless at first but can lead to a lack of trust, and confusion. You don’t want your site visitors and potential customers second-guessing your business.
Eg: If your site focuses on parenthood, use a domain name like ‘garagetips.com’ (Ok, that’s an extreme example). Even if you have the most helpful content on your site, an irrelevant domain name will confuse your readers and customers.
A good way to avoid this is to choose a brandable domain that is not tied to a specific niche. Companies like Apple or Amazon have a domain and brand that is not tied to one specific category. This avoids the issue of irrelevance and has given them the flexibility to experiment with products and services.
2. Using Hyphens:
Using hyphens in your domain can make it look unprofessional and less trustworthy to readers. It’s also hard to recall a domain with hyphens in it. Most new website owners make this mistake because their first choice is not available and a hyphenated domain may be cheaper than buying a non-hyphenated domain in the aftermarket.
It’s best to leave out the hyphens when choosing a domain name for your website. The only exceptions to this rule could be where the businesses or brand name includes a hyphen. For example, Spider-Man is a global brand that is recognised for having a hyphenated name. This is an example of a rare instance where it may be acceptable to use hyphenated domains because that’s what users will search for on Google.
3. Trademarked Domains:
Trademark domain issues often arise when the customer chooses a name associated with another company. This may seem harmless at first because your website is little and has limited traffic. Once your website grows and people start visiting and noticing it, the trademark owners will likely get notified and they can take legal action against you. This would likely result in you having to pick a brand-new domain name and rebranding your entire website and business. ICANN has built safeguards like the UDRP or URS to combat these but it’s a fairly tedious process.
A real-life example of this is Jarvis.ai. Most people recognise Jarvis as Iron Man’s virtual assistant from the Marvel universe. Disney, which owns Marvel and Iron Man, threatened legal action against Jarvis.ai. Eventually, they rebranded their website and business to jasper.ai. This is a prime example of why ensuring your domain name is not trademarked is vital to the success of your business.
4. Getting Too Specific:
Using a very niche domain name is another common mistake, especially by new bloggers. For blogs, and affiliate sites, picking a very specific domain name can pigeonhole you. This can be a challenge if there’s not enough traffic demand in that niche. Or if you’d like to pivot and explore something new.
For example, if you plan on blogging about the outdoors, picking a domain like ‘backpackreviews.com’ is an example of having a very specific domain. This domain forces you to write backpack reviews and it makes it tougher to diversify.
A good way to avoid this is to take a step back and choose a domain based on the general niche like ‘theoutdoorsman.com’. This gives readers an idea of what the site is about and it allows you to venture into any sub-niche in the outdoors category.
5. Selecting the Wrong Domain Ending:
A domain ending helps internet users figure out what kind of site you have. .COM, .NET, .ORG, .GOV are popular domain endings. Each of these helps readers understand if the site that they are on is a commercial business, a government agency, or an organisation.
For most people, choosing a domain name that ends in .COM is the best option. A .COM domain is the most common and recognized domain and it indicates that you are a trustworthy business. That said, you should also consider a country-specific domain like .AU, .UK, NZ if you are a local business or self-explanatory domains like .TECH, .STORE, .ART.
Did you know in the cryptocurrency niche, it’s common to use extensions like .ETH and .XYZ?
6. Adding Fluff to Your Domain Name:
Many first-time website owners make the mistake of adding unrequited characters to their domain. As many popular domain names are already taken users tend to add a prefix or suffix to their business – like a number, the words business, online, ltd, or pvt. This can be a crucial mistake because adding these fluff words to your domain name can impact your brand, cause trust issues amongst site visitors, and will make it hard to fit on a business card or marketing brochure.
Domain name providers often recommend characters like numbers, dashes, and special characters. Best to avoid all of these and choose a simple domain name that’s relevant to your niche.
7. Lengthy Domain Names:
In general, it’s best to keep your domain name to 15 characters or less. Having a super long domain name could make it difficult for customers to spell, and open the door to typos. And is more effort than typing a shorter domain name. The primary goal of your domain name is that it’s brandable and easy to remember for customers.
Here are the 10 Most Popular Domain Hacks to get around this.
These are a few of the common mistakes most people make when selecting a domain name. Hope these help you navigate your next domain search! To learn more about the different types of domains and how you should select them, explore the definitive guide to domains next.
Contributed by Ali. You can also find him on Twitter @alisquaredd.
