When it comes to building and designing a new website for your brand, there’s a lot of decisions that go into it.

One of the first steps is determining your overall brand strategy and brand identity, which includes discovering your unique heart, messaging, target audience and visuals (ex: logo, fonts and brand colors).

Each of those elements are important to know first so that your website can properly reflect your brand as a whole. 

Then, there’s the copywriting followed by the design.

Not to mention all of the other seemingly small parts of creating a new website, such as a fresh brand photoshoot for photos that accurately represent your brand and fun design elements that grab the attention of your audience. 

Oh and let us not forget… your website domain and URL.

Your website URL seems like a small detail and IS often overlooked but it's a vitally important part of your website.

When working with clients, I often find that this part of the website design process is an afterthought for them.

And I really do understand why this happens…

As a business owner, it’s so easy to get caught up in the “fun” parts of any process. And usually choosing a website domain and going through the process of purchasing it on GoDaddy or Google Domains doesn't fall into your category of fun. 

I want you to know that overlooking seemingly small details (such as your website domain and URL) could cost you BIG time in the future. 

A huge part of your brand and website strategy is making sure that every single detail – even the small and not-so-fun ones – are carefully thought through. 

You MUST intentionally consider all parts of the process, including the actual name/URL of your website. 

After all, if you’re hoping to send more people to your site and generate new traffic through search, it needs to be right… right?!

If you’re planning a new website launch soon or are launching your website for the very first time and have yet to give your domain much thought, I’m here to let you in on why this part of the process is SO important and give a few insider tips for choosing the best domain and URL for your brand specifically.

5 Reasons Why Choosing the Right Website Domain is So Important

Branding

It should come as no surprise to you that this is my first reason in this list! A lot of times people don’t realize how something small like your domain name plays a significant role in your branding efforts.

Here’s why: this is often the first thing people see and remember about your website or business. 

It’s usually displayed on your business card, in your email signature, your Instagram bio and is often the first thing you direct people to in conversation.

A catchy, unique and memorable domain name that is CONSISTENT with your brand can help create a strong brand identity and leave a lasting impression for your audience.

Credibility

A professional and relevant domain name can enhance your credibility and trustworthiness, because it shows that you are serious about your online presence and are invested in providing a quality experience to people.

A poorly chosen domain name, on the other hand, can make your website appear untrustworthy, unprofessional or even as an afterthought that you don’t prioritize.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Did you know that search engines consider domain names as a ranking factor when it comes to SEO?

Many people correlate SEO with blog posts and other keywords on their website, but this applies to your website domain name as well!

Incorporating relevant keywords in your domain name can help improve your website's visibility in search engine results which can potentially lead to more organic traffic.

Now, this doesn’t mean you should choose a domain name solely based on keywords for SEO purposes. Your domain should follow a few guidelines that I’ll get to in just a minute! 

User Experience

User experience is a HUGE part of the website design process, but it doesn’t just apply to when someone is actively on your website.

The user experience begins the moment someone starts searching for your website on Google or typing in your website URL. 

You want your audience to have a positive experience from the very beginning, which means that your website domain should be easy to remember, spell and pronounce.

A complicated or confusing domain name may result in users mistyping it or having difficulty finding your website, which can lead to an automatic negative experience and directly impact their decision in working with you in the future.

Business Expansion

When you’re choosing a website domain name for the first time, it’s very easy to just think about where you’re at in the present moment. What people often forget to consider is the future of their business and how their business could expand.

This is why when choosing a domain name, it's important to consider your long term goals and select a domain name that allows for scalability and expansion as your business evolves. 

By being intentional about this from the beginning, you can save yourself from having to rebrand or change your website domain name later on.

How to Choose the Best Website Domain and URL for Your Brand

Now that you know why strategically and thoughtfully choosing a website domain is so important, I want to provide a few website designer insider tips for choosing the best website domain for YOUR brand!

Define your brand strategy and brand identity.

I know, I know… of course I would say that since I’m a brand strategist and designer. But hear me out! 

If you choose your website domain name BEFORE you define your brand strategy and brand identity, you run the risk of choosing a website domain that doesn't align with your brand at all. 

In fact, one of my good friends experienced this when she was first launching her business. When building her website, she originally chose her name as the website domain.

At the time this made a lot of sense and she saw a lot of other business owners doing this, so what could be the harm? As time went on and her business began to grow, she realized that she was actually going to call her business something totally different.

