If you want a great domain name for your business website, here are a few important considerations:
1. Who are you and what do you do? Be descriptive.
Often, the name of the company will be the name of the website (intoria.com). This is a great option if your company name is unique, well-known or memorable. Also consider how people might search for your site (“calgary web design”). Using descriptive keywords in your domain name can help people find you because it will rank your site higher in search engine results.
However,
2. A good domain name is short.
Most registrars limit a domain name to around 67 characters. But remember, the longer the domain name (and the more elements involved), the harder it will be to remember.
One-word names are excellent. Two-word names are good, too. Three-word names are ok. More than three words: best to avoid.
intoria.com vs. intoriacalgary.com vs. intoriacalgarywebdesignonline.com
Does the third URL intimidate you? Me too.
3. A good domain name is easy to remember.
Most people don’t use bookmarks; they remember the names of their favorite websites and manually type in the URL every day. A shorter domain is usually easier to remember, but a sometimes a longer, catchy word (or phrase) will stick better in your users’ memory.
icwd.com is short, but is it memorable?
4. A good domain name is easy to spell.
Many Internet users are below-average spellers. Typos happen, even to the best of us. Try to avoid using words in your domain that are difficult to spell or pronounce.
Cuppachinos? Cappuccinoes? Cupacheenose? ← Avoid. (Try “Coffee” instead.)
5. Avoid numbers and hyphens in your domain name.
This relates to the spelling issue. Users will speak the name of your URL out loud. Is it intoria5.com or intoriafive.com ? Spelling numbers is tricky, and hyphens are easily forgotten.
6. Dot what? Choose your domain extension carefully.
Internet users are accustomed to the .com extension. If you stray away into the world of .net, or .biz, make sure it is for a good reason! If yoursite.com is not available, using yoursite.net may be forgotten and send your visitors to you competitors.