For around 25 years, millions of people have found one way or another to express themselves via the internet. Whether you are a casual user, a business owner or a blogger, there are plenty of avenues for communicating with the rest of the world in an efficient manner. Many people decide to start their own websites, whether it be for business or personal use. While there are many different ways to approach the construction, maintenance and marketing of a website or brand, many of the same elements should be considered when picking a domain name. Today, we’ll review three great tips that can help you get the most out of your website’s domain name.

Relate It to Your Brand

Perhaps the most important aspect of a domain name is its relation to your brand or image. Whether you are building a personal blog or an online store front, your domain name should reflect this reality. In some cases, this will mean using the same name as your pre-existing company (if available). In other cases, you may decide to start pinging users with a domain name that reflects prime keywords that you’ll be targeting in search. There are multiple potentially right answers here, but all of them should come back to one simple truth: it must be related to your brand.

Go for Brevity

Another important point to consider when picking the right domain name is the length of the domain. The shorter the domain name, the better. While it is not always possible to pick a very short domain name (most generic keywords and phrases are happily owned these days), settling for the shortest possible domain name that adequately relates to your brand is necessary for a variety of reasons. First, it ensures that your domain name is easily remembered by those who visit – this can be especially helpful when you are running PPC campaigns in search, as you’ll minimize the number of repeat visitors searching for your site and clicking on your ads. Additionally, search engines seem to be more likely to associate your domain name with keywords when there are just one or two in the domain name, rather than four, five or even more.

Aim for a .com Domain

There are literally hundreds of top-level domains that you can consider today, ranging from the standard .com, .net and .org to the more exotic ones that relate to particular niches, professions and hobbies. The mindset of most people envisions websites as ending in “.com”, which means that this will probably be the first variation they try when recalling your domain from memory. A remember-able URL will feature .com instead of another variation, and will help ensure that you don’t lose traffic to a .com variation because you went with .net, .org or some other top-level domain.

Getting the most out of your domain name revolves around some careful considerations. By pinging users with a domain name that relates to your brand, is short and easily remembered, and uses the standard .com TLD, you’ll be well on your way to building a quality website that visitors will love, remember and share.