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What should I keep in mind when choosing a domain name?

A domain name is very important to online shoppers, who often judge the website’s contents based on its domain name. Since the domain name is often the first thing (potential) visitors see, it plays an important role in their expectations. Google also attaches great importance to the domain name when ranking a webpage in its search results.

Go for plain and simple

First of all, ensure your domain name is neither too long nor too complicated. A good domain name is one that is easy to remember and gives a good impression of what the website or online store has to offer.

Make sure it’s easy to find

Including one or more important keywords in the name can be a good strategy. An example is the name of your main product or product category. This ensures transparency and boosts the success of your SEO for the keyword(s) in question. However, bear in mind this may restrict your options if, at a later stage, you decide to extend your product range.

Avoid confusion

Last but not least, choose a name that is clear and cannot easily be misspelled. A hyphen (-) between words is not a problem for search engines, but may be forgotten by potential visitors, especially if you have a competitor whose domain name does not feature a hyphen.

Choose your extension

When choosing an extension, the main question you should ask yourself is, “Where is my target group?”. If you’re keen to focus on the Dutch or Belgian market only, the preferred extensions are definitely ‘.nl’ or ‘.be’. For international websites, ‘.com’ is preferred. MyOnlineStore supports the following extensions: ‘.nl’, ‘.be’, ‘.com’, ‘.eu’, ‘.de’, ‘.net’ and ‘.info’.