Before we start with the tips, it would be good for you to understand what a domain name is.

So What is a Domain Name?

A domain name is the given name to a website on the Internet. It is usually made of letters, but sometimes, numbers and symbols are combined with letters to form a domain name. Before you can use a domain name for your business website, you have to buy it from a domain name registrar. Also, two persons or businesses cannot own the same domain name at the same time.

The motive behind the use of domain names to name websites is to facilitate easy remembrance of websites names by humans. At the operational level of websites, information transfer between the browsers and the web servers is through numerical IP addresses.

In essence, domain names are the human-friendly version of numerical web IP addresses.

Now let’s go through the tips on how to choose a domain name for your business website in Nigeria.

1. Go for “.com” domain extension: While we now have lots of domain extensions such as “.com.ng,” “.org,” “.shop,” “.biz” , it is advisable you should stick with .com domain extension. This is because .com is the most popular top-level domain; when people type a domain name in their browser, they only want to end it with .com as that’s what they are most familiar with.

Therefore, going with domain extensions like “.com.ng,” “.ng,” or “.biz” may not be helpful to your business.

Besides lots of people now browse using their phones, and the auto-complete domain extension provided in most smartphone browsers, after typing the domain name, is .com. If your business website ends in “.com.ng” or “.ng,” you are making these people do extract typing. Don’t forget we are all lazy.

2. Make it stand out: An outstanding domain name is catchy, unique, and memorable. To make your domain name stand out, you should check out the domain names of competitors in your industry, and think of how to make yours different from theirs.

Researching your competitors’ domain names would also save you from picking a domain name close to your competitors’, which saves you from a possible allegation of misbranding and trying to use your competitors’ trademark name.

4. Don’t make it too long: The maximum allowed characters for a domain name is 253 characters – but of course, you don’t want to use all the characters. The recommended number of characters for a domain name is 15. Shorter domain names are easy to remember and reduce the possibility of people making typo errors while typing your domain name into the address bar.
5. Make it easy to spell and easy to pronounce: Domain names that are easy to spell and pronounce are easy to remember. So when choosing a domain name for your business, you should make it simple and pronounceable.

Also, you should avoid the use of symbols (such as hyphens, underscores, etc.) and numbers in your domain name.

People are comfortable with domain names written all together, without symbols or numbers separating the letters or words forming the domain name. For example, people are more comfortable with “www.topyougo.com” than “www.top-you-go.com”.

Making your business domain name easy to spell, easy to pronounce, and free of symbols and numbers would make people easily remember it.

5. Add keywords: Although search engines would use the meta-description of your website to know what the website is all about, adding keywords to your domain name would make search engines understand your website In a similar vein, if you run a local business, adding the city or town where you operate to your domain name would make people instantly know your business is in their location.

For example, a domain name like www.pizzalagos.com tells people that the business specialises in pizza and serves people that reside in Lagos.

6. Consider buying mistyped domain name and other domain extensions: People are likely to mistype your domain name or use a different domain extension with your domain name; to prevent losing traffic from this, you should consider buying the possible mistyped domain names and extensions of your website.

Using the www.pizzalagos.com example, you can buy mistyped variation and domain extension like www.pizalagos.com (one Z is missing from PIZZA) and www.pizzalagos.com.ng. After buying the mistyped variations and the other domain extensions, you can then 301 redirect them to your main website, and you would never lose traffic from mistyped domain names and extensions again.

Now that you have the tips on how to choose a domain name for your business website, the next thing is brainstorming on the perfect name. You then need to hire a good web designer that would translate your business philosophy into a stunning website.

If you need help in coming up with a good domain name and designing and hosting your website, don’t hesitate to talk to our expert.

As a hotel business owner, to outweigh your competitors, you need to attract more customers using digital marketing. Digital marketing will make your service standout on the internet where most potential customers visit daily.

Here are some strategies to improve your hotel business using digital marketing.

1. RESPONSIVE WEBSITE

You need to have a responsive website that will have information about your hotel. People usually check the internet first for hotel websites especially when visiting a new location, and having a website will ensure new customers know your hotel.

The website gives information like contact number, location, room types and prices and other services you offer. The website should be responsive so it can be easily accessed on mobile devices as almost 90% of internet users use a mobile device.

