Choosing a domain name for your contractor website shouldn’t be that complicated. Many construction companies tend to overthink it. Sometimes when on-boarding a new client, it surprises me how difficult they make the whole ordeal. It’s even delayed the start of some new website projects in the past. At the end of the day, you as a business owner need to make the ultimate decision on what is best for you. But here’s a few tips to consider for choosing the best contractor domain name.
Keep your Domain Simple & Short
Your domain name should be easy to remember and simple to type. Avoid using numbers, hyphens, and complicated words. This will make it easier for people to find your website and also make it easier for them to share your website with others.
Good Example:
www.apexpaving.net
Bad Example:
www.apexpavingcompanyaustintexas.com
Domain Names Should Branded
The title of this tip is self-explanatory: your brand name (company name) should be the domain name, or at least a portion of it. Using the good example above for keeping it short (apexpaving.net), their company name is actually Apex Paving and Sealcoating. But we kept it short, simple, and “branded”. It’s not necessary to use their long company name. No need to get creative.
Most customers looking for you aren’t going to type in your actual domain to find you anyhow. They’ll simply enter your company name in the search engine. If you have a SEO optimized construction website along with a Google Business Profile, then there should be no problem with that method and you should pop up right away regardless of the domain name.
Should My Domain Have Keywords?
Short Answer: No. Maybe 15 years ago it made sense. There was actually a point in time where domain names could rank based on keywords in the domain name. But come on…it didn’t take long for Google to add that to their algorithm…and rightfully so. When it comes to finding the best contractor domain name, don’t keyword stuff it. Having a domain such as, www.bestcommercialroofingcontractorsindallas.com for a company is just silly, annoying, unprofessional and on so many levels just wrong.
Caveat: if your real company name actually has keywords in it, then great, stick with the branded name. For example, a client of ours, Dallas Commercial Roofing Company is their actual business name. So it’s natural for their domain to be: www.dallascommercialroofingcompany.net. Another topic for another blog post, having keywords in your company name, does have benefits. But not simply the domain by itself.
Funny Side Note: I figured I’d give Ai a shot on some ideas to start the content of this blog post and it was using outdated information…along with quite a bit of bad information…sorry, had to share.
Is Your Domain Already Taken? Don’t Worry…
So, www.JoeThePlumber.com is already taken? You have options. First, try for dot net, i.e. www.JoeThePlumber.net. Using a .net will work just fine and have no negative impact to your SEO. Just don’t go off the rails and start using irrelevant domain extensions such as .edu or .gov.
If both .com and .net is taken, try to think of creative, yet simple variations of the domain name. Here’s a couple examples to consider if www.JoeThePlumber.com is taken:
- www.JoeThePlumberCo.com
- www.JoeThePlumberChicago.com
- www.JoePlumber.com
- www.JoeThePlumbing.com
A slight tweaking to the name and you might be able to find something as an alternative, while still having your name branded, simple and relevant.
Checking Domain Availability
How do I check if my desired domain name is available? If you’re working with a contractor marketing agency, they can obviously help with all of this. But if you’re doing things on your own, or just doing some research, checking domain is easy and there’s plenty of websites that you can use to check. If you already have a website hosting provider in mind, simply use their website.
Here’s a handy link from Site Ground where you can check if your domain is available.
https://www.siteground.com/go/6fq8ytsrww
Conclusion – Don’t Stress!
Choosing the right domain name is important, but should be this big complexed ordeal with hours of analyzing and researching. Keep it simple, relevant, branded, short and sweet! With these simple tips, you’ll be able to come up with a domain name in no time.