How to choose a domain name for your small business

Your domain name goes on the van, the invoices, your email address and every search result that shows your business. Choosing a domain name for a small business takes ten minutes if you know what to check. The rule that matters most comes last, and it isn't about the name at all: make sure it is registered in your name.

How to choose a domain name, in short

• Start with your business name, exactly as it is on the van.
• Choose a .co.uk if your customers are in the UK.
• Keep it short enough to say on the phone and easy to spell when someone hears it.
• Check it isn't someone else's: another business, a company name or a trade mark.
• Register it in your own name, as the registrant, whoever sets it up for you.

Start with your business name

The best domain name for most small businesses is the name customers already know: the one on your van, your card and your invoices. yourbusinessname.co.uk is easy to remember, because it is the business. Leave out “Ltd”, and drop words like “and” if the name still reads clearly without them.

When your name is taken

Add your town or your trade: yourbusinessname-ely.co.uk or yourbusinessnameheating.co.uk. Both still sound like you. Avoid adding random words or numbers just to find something free, because customers won't remember them.

Trade-and-town names

Names like plumber-in-yourtown.co.uk can be easy to remember, but they don't tell anyone who you are, and they look odd on a van. They are worth considering only if you trade under a generic name anyway. A domain name alone won't lift you up Google: what is on the page does far more.

.co.uk, .uk or .com?

If your customers are in the UK, a .co.uk is the safe choice. It tells a customer at a glance that you are a UK business, and it is the ending most people type without thinking. A shorter .uk works too, but fewer people expect it.

A .com suits businesses that sell abroad or already trade under a well-known .com. For a local trade, it is worth having only if someone else could cause confusion with it. If you do register more than one, point the others at your main site rather than running two.

Seven rules for a good domain name

• Short enough to say on the phone. Read it out loud once. If you have to spell it, shorten it.
• Easy to spell when heard. Avoid words people spell different ways, and doubled letters where two words meet.
• No hyphens unless you need one to split words that run together badly.
• No numbers that could be words. “4” or “four”? Customers won't know.
• Match what's on the van, so the name people see is the name they type.
• Not someone else's name or trade mark. More on that below.
• Check the social handles, so your Facebook and Instagram can use the same name.

Check it isn't someone else's

A name that looks made up can belong to a real business. We learnt that ourselves: a name we had used for an invented example turned out to belong to a real trading company, and we changed it. Before you pick a name, check three places:

• Search for it on Google, with your trade and area. If another firm nearby trades under it, pick something else.
• Companies House: search the company register to see whether a limited company already uses the name.
• Trade marks: search the UK trade mark register on GOV.UK, especially if you plan to grow the brand.

Register it in your own name

Every .co.uk has a registrant: the legal owner, recorded by Nominet, the registry for .uk domains. That should be you or your business, not your web designer, their agency or the company that hosts your site. The admin and technical contacts can be someone else; the registrant should not.

If a web company registers the name for you in their own name, you are renting your own business name back from them. Here is how to check who owns your domain name, and what to do if your web designer has disappeared with it.

What it costs to keep

A .co.uk is renewed every year or every few years, and the renewal is a small yearly cost. Whoever looks after it, make sure you know when it renews and that the reminders reach you. With 3 Wee Pages the renewal is part of the £49 a year, and your .co.uk is included from the start.

Picking yours with 3 Wee Pages

The designer's “Your web address” step checks whether your name is free as a .co.uk and suggests close alternatives if it isn't. The domain is registered in your name, or you can keep a web address you already have, for the same price. Check your name is free and see your site build as you answer, or see what your site would say for your kind of business.