Your domain name registration is going to play a significant part in how your customers come to remember your company online. So, you’re going to have to take your domain registration seriously if you want to come up with an impactful name that brings in business.
The right domain name can be extremely valuable to a company. For example, insurance.com sold for $35.6 million and 360.com sold for $17 million, respectively. While we don’t expect you to be quite this financially ambitious with your domain name registration, you should lock in yours before someone else does.
We’ve created a quick guide to help you understand how to register a domain name and what to watch out for during the process. Take a look at our guide now or head over to the Small Business page to find more of our articles.
But, if you’d like to speak with a friendly member of our team about anything related to domain registration, please contact us now.
Why do you need a domain name?
Getting a domain name registered will enable you to establish your business online and create a website or e-commerce store on the back of it. You should think of a domain name as a unique identifier and having your own will project a more professional image for your business.
Even if your online strategy is a long-term plan, there’s no reason to delay in registering your domain name if it’s available today. Many businesses will register a domain name in order to stop their competitors trading under anything similar.
Domain registration tips
Keep your domain name short and sweet
The last thing you want is to make your customers journey to your website challenging from the start. Having a long, hard to remember domain name is only going to frustrate customers and could end up costing you business.
When choosing your domain name, you should make a choice that accurately mirrors your company branding. An obscure name that doesn’t tie in with your existing branding will make things complicated when it comes to marketing and seem confusing to customers.
Tie your domain name extension into your profession
For some businesses, it helps to be a little more creative with domain registration. Think about dropping the standard .com or .au extensions and tying your domain name into your profession or your location.
There’s a multitude of potential extensions out there for businesses, such as .accountants, .lawyer, .architect, .dentist, .healthcare, .shop, .fitness, .design, and .plumbing to name but a few.
By registering a more unusual, albeit fitting extension, you may find that your website stands out from your competitors in the eyes of potential customers. It’s this kind of little touch that can help give your business the edge needed to succeed online.
You can purchase multiple domain extensions
More often than not, businesses will take the time to register a number of secondary domain names that point towards a primary domain name. This gives you the opportunity to appeal to a wider range of customers while showcasing a primary domain name across your branding.
However, there’s also the potential to add in a location extension to further increase your appeal to customers in your area of operations. In addition to your location and other extensions, you may wish to register variations of your company name or common misspellings as secondary domains too.
How do you register a domain name?
Select a domain registrar
Choosing your domain registrar carefully is an important first step as they often offer more than just domain name registration. Many registrars also offer bundled services such as Microsoft Office 365, web hosting, WordPress hosting, and more.
Choose your domain name and extension
Once you’ve got a registrar in mind, search their online database to see if your domain of choice is available. There are hundreds of millions of registered domains already in existence so keep trying if you don’t find an available domain straight away.
Purchase your domain
When you’ve made a final decision on your domain and extension it’s time to purchase it. You have the choice to purchase domain names in year-long increments up to a maximum length of 10 years. To prevent your website from dropping offline, it’s good practice to purchase a domain for as long as possible in case you forget to renew it.
Are you still unsure on how to register a domain name? If you’d like to speak to an industry expert for further information, simply get in touch with a friendly member of our team today.
