The primary reason why you should avoid using Cincinnati in a domain name is not because it is the name of a city, but because the word is most often misspelled by people who are not from Cincinnati and also because it can possibly become very long once you add other keywords.
Truth be told, picking out a domain name is a challenging task and there are things to take into consideration to find the perfect domain name. Choosing the right domain name for your website is pertinent to your success. If you choose the wrong domain name, it can be tasking to switch later on without impeding your brand growth and search rankings.
Owing to that, you should pick the best domain name from the start. If you intend to keep using your domain for years to come, then don’t forget to register it for as many years as you can, probably five or ten. Note that search engines like to see domain names that are registered well into the future, as this goes to show that you intend to stick around.
If you’re not certain of how long you will use your domain, start with a year or two as you can always extend the term later. Also, note that the cost of a domain name will most definitely vary. If you are buying directly from a registrar, the price is usually around $15 and $100 for one year.
More desirable domains and extensions can be on the higher end. You may find that the most desirable domain name for you is being sold by a squatter or reseller, and the price is significantly higher, thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars. This is when you have to ask if it is really worth the investment.
Other Things to Avoid Using in a Domain Name
To ensure you don’t make mistakes, here are things to avoid using in a domain name.
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Hard to Spell Words
Although some words can seem unique and out of this world, many people may not be able to correctly spell them. Keep it simple and use only easy-to-spell words. This explains why you need to avoid dropping vowels from common words.
This can work for companies with huge budgets that can create brand awareness. But you will be wasting scarce resources if you have to spell your domain every time you tell someone about your website. It is important to ensure that your domain passes the radio test.
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Numbers
Also, note that numbers tend to make things confusing. Most people who hear your domain name might type the digit or they might type out the word. For instance, if your company is Four Dogs Daycare, would the domain name be 4dogsdaycare.com or fourdogsdaycare.com?
Note that you can include numbers in your domain name if you take some precautions. For one, try to make sure that you can register both the spelled-out version of the domain as well as the one with the number in it.
Ensure to pick one and redirect the other domain to it. Therefore, in the example above, if you owned fourdogsdaycare.com, get the one with the ‘4 in it as well, so either way, people will find your site.
However, there are certain exceptions for common numeric terms. Note that the longer the number, the less likely someone will type it out. If you are a 24-hour store, including 24 in your domain is safe because people won’t spell out a number with that many characters.
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Hyphens
If by chance the most desirable two-or-three word domain you like is already taken, then you might be considering just adding hyphens between the words to find an available domain. Please note that hyphens in domains are a big no-no! Some parts of the world are a bit more accepting of hyphens in domain names, but not all. So try and avoid hyphenating your domain name. This is mainly because hyphens cause two problems.
- Each hyphen adds another word to your domain. A three-word domain with two hyphens immediately becomes five words because you have to say “dash” twice. It also means that it takes longer to say.
- People will most often forget to add the hyphen when typing a domain name. This means that most of them will end up at someone else’s website, not yours.
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Homophones
Homophones are words that sound the same but mean entirely different things. Examples include ‘brake’ and ‘break,’ ‘flour’ and ‘flower,’ and ‘here’ and ‘hear.’ Note that if you include words with homophones in your domain name, you have to ensure that the meaning will be vivid and that people will easily know the right one to type. A blog for automobiles can use ‘brake’; a cookery blog can make do with ‘flour’.
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Trademarks
Even if your website will blog about other companies’ products or even sell plugins for a platform like WordPress, it is imperative you don’t use any trademarks in your domain name. This may be seen as cybersquatting or a trademark violation, and either way, you could lose your domain name.
Many people have fallen victim to this just because they included the WordPress trademark in their own domain name. However, this is quite very easy to avoid. You just need to run a trademark search before registering your domain name. You can leverage sites like Trademark247.com to know if your domain name contains registered trademarks.