How to choose a domain name

Seven rules that work

1. Keep it short. Aim for under 15 characters before the extension. Short names are quicker to type on a phone and fit neatly on a business card, a shopfront or the side of a delivery van.
2. Make it easy to say. Picture reading your email address to a customer over the phone or on a local radio advert. If you need to spell it twice, simplify it.
3. Make it easy to spell. Skip creative spellings (xpress for express) unless that is how your brand is already written.
4. Match your business name. Customers will try yourbusiness.com first, so make that your target.
5. Avoid hyphens and numbers where you can: people forget them, and “4” or “for” causes confusion.
6. Think long term. lusakaphones.com is limiting if you later sell laptops in Ndola, Kitwe and across Zambia.
7. Check trademarks and social handles. Make sure nobody else trades under the name, and that the same handle is free on the social platforms you use. If you have registered your business name with PACRA, use that name as your starting point.

Which extension?

• .com: the first choice for Zambian businesses. It is familiar to customers at home and abroad, and it is what people type out of habit.
• .africa: the pan-African extension, a good fit for brands that work across the continent, or when the .com is gone.
• .org: for NGOs, churches, schools, associations and foundations.
• .net: a sensible alternative for technology, internet and network businesses, or when the .com is taken.
• .co.zm and Zambia’s other .zm extensions: these need an application to the Zambian registry. Ask our team and we’ll help.

There is more detail in domain extensions.

Your name is taken: what now?

• Try another extension: if yourbrand.com has gone, yourbrand.africa may still be free.
• Add a word that describes what you do: yourbrandzambia, getyourbrand, yourbrandshop.
• Add your town if you serve one area: yourbrandkitwe.com or yourbrandchipata.com.
• See who holds it with a WHOIS lookup: an unused name is sometimes for sale.

Mistakes to avoid

• Registering it in a developer’s or employee’s name. The domain should be in your company’s name, with an email address you control.
• Letting it expire. Switch on auto-renewal; lapsed domains are picked up quickly.
• Picking a name too close to a well-known brand. It can lead to a dispute and the loss of the domain.
• Putting it off. Good names go fast. A .com costs ₵178 a year to register.

Register more than one?

Many businesses register the .com and the .africa of their name (plus the .org or .net if someone else could use them) and point them all at one website. It protects the brand and catches visitors who type the wrong ending. If you would also like a .co.zm, ask our team about the application.

Ready? Search for your name on domain registration.