Website domain name: How to choose, register and not lose?

At the formation stage of any business, one of the most important decisions is choosing a name. A good name will enhance your image and add trust to your brand, while a bad name, on the contrary, may raise doubts among potential customers. This rule is true for both local (offline) and online projects. ABOUT secrets of creating powerful nonsense from the world's largest companies we already wrote in our blog. And from this article you will learn:

1. Why is branding needed?
2. 5 recommendations for good naming
3. How to find a free domain name?
4. How to check the uniqueness of the name and occupancy of a domain?
5. Which domain zone is better?
6. Where to buy/register a domain?
7. How to avoid losing your domain name?
8. 3 main rules from SWOT

Why is branding needed?

Marketers argue that people buy not just goods or services, but a lifestyle—brand status that matches their personal values. Many people are willing to pay much more for a well-known trademark than a similar product from a little-known manufacturer costs, in order to feel included in a certain social circle. This trend is very evident in the auto and fashion industries. Let's remember Apple, Tesla, Bugatti or Rolls-Royce, Gucci or Dior.

This trend is characteristic of product brands not only in high, but also in budget price categories. Thus, the Chinese company Xiaomi, founded in 2010, has captured its target audience with smart gadgets and household appliances. Now other everyday products are appearing on the market under the Xiaomi brand, including from the company’s partners, members of the Ecosystem. The price of these goods already includes the cost of the TM, but people willingly buy, for example, Xiaomi umbrellas in order to be associated with the brand.

We conclude: a brand is a valuable and stable intangible asset of a business. And therefore, real branding is needed by every company whose leaders are going to succeed. The stages of brand creation include naming and identity, which form an image and increase the emotional meaning of goods and services for buyers and clients. The main task is to convey the philosophy of the product, convey meanings and values, evoke positive associations and the desire to purchase it.

Your business name and domain name are the parts that potential customers will associate with your brand. It's good when these two names match, but in practice this is very difficult to achieve. The difficulty of choosing is due to the fact that with a high level of competition, the most suitable domain names may already be taken. Often the names of companies from other niches.

But, as the same practice shows, there is no need to look for a complete match between the official and domain names. There is an easy way to compare them to each other. You can choose a good domain name either by adding commercial or keywords, synonyms or associations to the main brand name, or by shortening the official name. If you add a keyword to the name, the site will rank better in its niche, and if it is shortened, the domain name will be shorter and therefore easier to write.

But first you need to come up with a company name. Be creative, play with associations, fantasize, experiment and, as a result, create something that has not existed before. If you doubt your abilities, then contact professional namers, and if you want to try your hand, then take a closer look at our recommendations for creating a company or brand name.

5 recommendations for good naming

1. Before you start developing a name, create a portrait of your target audience. Your business name should match the needs and wants of your potential clients.
2. The company name should be unique, but at the same time, as simple and short as possible. Ideally: one or two words that are easy to remember.
3. The name should be easy to pronounce and understand by ear, and sound clear. To avoid confusion when entering into the search bar, we recommend avoiding complex combinations of sounds and letters.
4. A name that contains meaning and conveys the essence, reveals the scope of the business or reflects the specifics of goods and/or services is easier to remember.
5. A universal name should be positively perceived by speakers of different languages ​​of your target audience (TA). Check with representatives of the target audience of the countries where you plan to launch your product.

These rules are not a dogma, but following them will allow you to take into account the specifics of the target audience, their preferences and characteristics, including national and linguistic ones, in the name of your brand, evoke the right associations and be easily remembered.

What sounds harmless in one language can cause “linguistic shock” to speakers of another language. Remember those annoying ads for Blue Water bottled water? It would seem that the name “Blue Water” was innocuous, but the constant repetition in commercials: “Blue Water!” was in no way associated with clean water among Ukrainian consumers. It was a failed marketing campaign and a net loss for F&K Waterhouse. To avoid such a trap, you need to adapt the brand name to the linguistic characteristics of a particular country.

Practical advice. Make a list of words that are relevant to your business niche. Get your team involved. Using the “brainstorming” method, imagining and combining, come up with the maximum number of interesting words based on this list, not necessarily existing ones, but also new ones. Select options by eliminating non-unique or bad-sounding names. Leave 2-3 options on the list and forget about it for a couple of days. After two days, come back and choose the best with “fresh eyes.” Check with a focus group of your target audience.

5 examples of compound names.

One of the largest Ukrainian agricultural producers and exporters NIBULON got its name from the geographical names of the cities where the co-founding companies are located: NOkolaev + BOOdapest + LONDon.

Often, business founders give companies their first, last names, and initials. Or part of personal names that make up a unique, euphonious name.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, a Pole Maximilian FactorOvic opened his first cosmetics store in Los Angeles. Due to the difficulty of pronunciation, the owner's full name was shortened to the title Max Factor. Now it is a popular cosmetics brand all over the world. Max Factor.

