Establish a Professional Domain, Website, & Email for Your Business

 

Domain Name (Google Domains)

What is a Domain

A domain name is a unique address that identifies a website or online service, and it is used to locate and access resources on the internet. A domain name, website, and  URL are not the same thing. 

A URL or Uniform Resource Locator is a complete web address, including the domain name, used to access a web page like: http://www.stasiasbakery.com. The domain name is What comes after “www.” in a web address and after the “@” in an email address such as stasiasbakery.com. The website is the only content people see and interact with when they visit pages associated with a domain name. 

Having a domain name is important for showing up in search results. When customers search online, your domain and website can show up in the search results. Brand building, by controlling how your business shows up on the web. With a domain, you own how your business shows up on the web. Professionalism: Today’s consumers expect businesses to have a website, and having a custom domain name shows a level of professionalism that instills confidence. While it is possible to use a “free web builder” to create a site, you will end up with a URL that is a subset of their domain name: .yourbizname.examplesite.com. And finally, when you register a domain you can often access tools that can help you grow your business.

Choosing a Domain

For most businesses, the starting point is the business name but, in some cases, you may feel stumped because you can’t find the “perfect” domain name. Don’t let this stop you. If the domain name you want is available, great! If it’s not, choose another. 

The goal is to find a good domain name, but that’s not always a perfect encapsulation of your business with .com after it. Don’t worry that you are settling if the name you hoped for is not available. An average domain name is better than no domain name. Some key things to keep in mind:

• Keep it short and simple
• Use your brand and keywords,
• Consider alternative domain endings.

Keep it short and simple

A shorter name is easier to remember and type. Once you get past two or three words, re-evaluate it. Simplicity goes hand in hand with brevity. You want people to remember your domain name and type it accurately. Using overly complicated, uncommon, or difficult-to-spell words puts up an unnecessary stumbling block for people who want to see your site or find your online store.

Use keywords and brand names

So I mentioned keywords before. They are relevant words to help users find you in a search and recognize what you do at a glance. Keywords are the words or phrases that are used in search queries, so you’ll want to think about what search terms people use that would lead them to your business online. If you’re building a brand for Stasia’s Bakery, a domain name including those words—like stasiasbakery.com—can help. 

Including your location in your domain name might also help you target local customers and users. So, Stasia’s Bakery might go for the location-specific domain name, www.stasiasbakerymiami.com. Of course, it would be ideal if your domain name mirrored your business name. Brands can take time to develop, and including your unique brand name in your domain can help you gain recognition, and increase visits to your website. When creating your brand name and domain name, just be sure not to use any existing brand names or trademarks that belong to someone else.

Consider alternative domain endings

Finally, think about going beyond dot com at the end of your domain name. There are lots of options beyond .com if that’s not available for the domain name you want. So, if stasiasbakery.com was taken, you could look for another, similar options. You could swap the .com for another extension like “.net,” “.biz” “.site,” or even “.kitchen.” If you want to see what’s available, visit a domain name registrar (like Google Domains) to see what extensions are available. 

Google Domains offers more than 300 options, so there’s a good chance you can find one that matches your business. Here’s one advantage of that: Because new TLDs haven’t been around that long, short and memorable domain names are often still available, and they can be useful in helping you create a distinctive name that captures what you do.

Registering a Domain

Let’s talk about what it means to register your domain name. Imagine a long-established candy shop, called Sally’s, in a bustling downtown. One day a new ice cream place opens up shop just three doors down, and they put up a sign that says Sally’s. Confusing, right? The two in-person Sally’s shops will need to hash out the name issue themselves. But domain names are a bit different.

The web has a non-profit entity called the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. Its acronym is ICANN. It manages domain names so there is no confusion about where a person will end up when you type in the name of a site. Domain registrars are accredited by ICANN to sell access to domain names. This is not a permanent purchase - there is a yearly renewal fee.

Once you have registered your domain name, it goes into ICANN’s central registry. Google Domains is a domain registrar and will help you step by step through the domain name registration process.

Website (Google Sites)

You may find the idea of building a website overwhelming. But you don’t need to understand programming or design to create a site on your own. Google Sites includes web page templates that you can populate with content, move, drag, drop, and edit to suit you, at no cost. Plus, multiple people can work on the site together in real-time. If you’ve ever used Google Docs you know how it works. 

As you work together, you see any edits as they happen in real-time, and can leave comments or questions for your colleagues to address. You can view Google Sites on a computer, phone, or tablet, but you must use a computer (not a mobile device like your smartphone) to create and edit your site. Once you have created a site that you’re happy with it’s time to share it. It’s a good practice to preview your site before you publish. Look for the “Preview” icon at the top of the page and click on it so that you can see the finished site as others will see it. 

When you’re done reviewing, click the exit button at the bottom of the page. If you like what you see, hit the Publish button at the top of the page. You’ll be prompted to fill in your web address. If you don’t have a domain name, you can choose a word or phrase. Your site URL will look like this: http://site.google.com/YOUR-SITE-NAME. Alternatively, you can associate your site with the domain name you registered at Google Domains! Click the “Manage” button with the section labeled “Custom domain” and follow the prompts. Once you click Publish, your website is live.

Watch step by step guide to building your small business website.

Professional Email

We’ve already mentioned that a professional business email inspires confidence among customers. If you register a domain name, like stasiabakery.com or stasiasbakery.net, with Google Domains, the registration includes the option to create 100 email aliases.

Aliases aren’t separate email accounts - they exist just to forward emails to another address. Let’s say you register the domain name “stasiasbakery.net” but your primary address is stasiagal615@example.com or another Gmail address. With Google Domains, you can create up to 100 aliases, like stasia@stasiasbakery.net, sales@stasiasbakery.net, contact@stasiasbakery.net - and up to 97 more. 

Create your professional email with Google Domains

When someone sends an email to one of these aliases, it automatically forwards the email to another account (like stasiagal615@example.com). But, from the outside, the person sending the email would not know if was going to another address. This is one option to add some polish to your email communication.

Funded in part through a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration. All opinions, conclusions, and/or recommendations expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the SBA.