From freelancers setting up online portfolios to future tech giants to your local dental office, the first step to building a new website is the same for everyone — picking a domain.

The foundation of your digital presence has a lot riding on its name. You want it to stand out and be memorable, SEO-friendly, representative of the fine quality of your business. You also probably need it to fit on a card or at the end of a company email address and be easy to spell. It should tell users what your site is all about while keeping things simple. It could even contain keywords but not too many keywords. Like any first impression, it has to be likable, informative and brief.

It’s a lot to consider.

Fortunately, our friendly folks at Inbound AV aid businesses in every stage of web development — even those at the starting line. Below are some of the answers businesses often seek when looking to establish the perfect domain.

First, things a successful domain name should avoid

Best practices all have their exceptions, but for the most part these are the hard, fast rules of naming your website.

• Avoid hyphens. Any symbols or punctuation in your URL will just make life more difficult. You want your digital presence to be easy for first-time customers to find, remember and trust. This also applies to underscores, irregular spellings of common words and using the number 0.

• In fact, steer clear of numbers too. In rare cases, a number might be part of your brand name and therefore make sense to include in a domain. In all other scenarios, numbers aren’t worth the headache.

• Did you know the average domain length is 12 characters? Not that there’s anything magic about the number 12 itself, but it proves another important principle — short, snappy and simple is best. Try to think of the last website you visited with a domain name longer than say, 18 characters. Anything come to mind?

Second, if my ideal domain -.com is taken, is it worth using another extension?

There’s a chance your first choice for a URL is in use, but perhaps the .net, .org or even .blog version is not. Is it worth exchanging .com to preserve the perfect domain name?

In most cases, the answer is probably not. Businesses can still thrive with less common extensions, but .com is still king for being the most easily recognizable. Think of it this way: half the branding battle is getting your website in front of the right customers (search engines tend to favor .com names) and the other half is being memorable enough to keep customers coming back (people will almost always naturally assume your website is businessname.com).

These goals can technically be accomplished with any extension, but by not rethinking your domain you risk making the battle with competitors that much harder before your website is even built. Your business is unique — with infinite naming conventions available, there will always be some way to claim a .com name that works for you.

Lastly, how do I avoid trademark complications and other bad stuff?

Staying away from trademark infringement is much easier now with several online databases and tools to aid in vetting your desired domain name. Not only will these alert you to potential restrictions, but also reveal competitors in the space your business will soon occupy.

Even if your exact domain is available, it’s worth paying close attention to businesses similar to your own. Put yourself in a new customer’s shoes and ask if your website will be easily distinguishable from others. Some domain names might also have been in use previously but are now defunct — take the time to check out your domain name history. 

An old domain’s activity might surprise you with a boost in your SEO ranking, but it could have also hosted unsavory material you’d rather not have associated with your brand. Knowing your domain’s history is critical — remember you’re committing to a long-term relationship with your website, so it’s worth doing the research. This is another instance where free online tools can aid in your efforts to properly vet domains before making a final decision.

Logan Jones