What is Business Domain Name? Does Your Business Need One?

Introduction

In today’s digitalised world, a business can’t survive without having a strong digital presence. Nowadays you don’t need to buy or rent real estate properties to start your business, rather you need to invest in online real estate i.e. domain name. Having a website is inevitable to establish and grow your business. Having a website for your business not only provides information to your potential customers but also builds trust among them. Therefore having a website is inevitable for any business to establish and expand itself. Moreover just having a domain name for the sake of digitalisation is not enough you need to do it right. Because that’s really where you would conduct your business and showcase your products or services to drive in potential customers. In this article, you will get to learn everything about domain names including how to choose one for your business.

Understanding Domain Name

A domain name is an IP address which is used to reach a particular website. Simply put it’s the website or web address of any business. For example: the domain name of X (Twitter) is X.com. Every domain name contains a suffix such as .com, .org or .net. They provide certain information about the websites for instance Indian websites have “.in” suffix, companies have “.com” suffix and NGOs/charitable organisations have “.org” suffix. 

Domain names are managed and registered by the domain registries. Anyone who wants to register a domain name can get it done through such domain registries. Currently, there are more than 300 Million registered domain names in the world. In India, the most popular domain registry is “GoDaddy”.

Domain Name v/s URL – What’s the Difference?

Domain names are different from URLs (Uniform Resource Locators). URLs take you to some specific page or section of a website. They are a mix-up of the domain name and a particular path on that domain name. A domain name can be understood as the street on which your home is and the URL as your home on that particular street. Simply put a domain name takes you to your website and a URL takes you to a specific part of your website.  

Benefits of Domain Name

Domain Name offers various benefits, some of the major ones are as follows:

1. Helps in establishing online brand identity 

2. Enhance the online visibility and reach of your business

3. Facilitates growth and expansion of business 

4. Adds credibility and builds trust 

5. Helps in online marketing

6. It makes your business look professional

7. Helps in protecting brand identity and IPRs, if any

8. Enhances search engine ranking

How to Decide Your Domain Name?

For any business, its branding is the key. It says everything about your business including its values and identity. If your brand name is Kings’ Kitchen then you wouldn’t want your domain name to be Queen’s Kitchen. That is why the domain name should also be as per your branding.

Businesses should select a domain name which is similar to the brand name or even better if it is exactly the same. This will result in routing your customers directly to you without any confusion. However, if your desired domain name isn’t available then you need to be creative and select a suitable domain name. Moreover, the option to buy the desired domain from the holder is always an option.

Ideal Length for Your Domain Name

Having a short, crisp and easy to remember domain name is always better. Generally, the suggested length for domain names is from 6 to 10 characters. However, you can go longer or shorter if it is required and suits your branding and brand language. 

Using of Special Characters

While choosing a domain name your primary focus should be keeping it in line with your brand while making it as short and easy to remember as possible. Using special characters such as hyphens (-) should be avoided because it may confuse or cause difficulty for your customers to reach you.

How to Get It?

Having a suitable domain name is essential for every business nowadays irrespective of its size and stage. One should make sure to put in the required amount of thought and effort to choose and register your desired domain name. Domain names are like tattoos, they are intended to be used for a long time and of course they are changeable or reversible, but such an action would be difficult and would cost you your precious time and resources. 

Anyone can easily get a domain name. All you need to do is visit a domain registry such as GoDaddy and Google Domains. Select the domain name and buy it by paying the prescribed fee. However you can’t just go and buy any domain you want, it should be available i.e. not already registered by someone. If your desired domain is already registered then you can follow the previously mentioned process of buying the registered domain from the holder.

Attractive domain names are often found already registered by cyber-squatters who intend to sell them later to suitable buyers for a premium. In such cases, you may avail of the broker services of domain registries to choose a similar available domain name or buy the desired domain name by paying a premium.

Cost of Getting a Domain Name

The cost of the domain name depends on various factors. Such as its uniqueness, attractiveness, platform of buying etc. A domain name can’t be bought by lump sum payment; you need to pay an annual subscription or renewal fee.

A simple domain name can cost anywhere between $2 to $20 annually. However, the price may go up depending on the uniqueness or attractiveness of the domain and the elements such as its extension it carries. Furthermore, the cost of premium domain names can be very high, for instance, the most expensive domain name “Cars.com” was valued at $872 Million.