How Do I Choose a Domain Name?

One of the most important aspects of your organization’s website is the domain name. Your domain name will be displayed on business cards, t-shirts, banners, marketing materials, and more. So, it’s important to choose a domain name that’s clear and reflects your organization well.

Choosing a domain name can be difficult. You have to decide what describes your organization, what will be easy to use, and what information you want to include. Below, we’ve compiled a few tips to keep in mind while you choose a domain name.

First, what is a Domain Name?

A domain name is the address that allows users to find your nonprofit or church online. This is what they’ll type in the URL bar to find your organization. For example, our domain name is yembadigital.com.

Now, let’s look at some tips for how to choose a domain name:

Keep it Short and Simple

Short and simple domain names are easier for your audience to remember and less likely to get confused or misspelled. A good place to start is by just using your church or nonprofit’s name. Other words can be added later if needed.

Pick an Extension

Ideally, you want your domain to end with .com. This is the most common domain extension and the one your target audience will be most familiar with. Other suitable options include .net or .org.

Try to avoid domain names that end with .info. These have a reputation for being less trustworthy.

Use Your Location (If Necessary)

If your church or nonprofit is central to a specific location, you may want to include your location in your domain name. For example, if your church, First Baptist Church, is in Nashville, TN, you could try to buy the domain name fbcnashville.com.

Including your location isn’t necessary. It just gives your organization more potential name ideas. If your organization has multiple locations or no physical location, you might not want to include this in your domain name.

Look on Registrars

After you have some potential domain names, you need to look at domain name registrars to see if they’re available. Have multiple options ready as many of them will already be taken.

Some of the most popular registrars are Namecheap, Hover, and Domain.com. (Namecheap is our team’s personal favorite!)

Adjust as Needed

With so many websites out there, it’s likely that many of your first choices won’t be available. After you check on the registrars, you may have to adjust your choices or create new ones.

The easiest option may be to change the domain extension. Take a look at your top choices and see if they’re available with a .net or .org extension.

You can also try adding words to your domain name, abbreviating words, or rearranging them.Try to get creative! Using our previous example of a First Baptist Church in Nashville, you could try firstbaptistnashville, fbcnash, nashvillefirstbaptist, and so on.

Out of Ideas

If you just can’t find where to start, you can use a domain name generator to find ideas. 

One of the most popular domain name generators is Nameboy. Simply insert a few keywords about your organization and it will list several options and their availability.

How Do I Purchase a Domain Name?

When you’ve finally found a domain name, you can purchase it through whichever domain name registrar you’re using.

Or, sometimes your website hosting provider will offer to purchase the domain name on your behalf. While this is fine and can be helpful, make sure they buy the domain in YOUR name, not theirs. Otherwise, it could lead you to lose control of your website.

Need Help?

Whether you need assistance picking a domain name or need help purchasing it on your behalf, our team at Yemba Digital is happy to help.

If you have questions about how to choose a domain name, reach out to our team at Yemba Digital. We would love to serve your church or nonprofit!