Your domain name is the address of your website and of your business email. Select it as carefully as your company name, because a change later is difficult and can lose visitors.
Learn this skill in the course Advanced WebOps (MC-AWO).
Signs of a weak domain name
- People spell it wrong when they hear it.
- Your staff use free email addresses, not addresses on your own domain.
- The name does not match your company name or your activity.
- Another company holds a similar name or the trademark.
What a domain name is
A domain name is the readable form of the address of a website, for example kognifi.my. Each domain name is unique. The ending (extension), such as .com, .my or .com.my, lets two companies in different places use a similar name.
The domain is often the first contact with a customer. It shows on your business cards, brochures and email. It affects your brand image and how easily people find you.
Select your domain name in seven steps
- Start from the purpose. Decide what image you want to give and who your audience is.
- Write your requirements. Make the name short, easy to remember, easy to say and easy to spell. Let it suggest what your company does.
- Collect ideas with your team. Use a brainstorm. Look for synonyms of your main words in a dictionary.
- Decide: descriptive or creative. A descriptive name says what you do. A creative name is more distinctive. Both work if people remember them.
- Check that the name is free. Use a domain checker. Also search the trademark database of MyIPO (Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia), so that you avoid legal problems.
- Select the extension. If you sell mainly in Malaysia, .my or .com.my shows your location. If you sell in many countries, .com is the standard. You can register both and point them to one site.
- Be careful with hyphens. A hyphen helps search engines read the words, but many people forget to type it. If you use a hyphen, also register the name without it.
If people often misspell your name, register the common misspellings too and point them to your site. Think about a slogan as well: the name and the slogan together build brand recognition.
Use the domain for business email
Give each staff member an email address on your own domain, not on a free email service. This looks professional, builds trust and keeps the email accounts under the control of the company when staff leave.
What to do this week
- Say your domain name to three people. Ask them to write it down.
- Check who owns the domain account and when it renews.
- Move any staff who use free email addresses to your own domain.
