Some thoughts about choosing a domain name
from Paul L.G. Morris: an experienced, respected and qualified Computer Advisor.
This gives some guidance to small business to help them choose a domain name
This is one, apparently simple, activity that causes many people a great deal of anxiety and confusion. There are many myths and rumours about the best approach, especially the impact on the search engines.
What is a domain name? This is your address on the web, such as www.pmstudios.co.uk or www.asmallholdingforsale.co.uk.
The first consideration is should you have a .com. or .co.uk or similar. A lot depends on your target market and the image you wish to portray. If you are based in the USA, or are selling to it, then a .com may be preferred. Similarly, if you are based in the UK or are selling to the UK, then a .co.uk may be preferred. However if you are targeting the USA or the international market but want to emphasis the Britishness of your product or service, then perhaps a .co.uk may be better. There is no hard and fast rule about the best approach; it is a matter of judgement. Providing the domains are available, consider buying both! (You can link other domains to an existing site).
However, if you are targeting two (or more) countries, such as France and the UK (I had this situation with a client running a small translation business) then it may be best to have two (or more) country specific domains, such as .uk and .fr
If you are a business it is best to keep to .com or .co.uk. Other organisations such as charities and voluntary sector may prefer to have .org or .org.uk addresses to show they are not a business as such. There are newer domains such as .biz for a business but these are less popular and less well known.
Next is the name part which describes or names your business. The choices are the business name, the service you offer, or the keywords (search terms) you are targeting. In my case I chose the business name of pmstudios. I believe the key issue is for it to be short, simple to key in (without typos or spelling mistakes), and easy to remember.
There is disagreement amongst the experts as to the importance of putting keywords in the URL (address), but the consensus appears to be that you should not get too hung up on incorporating key words in the domain name. It may help a little at first but makes little difference in the long run. Some authorities suggest splitting words with hyphens, others say don't: it may help where letters repeat at the end of one word and the beginning of the next.
In this context, subdomains allow you to segment the website into different areas. This uses a name to replace the www. This computing website uses ict, hence the web address is http://ict.pmstudios.co.uk. The www.pmstudios.co.uk primary domain covers my photographic activities.
Therefore, for pmstudios, I split the domain into 2 areas to segment the different aspects of the business:
http://www.pmstudios.co.uk - the main activity of photography
http://ict.pmstudios.co.uk - the computing sector of the site
The alternative was to purchase separate domains and hosting (expensive), or to segment the www primary domain into different areas (which loses segmentation).
What is a domain name? This is your address on the web, such as www.pmstudios.co.uk or www.asmallholdingforsale.co.uk.
The first consideration is should you have a .com. or .co.uk or similar. A lot depends on your target market and the image you wish to portray. If you are based in the USA, or are selling to it, then a .com may be preferred. Similarly, if you are based in the UK or are selling to the UK, then a .co.uk may be preferred. However if you are targeting the USA or the international market but want to emphasis the Britishness of your product or service, then perhaps a .co.uk may be better. There is no hard and fast rule about the best approach; it is a matter of judgement. Providing the domains are available, consider buying both! (You can link other domains to an existing site).
However, if you are targeting two (or more) countries, such as France and the UK (I had this situation with a client running a small translation business) then it may be best to have two (or more) country specific domains, such as .uk and .fr
If you are a business it is best to keep to .com or .co.uk. Other organisations such as charities and voluntary sector may prefer to have .org or .org.uk addresses to show they are not a business as such. There are newer domains such as .biz for a business but these are less popular and less well known.
Next is the name part which describes or names your business. The choices are the business name, the service you offer, or the keywords (search terms) you are targeting. In my case I chose the business name of pmstudios. I believe the key issue is for it to be short, simple to key in (without typos or spelling mistakes), and easy to remember.
There is disagreement amongst the experts as to the importance of putting keywords in the URL (address), but the consensus appears to be that you should not get too hung up on incorporating key words in the domain name. It may help a little at first but makes little difference in the long run. Some authorities suggest splitting words with hyphens, others say don't: it may help where letters repeat at the end of one word and the beginning of the next.
Subdomains
In this context, subdomains allow you to segment the website into different areas. This uses a name to replace the www. This computing website uses ict, hence the web address is http://ict.pmstudios.co.uk. The www.pmstudios.co.uk primary domain covers my photographic activities.
Therefore, for pmstudios, I split the domain into 2 areas to segment the different aspects of the business:
http://www.pmstudios.co.uk - the main activity of photography
http://ict.pmstudios.co.uk - the computing sector of the site
The alternative was to purchase separate domains and hosting (expensive), or to segment the www primary domain into different areas (which loses segmentation).