It is important for you to have your own domain name. Domain registration is inexpensive and easy to do. Here are some tips you should keep in mind when you go to register a domain:
Keep it Short, Simple, and Sweet
Keep your domain name as short as you can. Most short, word-based domain names are already taken, so you’ll have to be creative. Visit a domain name registrar and use their domain name finder to see if your domain name choices are available. Finding a good domain name will be a challenge, but keep at it! Start with your name or your painting alias. If those are not available, try words or names related to the type of art you create.
Hypenated Domains
Don’t use hyphens if you can avoid it when it comes to domain registration (www.your-name-art.com). Hyphens are difficult to type and can be easily forgotten. If you register www.you-art-name.com, people may visit www.yournameart.com by mistake.
The .com
.com is the most desirable TLD (top level domain), but it is not the only option. If your ideal .com domain is already registered, visit that site and see what kind of site it is. If it is another artist’s or studio’s website (or anything even closely related to art), then choose to register a completely different domain name. You don’t want potential clients visiting your competitors because they typed .com instead of .net, for example. If the other site is completely unrelated to art, you can select a different TLD, like .net, .us, .info, .name, or any TLD specific to your country.
Here are some domain examples:
Good: www.yournameart.com
Not-so-good: www.your-name-art.com (hyphenated)
Good: www.fantasyartdesigns.com
Not-so-good: www.fantasyartbyyourname.com (too long with too many words)
Sub-domains
Avoid sub-domains or sub-folder domains for your main portfolio website. For example, http://yourname.freewebhost.com or http://www.freewebhost.com/yourname/. As an artist, you need to look professional. Not only do sub-domains and sub-folder domains look amateurish, they are harder to remember and take longer to type in.
The Value of Being Established
Once you have an established domain, don’t change it or move to a new one! Search engines give a certain weight to sites that have been around for a while. You will also lose your search engine listings as well as any inbound links you have developed. There are ways to safely move to a new domain, but that is beyond the scope of this article.
