How to choose a domain name

Seven rules that work

1. Keep it short. Aim for fewer than 15 characters before the extension. A short name is quicker to type on a phone and fits on a business card, a van or a shop sign.
2. Make it easy to say. Picture reading your email address to a customer over the phone. If you have to spell it out twice, simplify it.
3. Make it easy to spell in English letters. Amharic, Afaan Oromo and other Ethiopian names can be written in Latin letters in more than one way. Pick the spelling your customers are most likely to type, and consider registering a common alternative spelling too.
4. Match your business name. People will try yourbusiness.com first, so that is the name to aim for.
5. Avoid hyphens and numbers where you can: people forget hyphens, and “2” versus “two” causes mistakes.
6. Think about where you’ll be in five years. addisphones.com gets awkward if you later open in Hawassa, Bahir Dar and other cities, or start selling laptops.
7. Check trademarks and social media. Make sure nobody already trades under the name, and that the same handle is free on the platforms you use.

Which extension?

• .com: the first choice for Ethiopian businesses. Everyone recognises it, it works for local customers and for buyers abroad, and it is what people type without thinking.
• .africa: the pan-African ending, useful for brands working across the continent or when the .com is already taken.
• .org: for NGOs, associations, churches and foundations.
• .net: a good fit for technology and internet businesses, or a fallback when the .com is gone.
• .et and .com.et: Ethiopia’s .et domains (such as .com.et) need an application to the Ethiopian registry; ask our team and we’ll help.

Domain extensions compares them in more detail.

The name you want is taken: what now?

• Try another ending: when yourbrand.com is gone, yourbrand.africa is often still free.
• Add a word that says what you do or where: yourbrandethiopia, getyourbrand, yourbrandcoffee.
• If you serve one city, include it: yourbrandgondar.com or yourbrandadama.com.
• Look up the owner with a WHOIS lookup: a name that is registered but unused is sometimes for sale.

Mistakes to avoid

• Registering it in a developer’s or employee’s name. Put the domain in your company’s name, with an email address you control.
• Letting it lapse. Turn on auto-renewal; expired names are often taken by someone else soon after.
• Picking a name close to a well-known brand. It invites a dispute, and you could lose the domain.
• Putting it off. Good names disappear. Registering a .com costs ₵178 a year.

Should you register more than one?

Many businesses take both the .com and the .africa of their name, sometimes the .org or .net as well, and point them all at one website. That protects the brand and catches customers who type the wrong ending. If you would also like a .com.et, ask our team about the application.

Ready to look? Search for your name on domain registration.