To enjoy the benefits of having a website, there is a need for it to be developed by a professional responsive website developer.

2. SOCIAL MEDIA

The use of social media is multiplying for personal and business purposes. Social media helps you inform large audience both within and outside the country about your hotel business.

Promoting your hotel brand, informing people about any promotional offers in your business, and increasing traffic to your website are few of the many advantages of social media. The impact of social media cannot be overemphasised hence the need for an excellent social media agency to create and manage your social media platforms while your business grows.

3. SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) helps to put your business at the forefront of search engines like Google to ensure people looking for your business find you. Using the hotel business as an instance, when a potential customer searches the internet for hotels in a specific location, with the aid of SEO your hotel is displayed among the top hotels but without SEO the new customer may only see your competitors’ hotel.

To optimise the benefits of SEO to enhance your business visibility, you need the services of an expert SEO company. This will enable your website to attain top ranking on Google search engine.

4. PAY PER CLICK (PPC)

Pay per Click (PPC) is paid advertising that puts your hotel information on websites and search engines for internet users looking for hotel service to quickly locate you. It is a digital version of advertising similar to advertising on billboards. It exposes your business to new potential customers that will grow your business.

Setting up profitable PPC involves keyword search, developing attractive advertisement and much more but you can ease the stress by engaging the services of a profitable Pay per Click management service provider.

5. EMAIL MARKETING

About one-third of the world’s population make use of email, and using email to promote the hotel business will take your business to many potential customers. Email marketing helps you to communicate with your customers in a more personal way.

It helps you reach new customers through an email list and also maintain a relationship with existing customers even after they have lodged out of the hotel. Email marketing is cost effective and can help you deliver right messages to your customers.

With the help of a reliable email marketing service provider, you will be assisted to compose the write messages and delivered to potential and existing customers.

“You may never know what results come of your actions, but if you do nothing, there will be no results”- Mahatma Gandhi. Digital marketing is one of the most effective ways of promoting and growing your hotel business. Act now and enjoy your business grow. You can contact us for free advice on digital marketing.

What untapped ideas do you need to implement in your quest to effectively market your local business on the internet? Combining new ways of marketing with the conventional offline marketing methods in your locality should make a significant impact on your business if you do the right thing.

Here are 5 proven ways to market your local business online:

1. Create a blog: With millions of blog posts published online on a daily basis, chances are that you’re missing out on potential customers your blog could have brought you. It’s no news that people search Google for virtually everything. Statistics from ExpandedRamblings shows that the total number of Google search from the US for the month of May 2016 was about 34 billion. Assuming your business is based in a locality with a population of 70,000 and 6 other competitors doing the same business like you, you’ve definitely lost out on at least 10,000 potential customers. Through your blog, you teach people how to use your products and services, you share information on latest trends in your business and the feedback/comments on your blog help you to improve your services to them. Creating a blog that is well optimized would help your website’s search engine rankings. Your website and blog should be professionally designed, else you’re going to lose customers. Please read this article on how to use content to generate new business leads.
2. Embrace social media: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Google+, LinkedIn and every other social media platforms record millions of users on a daily basis. Embracing social media opens you to a much wider audience than your blog can offer you, but you shouldn’t jump into social media marketing without a plan. Get ready to spend a couple of bucks on marketing on social media through ads. It is also pertinent to avoid making some of the following mistakes in your social media marketing campaigns:

• Having multiple profiles on a social site
• Having incomplete social profiles
• Targeting a narrow audience
• Leaving your campaign running for long
• Click-baiting and spamming
• Purchasing followers and likes
• A not-so-strong call to action
• Focusing on conversions instead of building a relationship with your followers.

While using social media, follow the social trends and create content that relates to your business using those trends.

3. Listing your business on online local directories: One of the many reasons why you should consider listing your business on online directories is the increased visibility it gives to your business when people search for services in your region. This is one of the many advantages on undergoing a local SEO. Please understand the difference between traditional SEO and local SEO, as they are both different, and so is their approach.

When people search local business directories for information, it simply means they’re almost ready to buy a product or service, and they’ll probably look at reviews on your profile on those online business directories. It’s an effective way of advertising your business for a few bucks per month if not free, whilst developing your brand image and connecting you to the right audience in search of your services. It’s also a source of traffic to your website, and the SEO benefits are great especially when the directory it is listed on ranks well on Google. The quickest way to boost local business online is through local SEO Nigeria.

