7 Best Things to Know Before You Buy a Domain Name

Welcome to the age where to buy a domain name or website address is as delicate as business names.

Before now, most businesses had already gone into operation and employed expensive and tedious marketing solutions to become popular.

For such businesses, they might get a website later just to keep up with the trend.

One such example is Dangote PLC.

For businesses, products, services, or organizations that intend to thrive in today’s world, it has become a profitable requirement to have a website even before operations.

With over a billion websites out there, this article is set to make you not just another website owner but one of the smartest owners.

Let’s begin with the most important constituent; the name.

What Is a Domain Name?

Before getting into the business of things to consider when you want to buy a domain name, let me enlighten you on what a domain name is.

A domain name is the web address that users will use to access your website, and it’s usually made up of a website name and an extension (e.g., www.yourwebsite.com).

Many hosting providers provide domain registration services.

Before choosing a domain name, check if it is still available. Do a quick search and purchase your preferred domain name.

7 Things to Know Before You Buy a Domain Name For Your Website

Let’s expose you to a carefully prepared secret recipe you need to buy the domain name that is right for your website.

1. Domain Name Extension

There are about 1,500 top-level domains (TLD) available.  Of all these, look out for .com, .net, or .org extensions.

In a case where it is strictly required to keep the website within a national context, you can consider country-code top-level domains (ccTLD) such as .ng, .uk, and the like.

2. SEO Optimization

A domain name has a significant effect on websites which is why Search Engine Optimization (SEO) should not be neglected.

However, in a bid to get a keyword for a domain name, one should be careful not to be at the unrealistic extremes.

For example, I visited a site recently with the domain name “card.com.”

At first, it looked great. But, when I went on to a search engine to look up only “card,” I got the worst impression. The site wasn’t listed at all.

Of course, it can’t be listed because the domain name is too generic which is an extreme usage of keywords, even when the company produces customized credit cards.

On the other hand, it is not advisable to push so many keywords into a domain name just to do well on search engines.

An example of such greedy extreme usage could be “getcustomizedcreditcards.com.”

The best place to be is between these extremes; having a name that will be unique but reflect your objective.

Such as “rillahost.com” — offering hosting services, “mastercard.com” — offering card services, “paypal.com” — offering payment services, etc.

3. Domain Name Length

To keep it straight, when you want to buy a domain name, aim to have a name that is 6–16 characters long.

This will make it memorable and faster to type and spell out as well as contain a small address bar as seen on mobile devices.

4. Brand Support

As mentioned in the SEO subsection above, the uniqueness of a domain name should be defined by a brand.

It must not be a keyword but ensure it is brandable like “rilla” in “rillahost.” This gives the gorilla brand as seen on the company’s logo.

Avoid using a domain name that has a short life span.

Names that go with the trend or one that tightens your business or organization objectives, giving no room for expansions.

A domain name that supports branding will also save the owners the cost and pain of changing when the need arises.

5. Character Combination

When it’s time to buy a domain name, think of the character combinations.

Can other people comfortably pronounce your domain name and spell it exactly afterward? If yes, then I am sure there are no hyphens, numbers, or inappropriate alphabet combinations such as “laewg.com.”

Even organizational abbreviations should be carefully considered to get a
character-friendly domain name.

6. Blacklist check

Not all domain names are new to the internet.

Some have been used for malicious or fraudulent purposes, such as spamming and later dumped to expire as soon as it is blacklisted.

Unfortunately, not all these domains are removed from such lists after expiration.

Hence, before buying a domain name, we recommend you look it up on blacklisting platforms before using them.

7. Trademark Check

This is quite essential as some business and domain names may have been trademarked by preexisting firms or organizations.

They have the right to claim the domain name at any time.

Social media is also not excluded as your desired domain name may have been used on social media by those who may not have a website but have something similar.

You may have to painfully give up and pick another domain name if you ignore these checks before you buy a domain name.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is great to have multiple options to pick from when you are ready to buy a domain name; if they make it through the above-mentioned steps.

Peep into domain backlinks to see if you can enjoy the positive pre-existing reputation of an expired domain name.

This will make you gain faster prominence on search engines; like you’ve been there for long.