You see, she had built her brand primarily on Instagram and her audience started to know and refer to her as her Instagram handle… yet her website didn't reflect that at all. 

About a year into her business, she finally invested in brand strategy and this resulted in her changing her website domain and completely rebranding to ensure that everything aligned.

While this wasn't the end of the world for her, it was a huge project that could’ve easily been avoided if she would have defined her brand strategy and brand identity FIRST. 

Now, when you’re first starting out in business like my friend was, sometimes you don’t know what you don’t know and you’re just trying to get something off the ground. I understand this – I really do. 

But if at all possible, I encourage you to start with your brand FIRST and let your website come SECOND. 

Use the RSM Formula – Relevant, Simple, Memorable

For the record, the RSM Formula is something I totally made up, but that doesn't mean it’s not legit advice. 🤣

After you’ve defined your brand strategy and brand identity and it’s time to choose your website domain, you want to make sure it's relevant, simple and memorable.

First up, relevancy. Your domain name should accurately reflect the nature of your business and should be relevant to your industry, products or services.

If you know your brand strategy and brand identity (which includes the actual NAME of your business), it’s much easier to choose a relevant domain.

Next up, simplicity. You know those people who have super complicated last names and always have to spell it out for people over the phone and you just know there’s a ton of confusion that comes with it? 

Well, that’s equivalent to what can happen when your website domain is complex, hard to spell or hard to pronounce! As a business owner, you want to be able to easily say your website URL and for people to immediately understand what you said. 

This allows for easier word of mouth marketing and, as mentioned above, provides a positive user experience from the start.

Lastly, make it memorable. Now, I don’t want you to mistake memorability for complexity. 

Sometimes people want their website domain to be super unique and creative so that it stands out and while I know that might seem like a smart strategy, always remember that clarity is greater than cleverness.

In my experience, the website domain and URLs that are the most simple, clear and straightforward, are also the ones that are the most memorable!

Check for availability.

As a brand and website designer, I can honestly say that one of the most heartbreaking moments is when the URL you want to use is already taken. 💔

And while I know that in this moment you might feel like the world is ending and you won’t possibly be able to find a new URL that matches your brand, I encourage you to adopt the “everything happens for a reason” mentality (as cliche as it might sound) and trust that it WILL work out. 

Because spoiler: it always does!

When you’ve landed on a URL that you love, contain your excitement and conduct a URL search on your domain registration site, like GoDaddy. From there, you’ll quickly be able to see if the URL you want is available.

If it is available: YAY! You’re on your way to building a strategic website that aligns with your brand. 

But before you move forward, you also want to consider a trademark search. Just because a URL is available for the website domain that you want, that doesn't mean the name or phrase you want to use isn't already trademarked. 

This is SO important to check so that you don’t infringe on any registered trademarks and you aren’t forced to rebrand in the future. 

If it’s not available: again, don’t fret just yet. Most of the time, domain registration sites will generate a list of possible options for you and sometimes they are great alternatives. 

Other times, you may need to rethink your domain name and consider a variation that still achieves what you’re looking for. 

Use domain extensions wisely.

Speaking of alternative domain names, let’s chat about domain extensions real quick. 

A domain extension is the suffix at the end of a domain name, like ‘.com, .net, .org’ and more.

When the original domain name that you want isn’t available, people often jump straight to choosing an alternative domain extension.

While sometimes this is a fine option, you want to choose your domain extension wisely because it directly ties into the relevancy, simplicity and memorability of your website.

For example, ‘.org’ is often associated with non-profit organizations. Even though it’s not a strict rule that has to be followed, you may not want to opt for this if your business doesn’t align. 

Another example is ‘.co.’ Many people will use this domain extension if ‘.com’ isn’t available, but you have to consider the confusion this could potentially cause for your audience.

Again, although this appears like a seemingly small part of the process, it’s incredibly important and needs to be chosen carefully!

Overall, choosing the right domain name is an important decision that can majorly impact your brand's online presence.

This is why it’s vital that you take your time, conduct thorough research and consider the factors mentioned above to select a domain name that accurately represents your brand!

This is just one of the website puzzle pieces that I help my website design clients navigate, so if you’re looking for more guidance throughout this entire process, I’m your girl!

I'd love to chat with you about my website design services and see how we can work together to achieve a website that not only looks cute, but generates real results for you, too. 🖥

Your designer friend always,