When you are first setting up a website, the first place you’ll start is with your domain name. A domain name is the website address people will type into their browsers to bring up your website. On a more technological level, it is also the name to which your website files attach themselves to.
Whether you are using a blog site or a standard website, you’ll want to purchase a domain name. When purchasing a domain name, you will also want to ensure you purchase it at the location where you’ll do the hosting. The hosting company I highly recommend and use frequently is Bluehost.com. They provide hosting services at $6.95 per month.
Have you thought about what you might want to choose as your domain name? When you are choosing a domain name, it’s important to remember some key things about domains. Let’s go over some very important do’s and don’t as it relates to purchasing and choosing domain names.
Do come up with a domain name that is fairly short.
No one wants to type in www.aliceandmaryswonderfulvirtualassistancecompany.com. That’s just crazy talk! Instead, choose something that is short like www.aliceandmaryva.com or www.aandmva.com. Whatever you choose, make sure it’s concise and short.
If you have a super long domain name and tack on the beginning part of an e-mail address, the info before the @ sign, just imagine how much typing people will need to do to contact you.
Do purchase variations of your business name.
What I mean by this is you should choose multiple domain names when purchasing the website address of your choice. You’ll always choose a main one but it’s important to also grab up the others so you own them and someone can not have a website address that is close to yours.
As an example, if I were purchasing my domain names, I would choose www.bsetc.ca and www.bsetc.com and www.businessservicesetc.com. You can purchase a wide range and then simply point the additional domains to point to your website. That way, if someone types in something without knowing or searching, they will still find you.
Do check to see if the letters run together in a profane way.
I have seen this happen! Check to be sure that when your letters for your domain name are placed side by side on a line that there are no hidden words. I’ve actually seen one company, Speed of Art, choose the domain name of www.speedofart.com but when you actually spell that out, it also says ‘Speedo Fart’… Not necessarily the most professional is it?
Don’t make it hard to remember.
Instead, make it memorable. People want things that are easy to rhyme off and easy to remember. With the thousands and thousands of messages we receive every single day, we need to have short, concise domain names that allow people to remember us.
Did you find the information in this post helpful? If so, check out our Build Your Virtual Assistance Business course! The course contains information like this to help you build, grow and manage your virtual assistance business.
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About Erin: Erin Blaskie has been in the virtual assistance industry for over 6 years. Having built her multiple six figure VA practice from the ground up, she offers her support and guidance to her fellow VAs in many areas. Find Erin on Twitter at @ErinBlaskie. |
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Great post Erin – and had I known that when I first started out and named my business Coast2Coast that I would be saying “Coast the number two Coast Business dot com” over and over, I would have definitely thought twice! I learned my lesson and have stayed away from numbers