Properties of a Good Domain Name
What is a Domain Name?
A domain name is a human readable and memorable representation of an IP address. For example instead of typing the IP address for name.co.zw, one uses the domain name which is easy to remember than the IP address. The use of domain names eliminates the hassle to memorise the long string of the numerical addresses that is used by computers to locate each other and other Internet resources on the Internet.
Properties of a Good Domain Name
Your domain name becomes your brand online and a gateway to your company’s products/services storefront. This therefore calls for proper considerations when registering a domain name. Here are some of the things to consider when choosing a domain name,
- Keep it short and simple – this makes customers easily remember your web address and eliminates the possibility of misspellings.
- Make it easy to convey – Avoid the use of hyphens, the domain name should be easy to say in a phone conversation.
- Meaningful and Descriptive – your domain name should be descriptive of your industry or business.
- Avoid copyright issues
- Make it brandable – your domain should be easy to brand for example Google and Yahoo
- Avoid the use of numbers – by all means avoid domains like mycompany67.co.zw unless it’s part of the branding
- Avoid the use of slang like urcompany.co.zw instead of yourcompany.co.zw
- Not easily misspelled – avoid using domains which can easily be misspelled such as carz.co.zw instead of cars.co.zw
- Choose an extension related to your industry for example if you are an NGO operating in Zimbabwe choose .org.zw, an academic institution .ac.zw.
