How to Naming Your Website – Step-by-Step Guide

A lot of entrepreneurs make the mistake of choosing a commonly available domain name for their website. They believe that their product is so unique that it will automatically be remembered by potential customers. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Based on a recent survey by HubSpot, only 10% of consumers have distinctively remembered a website’s domain name. Another 10% said they remembered the company name, while the remaining 80% either didn’t know the website’s name or couldn’t recall it.

If you are among the 80% that can’t recall the name of your website, then it’s time to reconsider. There are many easy steps that you can take to give your website a memorable name.

Pick A Name That Means Something

One of the simplest yet most effective ways to name your website is to pick a name that means something. This could be the name of a brand, a location, a person, a thing, an idea, or a mission. When people hear or see the name, it will automatically pop up in their head. This is actually how all of our brains work. We have a tendency to think of the first few things that come to mind when presented with a word or a phrase.

For example, if you chose the name “Northwest“, then potential customers will likely think of a place called “Northwest”, as opposed to a region in Canada or the United States. If you want to choose a name that evokes luxury, then you can use words such as “Luxury“, “Yacht“, or “Maritime“; for something different, you can use words such as “Eco“, “Sustainability“, or “Vegetarian“; or you can choose a name that is simply an adjective such as “Hygenic“, “Silent“, or “Sober“.

Choosing a name that means something is not an easy task. You will need to make numerous mental notes and keep track of how many people are already using the name. If you want to see how your potential customers are referring to you, then you can use a tool such as Google Trends to easily find search interest data.

Play Around With Wordplay

Another effective way to make your website more memorable is to play around with wordplay. You can use words that are similar to each other but have a different meaning. For example, you can use the word “Sleek” to name your website, as it has the same meaning as “Silky“. However, when you use the word “Sleek“, it will sound like the product or service that you offer is “silky smooth”.

Another example is the website “Eco-Friendly“; the phrase “Eco-friendly” has the same meaning as the name, while the phrase “Friendly” means that your customers can be “friendly” to the environment by buying your product.

When picking a name, there are many options to consider. You can use the above methods to help you come up with a unique and memorable name.

Choose A Website Host That Is Known For Its Stability

Another important factor to consider when naming your website is the stability of the host. This will greatly influence how easy it is for you to update your website and how much downtime you will experience. If you are on the lookout for a new host, then be sure to consider the following things:

• Data centers: Know the location of the data center of your host. This is very important because if the location is in a different country from where you are, then your web traffic can be subject to data privacy laws in that country.
• Uptime: Find out the host’s average uptime percentage. This way, you will know how often you can expect the site to be available to visitors
• Bandwidth: Know the host’s bandwidth and how much it costs.
• Switching costs: Hosts that provide a high-quality experience usually have low switching costs. This means that when you switch to them, it will be easy for you to move over your existing sites and content without experiencing any disruption. The opposite is true for hosts that have high switching costs.
• DNS: Consider the host’s DNS. If you don’t know what DNS is, it means that you aren’t very familiar with the World Wide Web. Think of DNS as the phone book of the Internet. It tells your computer how to find the websites that you need when you type in a web address. For example, if you want to go to Yelp.com, then your computer will need to find a way to communicate with the website’s server in order to display it’s content.
• Appearance: Look at the site’s appearance. Is it easy on the eyes? Does it have a modern or vintage look? These are just some of the things that you should consider before making a decision.

Avoid Using Alliteration

Many entrepreneurs try to use alliteration in the naming of their website, as it supposedly makes a name easier to remember. Avoid doing this if you want a unique and memorable name. Alliteration, or the use of identical or similar words at the beginning of two words or phrases, is quite common in English. It is usually seen as an effective way to make a phrase or a word more memorable.

For example, you can use the phrase “Eco Friendly Cleaning” to name your website. However, using alliteration in this way will not make your site any more memorable. Another example is the website “Green Cleaning“. While this may seem like a catchy name, it won’t mean anything to anyone who hasn’t heard of the phrase “Green Cleaning“.

Start With A Short Domain Name

If you want to name your website, then it is advisable to choose a short domain name. It is said that shorter domain names are easier to remember. In addition, shorter domain names are more likely to be suitable for SEO purposes. This is because search engines like Google value short, concise content. If you are looking to build a brand, then you can start with a short domain name and eventually expand to a.com or a.org once you have established yourself.

As discussed above, only 10% of consumers can recall a website’s name. That means that the remaining 90% have no idea what the site is or what it does. If you want to reach this audience, then you should choose a short, memorable domain name. Once you have established yourself, then you can consider a longer.com or.org. Remember, only the initial part of the domain name will be used in SEO and other matters. For example, eco-friendlycleaner.com is the same as eco-friendlycleaner.org, but the second part is what people will see when they type in a Google search. Short, snappy domain names are the way forward.