How to Choose a Domain Name for your Squarespace Website
1. Consider your brand
Your branding can inform your choice of business name and domain name, or vice-versa. Take Email Marketing platforms as an example. If you are going cute with your brand and domain (think MailChimp) then you can be silly and include apes, or monkeys - those are always funny. ConvertKit went in an entirely different direction with their brand, more corporate and less whimsical. But both those platforms are hugely successful because they stayed consistent and clear in their messaging, even though their approaches were from very different brand perspectives. Both used their company name as their domain name and, through providing a good service and strategic marketing, they are both highly visible online.
2. Keep it short and sweet
The longer your domain, the more chances there will be typos or confusion. Make it easy to say, so when you tell people how to find your website you can say something like “widgets.com” or “widgetsaustin.com” instead of “widgets4sale-austin.com,” which would sound something like “widgets, the number 4, sale, dash, austin.” Leave out hyphens in domain names, unless they are necessary for readability, and go with a .com if it’s available, since that’s how most people still tend to type domain names.
3. Who (or what) and where
If you are a local business, it’s a great idea to include your location in your domain. So if you provide interior design to Dallas area residences, interiordesigndallas.com does a great job of targeting the site visitors you’d actually benefit from! As a side note, while you do want lots of visitors to your site, it’s more important to have the right visitors: someone who is likely to hire you, purchase an item for sale, or engage with your business in a meaningful way.
4. But what about keywords?
Your ranking in Google Search results depends on a lot of things (and the actual formula is a closely guarded secret), but one thing we do know is that keywords are important. You might think it helps to have keywords in your domain name, but according to Google’s John Mueller “A keyword in a domain name will not help a website rank for that keyword.”
When should you NOT use keywords in your domain name? You’ll notice that my domain name doesn’t include Squarespace designer. That’s because years ago when I started freelancing, I worked on other platforms. And I offered other services (like user interface design, SQL database work, and graphic design). So if you think your services or products may change, go with a more generic domain name. Google rewards domain names that have been around longer (and have had an active website associated with them). So change your website, change your services, but try and keep your domain name the same.
5. Register it NOW
Don’t wait to register your domain name! The good ones don’t tend to be available for long. If you’d like to register your domain name in advance of choosing a website host, or before setting up hosting with Squarespace, I recommend Namecheap. They have fair pricing which includes domain privacy (something other registrars up-sell) and they allow for easy domain management. The annual pricing stays consistent (no bait and switch like other companies), and they are likely to be around in a few years when you need to access your domain records.
