How to Choose the Right Domain Name for Website

Look, your domain name is more than just a simple web address—it’s your brand’s digital identity. 

A professional, easy-to-remember name builds trust, while a confusing or spammy-sounding one can drive people away. It's simple as this!

Would you buy something on Best-Deals-4-U-Online-Store-2023.com or BuyRealFakeWatches.net? Nop for sure!

Would you seriously invest in a company using a domain like MySuperCoolStartupThatWillMakeYouRichFast.org?

On the other hand, take First Page, a digital marketing agency in Hong Kong doing SEO. Their name cleverly reflects their goal: to get clients to the first page of Google. Smart, right?

So look, let me give you a few tips to choose the right domain:

1.  Choosing a Hard-to-Spell Name (e.g., KawaiiFashun.com)

Imagine being at a networking event and watching someone struggle to pronounce your business name. If they can’t, they might lose interest and forget about it.

This happens all the time with my newsletter, Better Read Paul.

The name's a mouthful—locals often stumble over pronouncing it. My instant solution? I've developed a reflex of whipping out my phone to show them my Substack page.

I also chose the shorter domain bettercp.com instead of BetterCallPaul.com since I type my email address constantly—shorter is better!

2. Using Hyphens or Numbers (e.g., Best-Deals-4-U.com)

Many entrepreneurs lock in a company name only to discover the matching domain is already taken by someone else.

Usually it’s too late to change, they have already brainstormed the name for 3 months and started building the logo..

So they end up settling for awkward variations of their company name.

Let's say your bakery is called 'Croissant' and based in San Francisco. Of course, Croissant.com is already taken but you didn't think about it...

If you think about something like Cr01ssant.com instead, just don't - that looks spammy as hell.

A better alternative would be CroissantSF.com (which is also much easier to type).

When I chose Bao as my business name, bao.com was already taken, so I opted for baohk.com instead of Ba0.com (since I’m based in Hong Kong).

3. Ignoring Social Media Availability

Check social media platforms like Instagram and LinkedIn to be 100% sure no competitor already owns your brand name. Imagine losing potential customers to a rival with 100K followers—especially devastating if you're in a visually-driven industry like fashion, luxury, or watchmaking where brand aesthetics are everything!

4. Failing to Protect Your Domain for Cold Emails

A critical mistake to avoid: Using your primary domain and email for cold outreach risks getting blacklisted as spam.

The consequences? Your emails may stop reaching inboxes, and your website could suffer SEO penalties.

Best is to create burner domains/emails (e.g., Maildoso) for those cold email campaigns. For example, if your main domain is HKFitness.com, be sure variants like HKFitness.com or 

HongKongFit.com are available for outreach.

5. Choosing the Wrong Domain Extension

As you know, there are two main types of domain extensions: the global .com and local extensions (like .hk for Hong Kong).

The .com extension is ideal for global reach if you have an e-commerce business, but finding available .com domains can be difficult.

For example, I couldn't get bao.com because a restaurant in the U.S. already owned it.

Rather than settling for bao.hk, I chose baohk.com - this lets me target Hong Kong while keeping international appeal for the future since I can easily expand my online services to another country. (Though I'll note: .hk does offer better local SEO.)

My recommendation?

Whenever possible, purchase both domain extensions - the global .com version along with your local extension (like .hk). Once secured, set up a redirect from your .com domain to your primary local site.

This simple strategy delivers 3 key advantages: it captures international traffic that naturally gravitates toward .com addresses, safeguards your brand by preventing competitors from acquiring your .com version later (which they could exploit as you expand), while still preserving all the local SEO benefits of your country-specific domain. It's the smart way to future-proof your online presence from day one.

Finally, if you're looking for a domain name, there are two options: some website platforms include it in their packages for free (like Wix Studio), or you can visit a site like GoDaddy to purchase one.

If you need help to start your Wix Studio website, you can get an automated quote directly on your mailbox, simply answer these 3 questions!