How I choose a domain name
Company Name
Your business name is ideally the best domain for you to initially register, as it maintains your company identity and is easily recognisable to your existing clients. Ensure that it is easy to remember and the URL works i.e., short and if possible, try to make sure that it is catchy too!
NOTE: If your business is named Custom Car Paints, it is far too cumbersome for people to remember exactly, so look at something pertinent but shorter, like custompaints.co.za or ccp.co.za
Using Characters
You may be able to register your company name by using a hyphenated version, e.g., airfresh.co.za may already be registered, then possibly air-fresh.co.za may still be available. If you do use this, then make sure everyone knows about the hyphen, otherwise, you may lose potential new customers to the other website. When using numbers as a substitute for a word, e.g., 2 and 4, remember that being smart may not be very clever.
Added to this, it needs to become part of your branding as well, so it becomes more recognisable. The same would apply if you wanted to register thecaraircon.co.za, remember to include ‘The’ in the website design and any printed material as well. In the case of aircon4cars.co.za, the 4 would have to be accounted for in the rest of the business advertorials.
NOTE: A domain will only accept letters, numbers, and the hyphen character; all other characters are unacceptable
Creating Choices
If you can afford to register more than one domain, it is a good idea to look for domain names relevant to your business.
This is a good way to ensure people who don’t know your business can still find you by pointing other domains to your website. You will be able to create traffic via these websites to your website. Using the example above, you could look at registering caraircon, carfresh, aircon4cars, airconforcars, etc.
Using TLDs, 2ndTLDs & gTLDs
Consider registering TLD (Top Level Domain) variations of the .co.za domain, especially if your first choice has already been registered by someone else; you may find that the TLD version is still available, e.g., .com, .net, .org, or the generic .info gTLD.
NOTE: The .com is the most well recognised TLD, followed by .net, .org, and then the generic .info. Again, these can all be pointed to your primary website and could gain you an advantage over your competitors.