Who knew that one of the largest financial and industrial groups in Ukraine, created in 1998 by Tigipko Sergei Leonidovich, is the group “TAC"named after his eldest daughter, Тandhypko Аnny Сergeevny?

So, following our examples and recommendations, multiplied by your creativity, the name of the new company has been chosen, what next? How to start an online business for a beginner or a company operating offline? For this it is necessary develop a website, choosing a unique domain name for it.

Selecting a free domain name

If you are starting a business on the Internet, then in addition to choosing the name of your company, you need to choose a free domain name - a kind of identifier by which you will be found on the Internet. An analogy with the address of a house and street in a city of many millions is appropriate here. The easier it is to remember your address, the easier it is to find you, and this will significantly affect the results of your business.

We have already mentioned above that due to high competition, constant growth and the emergence of new players in the e-commerce market, finding a good domain name is becoming increasingly difficult. This is especially true for local businesses, which are switching to working online during quarantine. Therefore, you have to combine.

For example, when creating an online presence, a local store “Start” specializing in the sale of motorcycles and bicycles can choose the domain startbike.com, a women’s clothing store “Mila” can choose milashop.com.

By combining words that reflect the features and advantages of your products and/or services (comfort, energy) with the company name, it is easier to find a beautiful domain that will be free for registration.

It is appropriate to indicate the direction of the company's activities in the domain name. We work in the field of digitalization. Our example:
Full title: Smart Web Optimization Technologies LLC / Limited Liability Company "Smart Web Optimization Technologies"
Abbreviation: SWOT LLC / TOV "SWOT"
Domain name: swotdigital.net.

An example where a domain name is chosen by shortening the full name. Name: “IT-Level Agency”, domain name ―itlvl.com.

We remind you that the length of the domain name should not exceed 63 characters and can only contain numbers, a hyphen (but not at the beginning or end of the name) and Latin letters, with the exception of Cyrillic domain zones or zones in other national languages ​​(Chinese, Arabic, etc. ).

How to check the uniqueness of the name and occupancy of a domain?

The search for similar names is, firstly, carried out through search engines Google or others. The fewer results in the search results, the higher the likelihood that your name can be made unique using the approaches indicated in this article. But it should be taken into account that ALL similar words are included in the search results, and not just those found in the names of companies or brands.

Next, we recommend checking the trademark, for example, using the service Profit Mark. Here you can submit an application and register your new trademark (the registration service is paid).

Complete a free name similarity check using the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, Individual Entrepreneurs and Public Formations on the official portal of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine.

Search via Sovereign Registration Department paid, and is carried out just before the registration of a new name, TM or brand.

The search for a free domain name is performed through the Whois check service. All domain registrars and most hosting providers provide it. The Whois service can (and should) check the history of the selected domain. Since domain names are not purchased in perpetuity, you have no way of knowing whether the domain was previously owned or what its reputation was. It may turn out that a site with that name was sanctioned by search engines and promoting such a resource will require additional investments to remove it from sanctions.

Which domain zone is better?

Choosing the domain zone in which you want to register a name is just as important as choosing a domain name. Domain zones are divided into several groups.

International (generic) top (first) level domains (generic Top Level Domain (gTLD). These include the zones .COM, .GOV, .ORG, .NET, .INFO, BIZ, .EDU and others. They have already registered a significant part of domain names, so finding a suitable name here can sometimes be more difficult.

National top-level domains (cctld) are geo-referenced domain zones. For example, for companies operating in the Ukrainian market, Ukrainian domain zones are relevant. Choosing a domain name in one of these zones allows you to unambiguously compare the site’s belonging to the target market, which increases your chances of success in organic promotion in the local market and in the eyes of the target audience.

Here we highlight the first and second (second-level domain [SLD]) domain zones.

First:

.UA is a privileged zone. Only trademark owners can register a domain name there.
.COM.UA is the most popular Ukrainian domain zone. In it, domains without restrictions are chosen by those companies operating in the Ukrainian market and those who consider themselves involved in Ukrainian business and commerce.
.UKR is a new domain zone. Its peculiarity is that names in it are written exclusively in Cyrillic, but we do not recommend using this zone, because Cyrillic domain names are often displayed incorrectly when copying a link (URL) in different browsers.

Second level domain zones:

[region].ua – regional domain zones (kiev.ua, dp.ua, .lviv.ua, od.ua and others) Domain names of companies operating in the regions are registered here. The benefit of such registration is that search engines will quickly find and rank the company higher in search results based on regional characteristics.

New international top-level domains (new gTLDs). There are zones .shop, .market, .toys, .boutique, .estate and many others. These domain zones are thematically focused on various areas of life and business, hobbies and everyday life.

Technically, it makes no difference in which domain zone to register your domain name. But it is worth taking into account that, all other things being equal, a site with a geo-reference, when ranking for a regional query, will receive preference in the search results over a similar site in the international zone.

Where to buy/register a domain?

