For those creating a website for the first time, even before thinking about layout, graphics and text, it’s necessary to define the domain name and register it so that it’s distinctive and exclusive, so no one else can use it.

Let’s go in order: what does “Domain Name” mean?

In the digital world, the term “domain” identifies the Internet address of your website.
It’s what users type into a browser’s search bar to access your pages directly.
For convenience it’s called a URL (even if its meaning is unknown to most, except you: Uniform Resource Locator).
A domain is unique and cannot be shared among different sites.
Let’s skip the technical side because the goal of this article is to provide tips to best define the domain name, which will then be what the people of the internet use to search online; however, a note on the structure is necessary and, as an example, we break down our domain name: ww.flazio.com.

www:

acronym for World Wide Web and corresponds to the third-level domain.

flazio:

is the site name and corresponds to the second-level domain.

.com:

called Domain Extension and corresponds to the first-level domain.

If the first part that makes up the internet address is often ignored and completed by default by the browser, it’s a different story for the middle part, the domain name, and for the extension, which require proper thought.

Middle Part: the Name

Defining the name for your site may seem trivial, but often it isn’t.  
Murphy, with one of his laws, stated that the simpler something seems, the more the chances of getting it wrong increase, and that the consequences can be even worse than the mistake itself.
 
To avoid Murphy’s law striking your site too, here are some practical tips to keep in mind:
 
• be essential: 
it’s what people must remember and it has to be both short and meaningful; too generic may not work because it can trigger search topics that lead the user away from your site;
 
• be simple: 
on the web, simplicity always wins; choose a name that’s as easy to remember as it is to write, keeping especially your target audience in mind: if you use anglicisms, make sure your audience can spell the word in English;
 
• be relevant: including the topic of your website helps a lot to bring higher-quality traffic than generic traffic because it lets the user understand the subject before the click; moreover, it helps search engines because it allows them to understand what you do and they can show you as a result for certain typed keywords.
 
• be identifiable: 
to be so you don’t need imagination; it’s enough to use the company name as the domain because it should already contain identifying and unique elements that distinguish it from competitors. For freelancers it’s common practice to use your own name, even if the smartest also pair the name with the profession.
 
Besides keeping these tips in mind, for organic positioning it can help to know that search engines, Google in particular, like the site address to contain the following three elements.

✔ “Who you are”;
✔ “What you do”;
✔ “Where you do it”.

Final Part: the Extension

For the extension too, it’s right to make some considerations, perhaps less important than the middle part, but underestimating it is certainly a bad idea; here are some criteria to define the best extension for your business:
 
• generic criterion: 
some extensions have become commonly used, taking on a general character, even if initially they were associated with business sectors such as .com, .net, .info.
It’s always recommended to also have a .com to prevent a third-party site from attracting internet users interested in visiting your site.
 
• geographic criterion:
if your business is geographically located in a specific country, choosing an extension such as .it (for Italy), .de (for Germany), .fr (for France), .es (for Spain) and so on is certainly appropriate…
To prevent someone in other countries from misleading potential customers, it’s advisable to buy multiple extensions, perhaps from countries bordering your geographic area, but it’s also suggested if you run your business in several countries; then it’s strategic to have a site with country-specific extensions.

• consistency criterion:
make sure the domain name, the chosen extension and the site topic are consistent with each other; don’t choose it at random. If you are a “Non Profit” activity, the .org or .ngo extension is the best choice compared to other options.
 
• descriptive criterion:
you can reinforce the topic you cover by using an extension that recalls the category you belong to; if you’re a florist, .flowers is perfect, but if you’re a company that works exclusively in Switzerland, .Ch is more suitable.

• new extensions:
born recently to offer the unprecedented opportunity to find a domain name that is extremely representative of the activity carried out.
Search engines appreciate these new extensions because they allow you to stand out from others, gaining greater consideration in terms of ranking.
Given their growing success, we recommend purchasing as soon as possible the extensions that best match your business to protect its brand and reputation.

To do so, you can use our tool in the Additional Services section

or do some research on Google by typing the domain you’re looking for to find out whether a website is already registered and to understand what the typed words trigger, what content the user will see when trying to find your site.