The first thing we suggest is to stick with a .com name, if possible. Despite the proliferation of domain extensions, many people still default to adding .com to the name. Visits following a drive-by of a property still account for a good deal of traffic to websites for multifamily communities. You increase the risk visitors won’t find your website and you won’t capture their attention if you don’t use a .com name.
Second, we suggest the domain name contain the community name, if possible. If the name is short or unavailable, it can be paired with “apartments” or the city where the community is located. Having words that are frequently searched for in the domain name may provide a small SEO boost, as well. We don’t suggest using dashes or underscores in names, although this is an option if all good names are already taken.
Third, we suggest that the name isn’t too long. Just like you can’t rely on visitors to remember that your domain name doesn’t end in .com, you can’t make your domain name so complicated that people can’t remember what it is altogether.
Sometimes, the .net or .org versions of your domain name are also available. Compared to other marketing costs, it’s only a small investment to pick up the other names, but with the proliferation of alternative domain extensions, it’s optional.
Websites for multifamily communities can have a high return on investment, if deployed properly. Choosing a domain name that ends in .com, contains the community name and isn’t too long, will make sure that people coming directly to your site will find you.
As always, if you have any questions about selecting a domain name or about anything multifamily related, let us know. We’re here.