About how to choose the right hosting for your website we already wrote earlier. But an important question remains: “Where to register a domain name for a website?”:

1. from the Registrar or Hosting provider, where it will be cheaper, and hosting from another hosting provider
2. from a Hosting provider that provides you with 2 services at once through 1 account, but is it worth it to “put all your eggs in one basket”?

Let's figure out how good or bad this is.
By definition, it is impossible to buy a domain name forever from either the Registrar, or, especially, the Hoster. But the owner has all rights to the name during the renewal period. If you bought it from the Registrar, your name is temporarily (until renewal). When purchasing from Hoster, he remains the owner of your name. If the Hoster “bends”, then you will lose not only the Storage of your files and databases, but also your name. This is another reason to use only trusted hosters.
Clearly, a domain name is a very important intangible asset. Its loss can lead to serious problems with the business. Hosting providers retain the domain for the client for the period confirmed by payment for the domain, even if he refuses hosting services, because these are two separate services.
Often, in order to save a little, a domain is bought on such services, where they are usually cheaper like imena.ua, thehost.ua, as well as cheap domains hvosting.ua, inexpensive on ukraine.com.ua, so often for Ukrainian sites they buy on one of them, They also provide complete domain setup.
From our practice, we have identified several factors that are useful to know and take into account in order to make the right decision about choosing a hoster/s when purchasing a domain and hosting.
If the domain was purchased from a registrar or other provider, then:

• We need a transfer (Domain Transfer) by your developers. Hosters do not provide such a service. This cannot be done legally, since you registered the domain and became its owner for the duration of the renewal of such rights. Hoster specialists can only give instructions on how to transfer a domain; they are often available on the hoster’s website. Of course, the task of transferring a domain is not labor-intensive, but not all website owners have a developer on hand.
• There is a risk of DDoS attacks, which overloads the site server and crashes it. To eliminate this risk, you need to register NS servers on the hosting where your files are stored. Then the technical support of this hosting will protect against such attacks and be responsible for the security of the site. Registering an NS server is also not difficult, but it still requires the involvement of a developer or system administrator.

Ultimately, from a cost point of view, we often get the following picture:

1. in case of purchasing a domain from another provider we will receive:
• on the one hand, a slight saving of 20-30% on domain purchases and annual fees. But given the low cost of the domain, this amount is small in monetary terms;
• on the other hand, additional expenses. To transfer a domain and eliminate the risk of DDoS attacks, one-time costs are required to pay for the services of a developer/sysadmin. Given the average cost of a domain, they will pay for themselves no sooner than in 2-4 years. As a result, the savings on purchasing a domain are very relative.
2. in case of purchasing a domain and hosting from one provider:
• on the one hand, the costs of purchasing a domain are higher, because where there is good (stable and fast) hosting, domains are more expensive;
• There are no additional costs.

Therefore, both options have their pros and cons. In general, the options are equivalent from a security point of view, if you use different providers when purchasing a domain and hosting, you follow the necessary steps indicated above.
If you have your own knowledgeable developer or system administrator, he will transfer this without problems for a small fee, but as practice shows, NS servers often, for various reasons (incompetence or negligence of developers), remain where the domain was purchased, which promises security problems.

If you don’t have your own developer, you are confident in the stability and reliability of your hosting and plan to use it for a long time, then it is better to buy from one provider right away, since in the end, taking into account the additional costs in the first option, you still end up with the same money, but you win in safety.

How to avoid losing your domain name?

One thing to remember is that you cannot “buy a domain name.” You pay for the right to use it for one or more years. You can renew this right and your renewal will have unconditional priority over applications for this domain from other applicants until it is put up for general sale. But you can never own a domain name outright (in perpetuity).

Thus, a domain name is not a protected object of intellectual property. This gives third parties the opportunity to challenge its affiliation with a specific company. You can protect yourself from encroachment and copying by obtaining exclusive rights to the word that makes up the domain, that is, registering it as a trademark.

Registering a trademark and securing rights to a domain name is the only way to ensure a strong legal position in potential domain disputes.

To sum up:

When choosing a memorable domain for your website, it is enough to follow only 3 main working rules from SWOT:

1. The domain name must be unique and stand out.
2. The shorter and easier a domain name is to read, understand, and spell, the better.
3. Geo-referenced domain names rank better. If your market is a country or city, then choose names in regional zones.

You should only buy a domain name from reliable registrars or hosters that have a positive reputation (take into account reviews). We recommend only hosting providers proven by many years of experience to purchase a domain. Here are a few reliable hosters whose services we use and where domains are available without a large markup: imena.ua, thehost.ua. A little more expensive ukraine.com.ua, but if you want to choose a domain and hosting from one provider, then, in our opinion, this is the best option for Ukrainian websites in terms of price/quality ratio.

If you need professional branding, we are ready to help you comprehensively, both in choosing a brand name (naming) and creating a logo, and, if necessary, in the design of corporate style elements (identity). But an integral image component of any brand is the company’s website. By ordering its creation from our company, you will receive not only a unique website at a high level of development, but also a logo as a gift.

I want a website that stands out