It is absolutely critical for any business to choose the best URL for their website. The website URL is like the online address. It is the location your business would have on the internet. It deserves to be given thought to since it greatly impacts whether or not your site becomes easily discoverable and memorable for internet users. Without any exaggeration, making the wrong choice in this regard can actually break your business.
There is no point in having a fabulously designed website when nobody can find it. If your website URL is too complicated, people will find it hard to remember. This means you will face a low amount of traffic to your site at all times. You would need to spend hefty amounts trying to promote your site, just to see that people who visit it once do not visit again due to your marketing efforts. People would even find it hard to recommend your site to others in their network because they would not remember your website URL.
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In this post, we will discuss the factors to consider before choosing the right website link. But before we dive into that, let’s talk a bit about what a webpage URL is.
What is a Website URL?
We all use the internet almost every day, yet many people still don’t know what a website URL comprises. The URL of your site is its web address and consists of the domain name, the domain name extension, and any further extension if the web page you are referring to is not the main or home page of the website.
Your website link is the URL that when a user clicks on, they are taken to your site’s home page. It could also be a webpage URL, which will take users directly to a particular webpage.
A website URL is also sometimes referred to as the web address of your landing page. It is where users are supposed to go if they want to visit your site. It is different from a username, tag, or other terms used for a social media page. It is the complete address of your website’s existence on the internet.
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If you use a website builder to create your webpage, your website URL would include the platform’s name in it as well, unless you use the premium or paid version of the platform to remove its branding. Most web-building platforms allow you to use a custom domain and website link in their premium packages.
In many cases, thinking of the best website URL involves coming up with a good domain name. The domain name forms the central part of your website link. It is usually kept after your brand name. But in case your brand name is not available with your desired domain name extension, you can alter it a bit to turn it into the domain name for your site. It is rare for businesses to have a website URL or domain totally different from their brand name.
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A carefully chosen, inspiring and easy-to-remember website link has a lot of benefits. It needs to be something you and your business can identify with, but at the same time, it should be easy to pronounce, spell, type and remember for your audiences.
Things to Keep in Mind Before Choosing Your Website URL
Let’s discuss a few factors that you need to keep in mind for creating a practical and attractive website URL.
1. Always Go for the Top Domain Extension
There are a few top domain name extensions. The topmost is .com. Before deciding on your final domain name, check its availability with .com and several other top extensions. When someone hears about a brand or website, their first assumption about the website URL is that it will be the brand name with a .com. Sites using this extension generally have higher daily traffic than others. They would benefit from being discovered, even if the user was just guessing the website link.
Some domain name extensions are among the top but unsuitable for use unless the site is built with a specific purpose. For example, .edu can only be used if the website belongs to an authorized or licensed educational institute. Another domain extension, .org, suits large or well-established organizations. The simplest solution is to always go for the .com and not get extra creative in this area.
2. Choose a Brandable Name
Your domain name should be brandable. Even if it is not the exact same word or phrase as your brand name, it should sound smooth and straightforward to easily brandable and memorable. Do not make your website URL too complicated. Think of a nice name, check its availability, and construct your URL with it.
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A brandable name sounds trustworthy. It is easy to spell, easy to pronounce, easy to memorize, and could possibly have no specific meaning. It can be constructed using the initials of a person or project name. It could be a random group of letters joined together that do not mean anything explicitly but might convey a message implicitly.
Brandable names go more with the way they sound than their actual or literal meaning. It could also be a new word that you create and give meaning to. Whichever name you choose, make sure it is not a very complicated or technical word. It should sound good to the ears when someone mentions it. This name that you’ll use as your domain name will serve as the brand ambassador for your brand.
3. Keep it Short and Simple
It is no secret that people do not like to type in long URLs in their browsers to visit a website. They like to type the first few letters in their browser and expect the device to suggest the rest of the website link. This is why it is vital to have a short and straightforward website URL.
Short URLs are also more predictable. The more your users can predict your decisions regarding your website URL, the more they will be vested and engage with your brand.
4. Do Not Make Typing or Spelling Mistakes
Spelling mistakes in website URLs look ridiculous. These can also be errors in typing that you make in your first attempt of typing the permalink, slug, or URL of a web page. When deciding on your website URL, make sure you are focused, attentive and diligent in typing it out correctly. Do not make silly spelling errors, as they would really look bad once your site is published.
5. Use a Thesaurus for Brand Name and Domain Name Ideas
This is an interesting tip. You might have thought that you would never need to use a thesaurus. But this is actually a good opportunity to open that thesaurus book and look for appropriate names for your brand and domain. You can also check these on the internet.
Sometimes you may find a perfect brand name suggested by somebody on the internet, but you do not choose to use it. Instead, you can tweak it a little bit and use its new and revised version as your domain name. When combined with the domain name extension and any further permalink this domain name would make up your website URL.
6. Use a URL That You Can Legally Own
This is about choosing a domain name and brand name that you legally own. Nobody registers a domain name to infringe on anything on purpose, but it might cause a trademark infringement just out of coincidence at times. That’s why it is better to double-check before finalizing your website URL if the domain name you’re using can be legally owned by you. The easiest way to check this is to Google the name that you choose and look through all the search results on the first and second pages. If you do not find any business already using this name, it means it is available, and you can use it.
Image taken from Strikingly
These were the factors to consider for choosing the best URL for your site. If you use Strikingly to create your website, you can register and connect a custom domain as part of our Pro Plan. That means your website URL would not include our branding. We allow you to customize the slug or permalink of each of your web pages.
The tools that we offer are simple to use, and anyone with a basic understanding of using the internet can play around with them. You can also alter your website URL if you feel like the original one you chose is not good enough. You can do this by cloning your website and setting a new website link for the cloned version.
It is fun to create a website when you have so many tools and features to streamline and simplify the process. Strikingly is all about making web development and maintenance fun and easy for you.
