Benefits of A Short Domain Names for Business
03 May 2024
Table of Contents
1. How short domain names are more effective? 2. How to acquire a short domain name? 3. Short domains and SEO – Is bigger, better? 4. What are the top-level domains? How are they different from second-level domains? 5. Top 5 hints for buying your short domain name 6. Short domains names available at Brandnic We’re hedging our bets that you’ve landed here under the impression that short domain names rank better in Google, right? Or maybe you’re thinking that a super-short 4 to 5 letter domain would take just milliseconds for your target market to type. We’d like to welcome you to short domain 101 – A complete guide in which we walk you through everything you need to know when buying a short domain.
How short domain names are more effective?
Short domains typically consist of one or two words or represent a short brand name of between 4 and 5 letters. Since smaller domains are seriously concise, they provide business owners with several advantages, including…- Short domains are easy to read.
- They are easy to remember – which is a massive advantage when vying for attention online.
- Shorter names are simple to include on your marketing materials – such as on flyers and business cards where space may be limited.
Some of the top companies with short names.[/caption] Choosing a domain name can be overwhelming since every situation is different. Truth be told, it is all about assessing the domain names based on your individual requirements to determine whether or not they boast the characteristics appropriate to your blog or website. Examples Some of the shortest domains names sold and being operated;
Owned by Elon Musk, having "x.com" and GMO Internet a Japan company owns and run "z.com" for their business are the premium examples of high tech domain names with a single letter.With that being said, if you are starting a new website or blog, you should focus on choosing a domain name that’s short and simple. If you ask why, here are the reasons:
1. Less likely to be too long even if you make modifications
You would want to know that you are not the only one focusing on the same niche. There are hundreds and thousands of other website owners prying on the same industry as you are. So, the chances that your targeted domain name is already taken in very high. One way to dodge this aspect is to put additional term(s) to the domain name like “best,” “the,” etc. This allows you to keep the domain name you want while retaining its original meaning. However, the issue is that it makes the domain name extremely lengthy, especially if you are using a keyword-rich domain name, which is already long enough.
Long domain name - always confusing.[/caption] This makes the domain name hard to read, say, remember, and even hard to type and share. On the other hand, if you choose a short domain name and if it is by chance not available, you can make easy modifications and still keep it shorter.
One of the biggest benefits of having a short domain name is that you can say the name out loud without spelling it.So, every time someone hears your sweet-little domain name, the complete picture of your branding gets lodged in their psyches.
2. Increase brand awareness with short domain names
Having a unique presence on the internet gives you a distinction – even an expert status. A short domain name can be the differentiating factor between getting lost in cyberspace and creating a successful web presence, a short domain name adds to your branding. For example, suppose you are a food chain, and your name is Ema. Then having a www.EFC.com domain name will brand you right from the very beginning.
Short names give powerful business perception.[/caption] Moreover, we highly suggest not going with a hyper-specific domain name, as they are hard to convey and bring a lot of confusion. More often than not, your audience’s first point of interaction with your business would be your domain name.
A short domain name is easy to understand and makes communication much easier for customers.Read in-depth guide about how much is my domain name worth? that gives you an ample explanation when considering a domain name price.
3. Short domains are authoritative than lengthy domains
Let’s understand this point with an example. If you own a co-working space and your domain name and website are the same, say "work.com", it not only increases your qualified internet traffic but also stands out to your target audience.What we are trying to explain is that shorter domain names with an exact match for the service(s).The customers usually search for are a more authoritative name.
Short names resonate with trust.[/caption] This is why your domain name should communicate something about your business to the users.
4. The short business name conveys the message more precisely
Lengthier domain names have the tendency to confuse users regarding their meaning and spelling what they are all about.With a shorter domain name, it allows visitors to understand what your business and services are all about instantly.The goal is to choose a domain name that is short, brandable, and relevant to the theme of your website. Considering the fact that internet users today have little to no attention span, it is extremely important to keep things simple and concise.
Easy to use and impactful.[/caption] An easy-to-understand domain name will get straight to the point.
