So you decide to build a website. Whether it's for your business or just for personal use through blogging, choosing the best domain name for your website can be quite tricky.
If you asked me why I ended up choosing The BeauTraveler as my brand as well as my domain name, I actually can't remember why.
I knew since the beginning that I wanted to have a blog covering some of the topics, including travel, beauty and dating. Some people have mispronounced the brand as in beau traveler when it's supposed to go like byu-traveler as in beau in “beauty”. But that's okay, I don't regret anything about using The BeauTraveler as my brand and domain name.
So in this post, I want to share some tips on choosing the best domain names for your website so you don't regret it in the future. Here we go!
Some people wonder whether it's wise to use their name as their domain name, some other question whether it's a good idea to stick with their alter ego instead. There is no wrong or right with both situation, what matters is how you want to be perceived by your audience.
For me, I knew I wanted to use The BeauTraveler as my brand because I wouldn't want my full name to be exposed or associated with what I write on my blog. If anything, I'm prioritizing The BeauTraveler as a brand than my personal brand.
Of course, it might be different if you're looking into building your personal brand instead. Maybe you want people to know your name instead, and that's okay. What's important is to stay relevant to your branding persona.
My concern about building personal branding is that it seems more difficult to rebrand yourself as a person because it has something to do with your reputation. And that's why I'm more comfortable using the name of my brand for my website.
2. Double-check your domain availability.
If your goal is to direct your audience to visit your website, then the most important thing to do is to be sure that you are the only owner of your domain name or similar ones.
Whether it's the website for my blog or for my business, I know I aim for a .com domain as it is the most common one on the world wide web. From the user's point of view, a domain name with .com is the most familiar one.
Sure, you can use some other domain varieties that go with your brand… But why choose another if .com domain is available, knowing for sure your audience would probably type .com if they can only remember your brand name but not domain?
I personally would choose another brand name if the domain isn't available in .com. Not only that it can risk confusion for your audience, you may also have to deal with legal issues if it's trademarked.
Before building a website or a brand in particular, I usually check the availability through Namecheck. For an affordable platform to register your domain, cek domain.
Source: Pexels.
3. Avoid using special characters in your domain name.
I used to have a blog that used stripe on my domain name, and I wish I didn't do that. Again, as a blogger, you also need to see your blog from a reader's perspective.
Having a special character in your domain can be tricky, not only because it doesn't look good on the URL tab, but ain't no reader have time to type stripe on the URL.
So, make sure to only include regular letters in your domain name before registering it for good on the domain registrar… Believe me, you'll thank me later! 🙂
4. Use a maximum of 15 letters in your domain name.
Choosing the best domain name for your website is pretty much the same as choosing a tagline for your business. Keep it short when you can. But if you can't, then make it memorable!
Ideally, you shouldn't use more than 15 letters in your domain name. It's really no rocket science, just for the sake of practicality from a user's point of view. In order to make your audience engaged on your website, the least you could do is to make your website easy to remember.
Now that you have some ideas on what to register for your domain name, avoid brainstorming it with a total stranger on the internet as they may slide into a domain registrar and resell it for a higher price. You don't want that.
So, those are ways to choose the most suitable domain name for your website. Are you ready to register your domain? Share in the comment below! 😉
Marya The BeauTraveler
I am the founder and main editor at The BeauTraveler. I spent 4 years working in the aviation industry but ironically got to travel more right after quitting the industry in 2015. Born and raised in Indonesia, I started working remotely in 2017, and while I stay at home most of the time, I also regularly spend 2-3 months living a semi-digital nomad life elsewhere every year.
