Angelique Pivoine, owner of Good Thinking Agency, a boutique PR firm specializing in independent artists and small businesses, shared her tips for picking the best web address for your business:
- Include what it is you do in the name, especially if your field is competitive. “This is essential in telling Google search what your website is about,” Pivoine said. Unless you already have thousands of visitors and a strong brand, you’ll need the search engine optimization boost that comes from a name Google recognizes. Joe Smith should definitely include “plumbing” or “plumber” in his web address.
- Include your real name if it’s a part of your business. “This helps clients to associate your name with your service, [which is] very good for independent contractors,” she advised. “If you don’t, you’ll have to file a Fictitious Business Name statement.”
- Keep it straightforward. Stay away from acronyms and make sure your web address is easy to remember, Pivoine said. “Business cards will be thrown away, emails will get lost. You want something within five syllables.”
- Easy to spell for you and your customers: “I had clients who told me their clients misspelled their site address so often that they had to change it altogether or buy up all the misspelled site names and point them to the correct one,” she said. “Neither is efficient or cheap!”