5. There will be no spelling errors or the fact that your site is being wrongly searched
The most common issue with having a lengthy domain name is that people are likely to commit spelling errors when browsing online.
Less chance of domain misspelled errors.[/caption]
Shorter domain names are easy to remember, even if the spelling is complicated.Keeping in mind that domain names with 4-5 characters are easier to type and remember.
6. Shorter domains are easier on mobile visitors
In the present scenario, the population of mobile users is incredibly higher than desktop users. With the likes of smartphones and tablets, people are performing their daily internet browsing activities on the go.
Short domain names are easy to use on cell phones.[/caption] Now, truth to be told, unless there is an app, accessing a website via mobile is somewhat uncomfortable. While there are mobile-optimized sites, accessing them still requires typing the domain name in the search box.
Considering the fact that mobile users will only grow in numbers in the coming years, having a short domain name will help.You need to understand that mobile accounts for 30% of website traffic, and it is safe to say that mobile searches will surpass laptop and desktop searches in no time.
Long character domain names don’t fit the available screen size of mobile devices.Hence, you need to make your site easier for mobile use by keeping the domain name short and sweet.
7. Short domain names show commitment
By now, internet users have become savvy enough to understand that a short URL is an investment.When you have a short domain name, your visitors know that you have spent the money required to make a professional impression.For example, A domain name like cars.com has more authority and weight than arizonajohncars.com.
Short names hold more credibility.[/caption] Important Tip: Always go for a ".com" instead of any other extensions there were many companies who went from ".com" to other extensions like .net or .co and they lost a lot of influence and traffic causing them to come back to .com. Users will be more comfortable accessing a website that gives the impression of having significant brand authority behind it. However, these advantages do come with one big drawback – it can be really difficult to discover a name that isn’t already in use. With that in mind, let’s explain how you can easily find a short domain that reflects your business.
How to acquire a short domain name?
When tackling your short domain search, you have two options: 1. Visit a domain registrar website and run multiple searches – In the hope that you’ll track down a domain with a short name that’s also suited to your business. But be warned – this can take a little time and a lot of educated guessing. 2. Use a premium domain store - such as Brandnic to explore available short domain names – This option cuts out the guesswork and the need to sit at your computer for hundreds of hours on end. The easiest and the best way to learn more about the premium domain names is to read this guide, We’ll explain a little more about our short domains in a moment. But for now, we need to answer a very important question…Short domains and SEO – Is bigger, better?
When researching where to buy short domain names, you may have stumbled across blogs and guides that lead you to think that longer domain names are better for SEO. We want to clear this up – while you should consider using keywords in your domain address if possible, domain names are no longer as powerful as they once were for ranking. Before 2012, EMDs (Exact Match Domains – such as redhighheels.com being a match for the search term “red high heels”) were extremely effective for ranking, usually appearing on page one, regardless as to how effective the rest of that website’s SEO strategy was.However, since 2012 Google no longer places weight on the keywords in a domain.When you are starting a website or a blog for a particular business or topic, having the primary keyword in the domain name has its advantages. However, with search engine optimization moving from keywords to social media and Google implementing an algorithm like Exact Match Domain (EMD), it is a good indication to go for a keyword-less domain name.
While a keyword-rich domain could be profitable for better ranking, the same can be accomplished with a quality content-niche domain.We suggest that you choose a word as a domain name that’s not widely popular (not a keyword that most people type on search bars). That is, if you use a domain name like TechTrend or anything related to Tech, you will get many results by the first keyword ‘Tech’ itself.
shorter domain names make true branding.[/caption] However, if you choose a domain name that’s never been used before or is personal to you, you have a chance of creating a unique brand name presence and identity in the search results that are not just limited to one particular niche. For example - Suppose you started a tech blog named TrendSetter, where you educated your audience about the latest trends in the technology world. However, over time, you moved to the blogging niche, considering the fact that you want to explore more and not just technology. The best part about this is that the shift was incredibly easy, and now you are not limited to any particular niche or topic. Now, imagine if you have chosen a name like TechTrend or anything related to technology since you wanted to start a tech blog. If this were the situation, you would have been limited to only tech-related topics, having a name like a TrendSetter allows you to explore the latest trends in every industry.
