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Choosing a domain name

When starting to develop a successful website in County Mayo, the first task is to choose a distinctive and memorable domain name. How you go about this is usually determined by who you are aiming at, how to intend to promote the website and what type of business you have.

The whole point of a web address is that a word, or collection of words, is far easier to remember for humans than a complicated but unique series of numbers. For example, InfinitiMixedMedia.com (although it is quite long) is much more meaningful and memorable than the phone number 086 076 7909.

Whether you choose a dot com address or dot ie, is entirely down to you. These are the two most popular types of domain for business websites in County Mayo. Although there are no hard and fast rules, other generic domains like dot net and dot org etc, are more commonly applied to technical services and not-for-profit organisations.

Who are you aiming at?

The target audience you are aiming at and the intended use of the website should always be considered when choosing a domain name. Is your name suitable for your market? Would they be put off from visiting your site just by the sound of it?

If you are aiming at existing or potential business customers in County Mayo, a professional and sober BusinessName.ie should easily meet your needs.

However, if you are trying to generate a bit of 'buzz' to interest a more web savvy market, for tourism, entertainment, social media, e-business or e-commerce, your domain name needs to have another dimension.

This type of domain name essentially works as a brand, and communicates the tone and the style of the site. These are things like Flickr.com, Twitter.com, Facebook.com and Youtube.com. 

How will you promote the site?

If the main promotion of your site is to be local word of mouth or roadside advertising, your domain needs to be short, punchy and memorable.

Try and avoid being too clever with initials, spelling words in an odd way (like foto, grafix etc), adding in numbers and dashes. Also, try and distance yourself from your competition, as a typo may result in your visitor going to their site instead of yours.

If the bulk of your main customers visit your site through recommendations or reference material like business cards, press advertising or even a web address printed on your product, you are able to use a longer, more descriptive name. You can even use a micro-site or sub-section of your main site like www.businessname.com/products/.

If you are promoting through links or search engines you can afford to be a bit more abstract/relaxed with your domain name, as the user does not necessarily have to type this address into the browser.

What type of business are you?

As a small or medium sized business based in County Mayo, the image that you may want to project will be of a local, Irish based business and you should probably favour the dot ie country code domain.

However, if you are more interested in an international or web-based business image, like an e-business service or e-commerce, you may be more suited to a dot com generic domain name.

It is wise to bear in mind any future plans you might have for the business. Will the domain still suit the business in five years time and is there room for any adjustment or expansion?

How do I go about choosing a domain name?

When choosing a domain name in County Mayo I apply three different approaches:-

• Business Name
• Business Name with Modifier
• Web 2.0 Approach

Business Name - The simplest and best route for businesses in County Mayo is BusinessName.com or BusinessName.ie.

This works especially well if your business has a short, unique and distinctive name, and the dot com or dot ie domain is available.

Note:- Be careful when running multiple words together that they do not combine to make new or confusing words. This can sometimes have embarrassing results.

If your business name is fairly long like mine, you may consider abbreviating it logically, to maybe the name you use when answering the phone, like infiniti.com or infiniti.ie. If these options are not available, you may consider using a modifier to create a unique name.

Business Name with Modifier - This is most appropriate when the simplest and best domain name is either not available, or not cost effective to purchase.

For example:- When developing the site to promote Roadkill designer plush toys, the domain Roadkill.com was not available, so the domain was modified with the word 'Toys' to make it unique, descriptive and meaningful as RoadkillToys.com.

Your modifier words should be logical and can be a product, service or location, but be careful when using things like Limited or LTD, as this can make the name fussy and complicated.

Web 2.0 Approach - I call this my web 2.0 approach as this route was inspired by the huge wave of more modern websites with non-dictionary names like Flickr.com and Digg.com.

This is ideal for start-up and web based businesses as they do not rely on an existing business name, and can be developed from the point of view of 'what domain names are available?'. Domain Registries often have lists of available domains, and you can also use name-spinners to generate new and random names.

The domain name can be anything unique, attractive and relevant, which can be extremely cost effective. I have my own list of five and six character domains, suitable for creating web brands for my clients. For example in my catalogue I have domains such as:-

• HexaForm.com
• LowaCase.com
• OffScope.com
• WarMind.com

As well as more unique names such as:-

• Jodus.com
• Nesini.com
• Rivva.com
• Xpono.com

Note:- When choosing these types of domain names you need to research the words thoroughly. This is to check that the saturation of the name or phrase in search engines is pretty low, so your new site will stand out, and also to ensure that the chosen domain does not have any negative associations that may reflect on your business.