How To Choose A Restaurant’s Domain Name – 4 Simple Steps

Restaurant domain names may appear intimidating if you’re new with online marketing. Restaurant website and domain names come as a package as your restaurant domain names are the ones used by your customers to find your restaurant website on the internet.

This pandemic has proven how important a strong online presence is for a restaurant. If you’re planning to market your product and widen your reach for potential customers, you may start on building a simple yet catchy domain name for your restaurant.

This article aims to provide a better understanding of restaurant domain names and make the task of creating one to be less challenging on your end.

WHAT IS A DOMAIN NAME AND WHY IT IS IMPORTANT TO HAVE ONE

To simply put, domain names are the address for your restaurant website that users type in the search engine browsers, such as Google, to visit your restaurant website. It serves as the address or storefront of your restaurant, online.

From a technical point of view, domain names are made to substitute the IP address, a series of numbers used to identify a particular computer on the internet, to make it easier for users to visit a specific website. Restaurant domain names offer convenience to your customers as the process of searching for your restaurant website is simpler and easier.

With the help of domain names, users can now quickly type the name of the website without having to input a series of numbers (that’s quite hard to memorize) to the search engine search bar. For example, www.etakeawaymax.co.uk.

4 HELPFUL SIMPLE STEPS ON HOW TO CREATE YOUR OWN RESTAURANT DOMAIN NAME

As a restaurant business owner, the process of creating your domain name may appear hard and too technical, but here’s a simple how-to-guide on how to build your restaurant domain name.

1. Choose a domain name for your restaurant business brand.
2. Research for its availability.
3. Register your domain name.
4. Secure your domain name.

CHOOSE A DOMAIN NAME FOR YOUR RESTAURANT BUSINESS BRAND

As the first quarter of 2020 closed with 366.8 million domain name registrations, it is not surprising that choosing the right domain name for your restaurant business will be not a walk in the park. Here are some of the best practices that are beneficial for you, as a restaurant owner, on how to choose a restaurant domain name.

• Brainstorm ideas for your restaurant domain name. Since there are a huge number of domain registrations every day, it is important to have a group of people that can help you generate a domain name for you. This act also encourages positive culture as the staff feels involved in an important task for the restaurant.

• Decide on the restaurant name first. This is for those who are just planning to start a food business. Don’t base the name of your restaurant based on the available domain names. Remember that there aren’t many technical restrictions for domain names, as long as it’s available, you’re good to use it. Don’t start by limiting your options.

• Make it easy to memorize. Users are not just searching for things using their laptops, they’re mostly using their mobile devices, so it is crucial to keep your restaurant domain name short and easy to memorize. 

• Compose an understandable and direct domain name. Don’t put your restaurant at a disadvantage by making your restaurant domain name complicated. Refrain from using characters and symbols that will make it harder for internet users, which could be potential customers, to locate your restaurant website.

• Try out a domain name generator. Seeking help from an online generator won’t hurt your restaurant business. Check out some helpful websites which could help you with your domain search and can provide you a list of domain names that are still available for use.

• Use the proper domain name extension. .com, .org, and .net are part of the top-level domain names or domain name extensions (TLD). There are countries or areas that require a specific domain extension for a website to be registered under them. This is important because it helps users to get a hint on what type of website you’re operating, and it increases the familiarity over a website.

It is advisable to use alternate domain extensions to give your restaurant website a sense of exclusivity and community. Common mistake of restaurant business owners is that they fail to research other top-level domains aside from the most common .com, .org, and .net.

• Add a unique description of your restaurant. Should your desired restaurant domain name be not available, try to add unique information about your restaurant. It also helps with your search engine ranking, lastly, it gives your target audience a clear view of your restaurant. Just make sure you don’t get to off-brand while adding these keywords.

RESEARCH FOR ITS AVAILABILITY

Since there’s not much rules and restrictions, there are quite a number of domain names that are already registered, and this could mean that the one your team chose is not available. Check its legality. There are domain names that appear available, but it violates someone else’s registered trademark. Make sure to do proper research and set the terms you want.

There are great tools available on the internet, just Google the right term and choose what works best for you.

REGISTER YOUR DOMAIN NAME

The domain name you’ve decided is available, good for you! But make sure to not make it available for others as well. Check out domain registrars who would register your restaurant domain name for you and reserve it as fast as you can.

Here are some of the well-known domain registrars, make sure to check their terms and conditions before choosing the one that you’ll work with:

• Hover
• GoDaddy
• NameCheap
• Domain.com
• Name.com
• OVH
• Google Domain (integrate your domain name with your GSuite)

Tip : If you’ve chosen a local domain extension, then it would be just reasonable to opt for a local domain registrar. 

If you’re planning to launch a WordPress website, it is important to source a domain name and web server from the same company. It simplifies the whole process and makes the set up less complicated. 

There is also some domain registrar that offers free domains such as Weebly, Bluehost, and Squarespace.

Just make sure that the domain registrar you’ll choose will provide sufficient support for your concerns and inquiries. 

SECURE YOUR DOMAIN NAME

Important thing to remember: You can’t buy a domain name permanently. You can own it for 10 years, at most, and the costs depend on the plan you chose. After having your restaurant domain name registered, it is now time to pay an amount to secure it for a period of time. You may opt from months to years.

There are also companies that offer hosting, SSL, private email, certification, and Gmail integration. Again, just check which one meets your standards and budget.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Restaurant business domain names serve as an identity for restaurant businesses. It should be well thought of, and created with finesse as it is a key component for your marketing and branding campaigns. It helps with your search engine traffic, which is one of the metrics for a successful restaurant website.

Businesses who want to expand their reach without spending a huge amount of income rely on the internet with online marketing campaigns. That’s why it is important to make the online experience easier for your customers and users. Auto-renew your domain name ownership if you plan to keep it as long as your business exists.

source https://www.etakeawaymax.co.uk/how-to-choose-restaurants-domain-name/