4. Give out free trial offers/ offer discounts occasionally: While it may hurt to give out a product/service worth ₦10,000 for free all in the name of marketing your business, it sure does make up for itself when you start getting an influx of customers. A great way of starting free trials is to send your product to a notable figure in your locality and have them take a picture of themselves using the product. You could also organize contests on your website/blog/social media accounts and randomly select 3 winners that will review your product or service in return.

 Belle Beth Cooper sums up the importance of free trial offers in her article on HelpScout where she said: “A free trial gives prospective customers the opportunity to try your product in the context of their own data, their own business, their environment, and the way they work.” It is also important to intertwine your free trial offers with your social media campaigns. This would help attract more fans to your social media accounts while bringing in prospective customers willing to spend their money on your product or service.

5. Use Videos: Most business owners are yet to leverage the benefits of using video to promote and market their local businesses online. Some of the benefits of video marketing include higher engagement since most people prefer to watch than to read as well as an increase in your social media shares. Here are a few tips if you intend to create videos:
   1. Create short videos that show how your business solves the customer’s problem. It should have a 3 part storyline; the problem, your product and how your product/service solves the problem.
   2. It should be 1 minute long and should be crisp and clear.
   3. It should have a clear and concise call to action.
   4. Use captivating and irresistible thumbnails.
   5. It should have a little bit of humor here and there.
   6. Share the heck out of your video on social media. Don’t spam, rather, you should run ad campaigns for the video.

Trying these aforementioned guaranteed methods of marketing your local business is incomplete if you don’t look at your competitors in your locality and in other regions. You need to find out what they are doing, how they are doing it and why they are doing it if you intend to be on top of the game. Try to improve on areas where they are failing, and you’ll surely draw their customers to your business with time.

One more thing – never lower your prices so much that it cuts your profits significantly all in the name of attracting customers to your business. Focus on providing quality service that no one else provides and charge just a tad lesser than what your competitor charges, then relax and watch the business grow and attract more customers than you can handle. Don’t forget to combine offline marketing methods with these online methods for even faster results.

This is where digital marketing comes in. In order to benefit from this large market, you would need to hire digital marketing experts so they can use their vast experience in creating awareness for your business with the best digital marketing strategies.

The major goal of digital marketing is to boost your business online and engage your target audience. Now you may ask “How do I achieve this goal?” This shouldn’t be the problem. Your major focus should be on how to choose the best digital marketing agency for your business. These agencies would lift the burden off your shoulders so you can focus on the core services you offer.

These digital marketing agencies analyze your business and device a digital marketing strategy that would catch the attention of your target audience and seek prospects out of them.

One effective way to boost your business online is by building strong social media presence and sharing regular links to the company’s website and its new products, features and news.

A digital marketing expert knows how to create captivating contents and how to keep your customer base committed to you. It is not enough to have quality contents as these contents need to penetrate the digital world and attract more customers. A good digital marketing agency knows the right strategy to use in marketing your contents to your target audience, and how to generate new leads using contents.

Your social media pages also have to be engaging and not left to die off. When contracting a digital marketing agency, make sure they have the ability to engage existing and prospective customers. They should also build active interaction between people and the company through these social media pages. This will boost your business and help you understand your customers and what they look forward to from your company.

You can also use digital marketing to boost your return on investment (ROI), drive sales and further improve the revenue of your business. Instead of investing millions of naira on TV, radio and print adverts, investing in digital marketing helps you work within budget and save your company a whole lot of money. Running an email marketing campaign would also help your business reach more prospects which could translate to sales, awarenes and engagement.

The success of each campaign can be monitored and this would help you know what you are doing right and what you are wrong. You can take note of these observations and make changes where necessary so as to reach more people with future campaigns and improve sales.

In summary, digital marketing is one of the most effective ways to boost your business online and engage your target audience. As I mentioned earlier, the digital space is the largest market you can think of and there are so many things to benefit from digital marketing. So a business should hire the best digital marketing agencies so as to realize its goals with ease. Doing all of these without the help of digital marketing experts might lead to the loss of prospects that would have been so easy to gain in the first place. So make sure you choose only the best digital marketing agency that you can fully depend on for the growth and success of your business.