How to buy your perfect domain name

It's good to decide early on if you want to have a brand domain or a keyword domain. The benefit of a brand domain is that your domain will most likely be considered as trustworthy, and immediately shows visitors that it's linked to your business or personal blog. A keyword domain, on the other hand, has the advantage that it will be better optimized for search engines, and therefore will get higher search results. In recent years, however, the drastic improvement in search results thanks to a keyword domain has begun to decrease.

Many online shops have the number 24 in them, to signify 24 hours a day – you may also be able to integrate numbers into your domain in a meaningful way to make them unique. Be careful though, because many cultures attach a lot of significance to certain numbers. Make sure that your number doesn't represent bad luck or other negative things in the country you're operating in.

Keep it short and simple! This avoids misspellings, and makes your domain name easier to remember. Over 50% of searches are made through a smartphone, so a clumsy domain will make your website harder to find. Use a maximum of 10 characters, and avoid hyphens wherever possible.

Don't use the name of public figures in your domain name. To make sure you're not breaching copyright or copying someone else's brand, you can check out the patent and trademark office's website.

Check if your domain name is already being used for social media accounts – for consistency's sake, it's good to have the same name across the board.

Finally, a simple tip that is nevertheless useful: Can you read your domain out loud? If other people can't understand what is being said to them, sharing your domain with others will be difficult, minimizing your potential visitors.