What we are trying to say is that by choosing a keyword-rich domain name, you are binding your present and future to a particular niche.If you go with a keyword-less domain name, you remain flexible in the future – there is no need to buy another domain if you have a new niche idea.
Keyword-rich domains may lead to
- Long character domain names - which are not only ugly to read but hard to memorize as well. Don’t choose a long domain name just for the sake of keyword richness.
- High-competition - since you are not the only one specializing in a particular niche. There are probably hundreds of other bloggers writing blogs about technology. You will just get lost in the mix like others.
What are the top-level domains? How are they different from second-level domains?
At their essence, top-level domains are domain extensions that are what follows a second-level domain name in a query. The .com in google.com is a TLD, whereas Google is a second-level domain. Each segment of the domain name is a valuable piece of information that is used to determine the website in question. These different parts of the domain help the web browser to locate the web pages. In simple words, a TLD represents the last segment of the domain name.A TLD is everything located after the final dot (.) in the web address. They are also referred to as domain extensions.Some of the popular and authoritative top-level domain name includes .com, .org, .info, .net, etc.
Understanding a complete domain name[/caption] A second-level domain name, on the other hand, compliments the TLD. They are part of the domain name, located left of the final dot (.).
Dot-coms
Are the only and the most popular TLD in use today. It stands for commercial and is intended to distinguish commercial organizations. However, with its growing popularity and use, dot-com is not only limited to commercial entities. The competition to get dot-com as TLD is so high that business owners pay even thousands of dollars to get this extension. Head over to our guide: Why you should go only with -.COM names when choosing a brand name for your business.Dot-nets
Are another popular top-level domain made for network technology companies, such as internet service providers or infrastructure companies? Today, dot-net has become a general-purpose namespace.Dot-gov
It is short for government and is restricted to the nation’s government agencies only. Private and corporate companies cannot use this extension. This extension is used by any nation’s towns, counties, cities, states, programs, government agencies, such as banks and other institutions, and more.Dot-org
It was originally created for non-profit organizations and NGO's. But today, any organization, both non-profit and commercial companies, can use this extension.Dot-edu
It's a popular top-level domain extension, which is still rigidly restricted to educational institutions only. That is, only registered and accredited educational bodies can use this TLD. Many of these TLDs are used to distinguish one nation from another, such as:- The United States of America .us – Great Britain .uk – Canada .ca – Australia .au – and more…
- .tech – .biz – .space – .info – .pro – .asia – .travel – .food – .int – .mil – .jobs - and more…
Short -.COM extension domain names are industry's winners![/caption]
Top 5 hints for buying your short domain name
1. Always try to bag that .com
The -.com and -.co.uk are known as ‘Top Level Domains’ (or TLDs for short). These are typically the most memorable as the highest traffic websites in the world opt for ".com". That said, if you can’t discover a TLD for the short domain you’d like, there is now a wealth of alternatives that maybe suited to your industry. Such as .shop, .store, or .io for online shops; .photo for photographers; .tech for gadget businesses; .me for freelancers, and so on.2. Keep it to 6 characters or less
Here’s some research for you about domain length – the top five websites across all industries almost always have 6 or fewer characters.3. Avoid numbers and hyphens
Even if you opt for a four-character domain, you should still avoid using numbers and hyphens, as they’re notoriously easy to get wrong. For example,"www.4you.com" may be recalled by some as "www.fouryou.com", while "www.Hi-Fi.com" can easily be mixed up with "www.hifi.com". It’s worth noting that hyphens are also sometimes distrusted by website visitors, and only 3% of all URL resales include one or more hyphens.4. Ensure that your domain reflects your business name
Given that there are no SEO reasons to choose a domain that features your keywords, a more effective short domain will reflect your brand name. For that reason, you may want to think long and hard about what your business name will be, as confusion can reign if you have a long business address than your domain.For example, Bo’s Bag Shop and www.bobags.com aren’t a great combination.If you need some more help on the topic of picking a company name, read the detailed guide on, why your brand needs a cool company name?