Cheapest domain names in South Africa: Beginners guide to picking the best website name

Last updated on December 28th, 2021 at 11:59 am

Cheapest domain names in South Africa: Beginners guide to picking the best website name

You are now ready to build a website in and that is why you are looking for the cheapest domain names in South Africa.

It doesn’t matter whether you want a personal blog or building a business website, you will need a perfect name to call it.

For this reason, I compiled this article to not only reveal the best domain registration company in South Africa but to also help you out in picking the best website name.

Here is the thing:

The name for your website is a big deal. And if you thought you’d get away with just any name out there, think again.

Let me tell you something:

Your domain name is the most crucial element of your website. If you get it right, it will boost your success. On the flip side, if you get it wrong, let’s just say you will be stuck with the wrong for a very long time.

And now you are thinking:

Why is the domain name so important?

Good question.

1. Your domain name is the first thing people see when they visit your website. Think of it as the ‘first impression’ because if it is a good name, it will leave a positive and lasting impression on your visitors. What if it is a ‘bad’ one? Well, it will send your readers running and never looking back.
2. A domain name you pick affects your search rankings. This is known as SEO. While the Exact Match Domains (EMDs) is no longer necessary, having a keyword in your domain name can help boost your rankings
3. Your domain name is a prime chance to represent your brand. Therefore, you should consider a name that positively depicts your business. Continue reading to learn more.

Make no mistake, I haven’t scratched the surface of reasons why you should pay more attention to the domain name you pick in South Africa.

With that in mind, how, then, can you make sure that the name you want to pick is the right one?

How do you choose the best domain name?

Fortunately for you, I will walk you through a simple domain name checklist used by the industry pros to pick the perfect website name.

How to choose the best domain name in South Africa

If you are looking for the best domain names in South Africa, continue reading.

1. Choose the best domain name extension

First things first:

For beginners, a domain name is that short URL address people type into a web browser search bar, in order to access a website.

For example:

Google’s domain name is https://www.google.com

Now, pay attention to this next statement.

Do you see the last part of the above domain name? I mean the .com part.

That is referred to as the domain extension.

There are very many types of domain extensions. But the most popular ones are .com, .org, .net.

But here is my recommendation:

If you are starting a website only targeting the South Africans, go with .co.za extension.

Why?

Because with that extension, people searching about your topics, products or services in South Africa will be more likely to land on your site.

In fact, Google knows the location of every web user through their device’s IP address. They, therefore, use this information to serve them relevant information based on their location.

Otherwise, the .com domain extension is the best. You can’t get wrong with it and avoid generic and weird extensions such as .club, .pizza, and so many others.

• Your domain name should be brandable

As we have already mentioned, a domain name is a perfect place to start communicating your brand identity.

You should, therefore, avoid generic website names that have no meaning.

Why?

Because a well-thought and brandable wins every time.

As such, have this in mind:

Your domain name is how your readers will find, remember, and talk about your business across the internet.

It is the foundation of your brand identity.

So, how do you differentiate a brandable name from a generic one?

That is so simple.

A brandable name is unique and stands out. On the flip side, all the generic names are usually keyword-stuffed and really hard to remember.

Take a look at these example 1:

HealthInsurance.com, NewHealthInsurance.com, CheapHealthInsurance.net. What is common between these names?

They are all generic. I bet you can’t find anyone talking about how awesome Cheaphealthinsurance.net is.

In fact, these are just variations of the Insurance.com

Example 2:

UnitedHealthCare.com, Shopify.com. Such domain names stand out because they mean something.

Here are some tips on how to pick a brandable and memorable domain name in South Africa:

1. Use new but catchy words. Look at Yahoo, Bing, Facebook, etc.
2. Leverage thesaurus to identify interesting words that describe your brand
3. Domain name generators can help. Look for those that ask for keywords and ideas so they can use it to spit out domain name suggestions.

• The shorter, the better

When it comes to choosing the best domain name in South Africa, the shorter, the better.

According to research done by our friends at DataGenetics.com, they found out that most popular (receive the most traffic) domain names across the web were at most 12 characters.

As such, you make sure the name is somewhere between 6-14 characters. But there’s one problem with this:

You will find that most short names are taken and maybe they are being sold for thousands of rand.

If that is the case, make the name brandable. Look at our own, Truehost. Cool, right?

• Should be easy to type, spell, and pronounce

Just for a second, think about the most recognizable and popular brands around the world.

I can bet you thought of Facebook, Nike, CNN, Google, and Uber among others.

What do they have in common besides being billion-dollar companies?

They are easy to spell, write, and pronounce.

Here is the thing:

If you have to explain the spelling for someone to understand, forget it. That is too complicated.

Rather, pick a name that your visitor won’t have problems typing and pronouncing.

Why?

Because the last you want is for your visitors to end up on a completely different website just because they didn’t get your name right.

So, here is a simple exercise to help you out:

Invite 10 people to spell your new domain name. If more than half of them are struggling with it, it is a sign you should ditch that name and look for another one.

• Stay away from hyphens and numbers

We have mentioned that your domain name in South Africa should be easy to spell and type.

But using hyphens and numbers will violate this simple rule because it makes it harder to remember and type.

Imagine explaining Truehost if it had a hyphen…

“Have you heard about True-host? By the way, there’s a hyphen in between the ‘True’ and ‘Host’”

Do you see how awkward that would be?

This is what I mean:

A domain name should be punchy. But hyphen and use of numbers take that away.

Stick to the letters only.

• Consider using Keywords to demonstrate your niche

A niche is simply the topic (industry) your website covers. We offer the best web hosting services in South Africa. And that is why our domain name includes the keyword, ‘host.’

The presence of a niche-specific keyword boosts your search engine optimization efforts.

But be careful.

There is a thin line between this and generic domain names like we have seen above.

If you stuff keywords into your domain name, you will end up with a generic domain.

• Think long-term

As I had mentioned earlier, your domain name will be your identity for a very long time.

In fact, changing a domain name costs you a lot:

• You lose rankings
• Costs money
• Will cost you branding

That is a big loss.

You should, therefore, think long term when choosing a domain name,

Let me explain using a simple example:

Say you are starting a company to offer SEO services, you can go with a domain name like SEORankings.co.za.

That is good, for now.

If you think you might branch out and start offering additional online marketing services in the future like Facebook ads, email marketing, Google Ads, among others, then you might want to sit down and reconsider your website name.

Why?

Because SEORankings.co.za will limit you to only offering SEO services. Hence making it hard to expand your services.

As a result, you should think about where you want to be in the coming years. Then let that reflect on the domain name decisions now.

Where to get the cheapest domain names in South Africa

With this simple checklist, you can easily brainstorm domain name ideas. Once you have picked the best, you should register it immediately so no one else can.

Fortunately, we have the cheapest domain names in South Africa and fast domain name registration.

Start building your website today by purchasing a domain name here.