Choosing your Domain Name

1. Try and keep your domain name memorable

You can do this by keeping it short or having it the same as your company name, or even related to what you do as a business.

e.g. Specialised Catering Services might think that "specialisedcateringservices.co.uk" is too long and that people will get it wrong, instead they could try "scs.co.uk" or "specialcatering.co.uk".

2. Try and keep your domain name easy to spell

You can do this by again keeping it short, but it's also important to remember that people will not always get your website address by reading it. Sometimes your domain name will be passed on by word of mouth, in which case it's a good idea to avoid unusual or difficult spelling unless it is necessary.

e.g. "specialisedcateringservices.co.uk" when passed by word of mouth might be spelled "specialized..." with a "z" by the hearer, and so they would not immediately find the right website, or the email would go to another individual.

Generally people will not have a problem pointing out unusual spellings when they pass on your address, but this may not happen in every case, especially in the more subtle variations.

3. Hyphen problems

Although this is not a major problem it is worth considering.

e.g. Specialised Catering Services might find that "specialcatering.co.uk" has already been registered by another party. Instead they might choose "special-catering.co.uk" with a hyphen (-) separating both words. Although this is a valid address the hyphen may not be passed on by word of mouth. It relies on people passing the domain on as "special hyphen catering dot CO dot U K".

4. Domain Types

There are several domain types you can choose from depending on your organisation type. These are split into two main categories, Global and National.

Global

Type	Best for
.com	For general use. Users will be unlikely to expect any particular kind of site.
.net	Formerly for network providers only, such as ISPs, but increasingly for general use. Users will be unlikely to expect any particular kind of site.
.org	For voluntary or non-profit making organisations. Users would really only expect sites relating to non-profit making organisations under this domain - e.g. registered charities, churches, voluntary organisations.

National

Type	Best for
.co.uk	For general use. Users will be unlikely to expect any particular kind of site.
.org.uk	For voluntary or non-profit making organisations. Users would really only expect sites relating to non-profit making organisations under this domain - e.g. registered charities, churches, voluntary organisations.
.ltd.uk	For registered Limited companies only. Companies requiring the .ltd.uk domain are only permitted to register their full and exact registered company name - e.g. Specialised Catering Services might be registered as Brown and Sons Specialised Catering Ltd., in which case the only .ltd.uk domain available to them would be "brownandsonsspecialisedcatering.ltd.uk". When registering for .ltd.uk domains, companies must provide their registered Limited company number.