Domain names

Choosing a domain name is fun and an important part of the process. Finding a name you’re happy with—one that resonates with you and represents your business and brand is critical.

TRANSCRIPT:

Hello. Welcome back.

In this module, we’ll discuss domain names and choosing a domain for your website. I think I’ll start by explaining a few definitions:

• A domain name is a unique name that appears after the @ sign in an email address or after the www. in a web address. It’s often used as a synonym with URL, although they are slightly different.

• A URL, which stands for Uniform Resource Locator, is a web page’s full address.

• An IP address, which is sometimes confused with these two other terms, is a unique string of characters that identifies each computer or device using the Internet protocol to communicate over a network. So, to clarify, we’ve defined a domain or domain name, URL, and IP address.

1:03 Best practices for choosing a name and domain name for your website are pretty straightforward:

1. You should keep it short, if you can, and simple, ideally 6 to 14 characters.

2. It should be memorable and easy to pronounce and spell.

3. You want to avoid numbers and hyphens, if at all possible.

4. You should also consider keywords important to your idea and try to connect them or include them in a domain name, if possible.

1:36 There are many sources to help you determine which domain names might be available and which are taken. Generally, these are also sites that want to host your new website. Because we will be working with Squarespace, I recommend using either Squarespace or other websites to do searches, but save registering your domain name until you’ve got a Squarespace account established; it just makes for one less step. It means you won’t have to transfer a domain from another hosting site to Squarespace.

2:10 I like to use namecheck.com (https://www.namecheck.com/en/) for domain searches; you’ll see it behind me. This website is in English and German, and I chose to show you the English version.

Just a little background: I did some research about domain names. In 2024, an estimated 360 million (plus) domain names were registered worldwide. So, there are a lot of names out there, and it’s not as straightforward to find a name as it was 20 years ago. The competition can feel intimidating, but there’s still a lot of room to find a domain. If you’re looking for a domain for an established business, it can be a little tricky because you’ve already got a name that you’re working with and will want to choose something close to it, but that’s where being creative and using some of these newer extensions can come in.

3:05 The most trusted domain extension is .com. According to sources I found, 52% of all websites use .com. However, .net, .org, and .io are rising in popularity, and there are lots of other new extensions available that you’ll discover in your searches that might work for you.

For someone who’s starting a new online business, I think choosing a domain name is the best first step. Then, you can build upon that. And that’s what I did when I started this website you’re visiting. I chose a domain name, and then I built everything else around that. I followed the suggestions for best practices I mentioned earlier, and I must admit that the name I ended up with was not where I started. I spent quite a bit of time playing around with combinations of words, thinking about length, complexity, whether they were hard to spell, and how they would fit as a part of an email. (If I used my name along with the domain name, as far as an email address goes.) In the end, I picked a domain I felt I could work with and one I felt would be suitable for building my brand, and I’ve continued from that point.

4:22 I spent a little time thinking about competition, but not too much. In part, as a solopreneur, I’m not trying to compete with the big companies. Using the example of my domain, ChacoWebWorks, you won’t find me if you search just Chaco because the shoe company, sandal company, Chaco, takes up pages and pages of search results. But, if you niche down just a little bit and search for ChacoWeb or ChacoWebWorks, a couple of other companies compete with me for results. But, I think that by building out my website and building my brand, I will become searchable fairly quickly.

5:06 I wanted to show you what searching for a domain name is like. I’m going to start with something just random. I will look for a domain that would work for a new website that I’ll call “My Favorite Food.” I will type in the name or the word, My Favorite Food. You’ll see that I’ve already got it filled in here. And notice there are no spaces; it’s all one word. And then, I’m going to check for availability. You’ll see that MyFavoriteFood.com has already been taken, but there are other options… options like MyFavoriteFood.org or MyFavoriteFood.us are available.

I can continue to search and try some other nuances of this name. I can’t have .com, but I could have .org. Or I could try another combination. I’m going to try another combination; I’m going to try “My Favorite Food to Eat.” This is getting pretty long…19 characters, a little longer than you’d like. But I’m going to check and see what the results are anyway. And MyFavoriteFoodtoEat.com is available, as are all the other extensions.

So, that’s just an example of how you can begin to experiment with combinations of words. I spent a couple of days thinking about what words or terms would work, then giving it a break and returning to it. I encourage you to take time to think about what would work for you and what feels good. Regarding my search, I looked at ChacoWebDesign. I could have taken ChacoWebDesign.org, but I decided to keep looking. Ultimately, I decided that “WebWorks” was better than “Design” because I want to create a message that relays that I’m doing more than just designing websites.

7:14 I’ll show you the search for Chaco WebWorks. And you’ll see that ChacoWebWorks.com is taken. That’s me. And all the other extensions are available. At this time, I’m not going to purchase other extensions. I’m not too worried about competition. I think it’s unlikely somebody will try to replicate what I’m doing at this point. But I’ll continue to pay attention to the competition, and I may add the domain that is my name so that if somebody’s looking for me, Peg Desrochers, and they type that in, it will bring them that domain, which then auto-directs to my ChacoWebWorks site. I can go into that in greater detail in the lessons inside the course when you’re building a website, but I thought I’d mention that.

Choosing a domain name is fun, but it can take some time. It’s important to be patient and find something you’re happy with.

So, have fun searching! I’ll see you in the next video.