URL: Uniform (or universal) resource locator – the address of a World Wide Web page (Oxford Dictionaries online). Example: www.flowsa.com
Domain name: The part of a network address which identifies it as belonging to a particular domain (Oxford Dictionaries online). Example: “.com”
SEO: Search Engine Optimisation – the process of maximising the number of visitors to a particular website by ensuring that the site appears high on the list of results returned by a search engine (Oxford Dictionaries online).
These days, having a website is key. People are less likely to flip through a dusty yellow phone book and more likely to type what they are looking for into the trusty Google search bar.
Securing a strong URL will increase your chances of popping up first in a search, so that your website is but a simple click away when people are scrolling through their search results. But what defines a “strong” URL?
According to Gadget Cage, a strong URL is short and descriptive. Any marketing guru will tell you that less is more. A simple URL that uses clever keywords is memorable and effective. URLs that contain numbers and strings of auto-generated ID are not SEO friendly.
Be smart when it comes to choosing your keywords. Think about what the average person is more likely to search for. For example, if you have to use them, hyphens are preferable over underscores because people are less likely to use underscores when typing something into a search engine. In the same vein, use lower case over upper case, and avoid special characters. Examine your URL carefully – have you accidentally created words within words? My Pen is For Sale .com could very easily be misinterpreted when all the spaces are removed!
Choose a URL that speaks to your brand. If you refer to yourself as one thing in your URL and something even slightly different in all other forms of communication (perhaps you’ve decided to prefix your name with “the” in your URL but your logo leaves it out), people are likely to get confused. Be consistent and choose something that will tie in well with the purpose of your website.
Do your research. Play pretend. If your website promotes a service, search for that service and see what else comes up. Look at the websites of businesses that offer a similar service to yours and rank them. Understanding what else is out there will help you define your online presence and make you stand out from the rest. Test your ideas by typing them into your browser – that way you’ll know if your website name is already taken, or if it will be easily confused with something similar.
When it comes to choosing a domain name, .com is a safe bet. Says Flow web developer, Stephen Frank, “Dot com is one of the original domain names, and the most common top-level domain. People are familiar with it which automatically creates trust with the user.” Or, be unconventional. “Domain hacks” are becoming more and more popular. A “domain hack” makes use of a domain name and clever lettering to spell out a website’s full name, for example: http://fold.it or www.inter.net – an interesting solution if the domain name you want is already taken.
Visit www.checkdomain.com to check your domain name’s availability or to purchase one.
Sources
Oxford Dictionaries online
Gadget Cage
www.newentrepreneur.com
SEOmoz