3 Mistakes to Avoid When Registering a Domain Name

Over the years, registering the perfect domain name for your business has become more and more difficult – as premium domain names, sought-after keywords and many popular terms and phrases become harder to find.

Getting the exact domain name you want can be tricky. This often forces businesses and startups to get ‘creative’ in registering a name – and causes common errors along the way. Some businesses have even been known to change their company name to help them get an available web address.

With many desirable names still available, .US can help you secure a web address that fully captures the spirit and personality of you or your business.

Here are three common mistakes to avoid when selecting your domain name.

1. Using hyphens

When trying to get around limited domain name availability, some people choose to include hyphens between words to create a more unique combination. While this strategy is understandable, the main difficulty with hyphenated web addresses is customer recall.

Printing your domain name on billboards and flyers, or announcing it verbally in advertising, can both be made more difficult when extra characters such as hyphens are introduced. They’re trickier to say aloud and add an extra piece of information for customers to remember – and you may end up sending a lot of web traffic to someone else whose web address is the same as yours, minus the hyphens.

2. Not checking how your domain reads as one word

The nature of domains is that often brands are forced to write their business name or call to action as one word. Because of this, it can become difficult to read or in some cases, can even lead to unintended phrases being created. Consider how the name “Books Exchange” reads when run together, booksexhange.us!

The same can be said for phrases that have confusing double letters, such as www.samsstore.us.

Think about how your brand name reads all as one word. The last thing you want to do is lose customers to your site because they can’t easily decipher your web address. Consider reordering the words or choosing a shortened version of the name.

3. Waiting too long on the perfect domain

The domain name market is very quick-moving. Domain name investors and resellers quickly buy up great online real estate so they can resell the domain name for a profit in the future.

If you find your perfect domain and choose to wait on registering it, you could miss your opportunity. With great names still available in .US, you have the chance to get your hands on a fantastic web address – but the opportunity can disappear quickly.

Get the complete domain name checklist here