The UK Domain Names Registration Company

Seven simple tips to make choosing a domain name easy

Registering the right domain name is key to the online success of your business. Follow these seven simple tips for registering domain names that will make your business stand out.

1. Register short domain names

   The shorter your domain, the greater the chance your visitors and customers will remember your domain name.

   The maximum domain name length that can be registered is 64 characters.

2. Ask your friends what domain name you should register

   When you’re trying out ideas and keywords, keep a shortlist of domain names and ask your friends and family for advice on what domains they think work best.

   People are registering domains all the time so to avoid disappointment don’t wait too long!

3. Consider how your domain name will look in lowercase

   Domain names are always registered in lowercase and can only contain letters, numbers, and dashes. They can’t contain characters like &%$£@!.

   If your business name includes a symbol such as “&”, try swapping it with a hyphen “-” or “and”. For example Acme & Sons could become acmeandsons.co.uk, acme-and-sons.co.uk or simply acmesons.co.uk.

   If you use the Free Domains Foundry domain name checker you do not need to worry about what characters are allowed. Our domain checker automatically removes any disallowed characters as you search!

4. Register more than one domain

   It’s strongly recommended to register multiple domain names of the similar name to protect your online brand. So if you have “example.co.uk”, and “example.com”, or “example.net” are free – register them now as if you don’t someone else might!

   If you’re not sure if similar domains are available, enter your existing domain into our free domain name checker and it will search all available domain names.

   You do not need individual web sites for each domain name. If you register your domain names through Domains Foundry, you can use our free DNS hosting and free web forwarding service to point your domains through to the same web page.

5. Consider Keyword Domain Names

   If you’re registering a new domain name to target a specific market you should consider a domain name that contains a keyword specific to your audience.

   For example our domain, domainsfoundry.co.uk includes the keyword “domain”. Google’s Matt Cutts recently played down the importance of keyword domains in SEO so we’ll let you decide which approach is best.

   Of course, the best of both worlds is to register domains for both your company brand and separate domains for your SEO needs. How important is it to have keywords in a domain name?

6. Avoid Bad Keyword Combinations

   Occasionally when an innocent string of words are combined in a domain name they can take on whole different meaning!

   For example, Speed of Art in domain form becomes speedofart.com. So check and double check your domain ideas to save yourself from embarrassment.

7. Avoid using Trademarked Brands in your domain name

   In the past, people would register domain names and then offer the domain name to the person or company who owns a trademark at an inflated price. This practice is known as cybersquatting

   Unless you feel like a legal fight, we recommend avoiding domain names that contain trademarked brand names.