Starting a new business is an exciting prospect, but there is so much to think about. If you’re reading this, then you know that already right?!

The perfect domain for your business is an area that must not be neglected.  Careful consideration should be given to the name of your domain as it can give visitors to the site an idea of what your business is about.

That said, a domain name that is catchy and a little bit unusual will help people remember your business and get you noticed.  It is about the fine line between being too limited by the name or too vague that it doesn’t give any clue what the business is about, although, paradoxically these domains do sometimes work. A case in point is “Moonpig.com” you would not think they sold occasion cards, given its name, but it’s worth over $2m.

If you already have a successful business, then it makes sense to match the domain name to the existing business name. That way people will be able to find you easily and you can benefit from your existing reputation.

Things to consider are the domain extension. The recognisable ones tend to be the long-established ones:

• .com
• . net
• . org

These are known as top-level domain names or TLD and they can identify your business further. Increasingly, there are more extensions available to purchase and it is even possible to buy a TLD that reflects your type of business. For example, if Moonpig.com was buying a domain now they could choose Moonpig.cards.  There are specific places to look for these TLD’s, if you put domain TLD in the search bar you will have a selection to choose from.

You could consider a premium domain name and these are certainly worth looking into. These are often names that have been used before and therefore there is the potential to pick up additional business that way. They are frequently already SEO and keyword loaded. However, don’t buy a premium domain name if it is not a good fit for your business and make sure before parting with too much money that you will own the domain name for a good length of time.

In conclusion, if you are setting up a new e-commerce business, have fun with it, but remember it must be easy for people to remember, easy to spell and unless it is part of your branding it is not advisable to include numbers.