“URL” is an abbreviation that stands for “Universal Resource Locator.” It’s another name for a web address, the text that you type into your browser when you want to go to a website.

A URL is also called a web address because it works like a house address. You can use a house address to find the location of a friend’s home or store you want to visit. If you give your browser a URL, it can find where to go to find the web page you want to visit.

Well this is a good question and you need to take many factors into consideration.

Website Advice advises that when you start thinking about a website for a small business you think carefully about choosing the address of your website ( this is call the domain name or URL e.g. www.google.co.uk ). It is the same as choosing your company name and your branding — it requires a lot of thought and research. Your domain name is your identity on the web; you want to make sure you choose a name that not only fits your business but is also easy to find and to type and remember. (Advice: You can use letters (abc), numbers (123) and dashes/hyphens (—). Spaces are not allowed, and the domain can’t begin or end with a dash.)

Example

Not so good – www.wecutdowntrees-anddisposeofthewaste.co.uk

Better – www.tree-felling.co.uk

The advice to small business is as follows: 

Make it easy to type

Finding a domain name that’s easy to type is critical to people remembering and finding your site. Don’t use slang (u instead of you) or words with multiple spellings (express vs. xpress), it will be harder for customers to find your site. (Advice: You can use a dash (-) to divide up a name.) 

Keep it short

Short and simple is the best advice as if your domain name is long and complex, you will lose potential customers when the mistyping or misspelling the address. (Advice: Be aware that the cost of a name may be high if it is considered a premium address e.g. A name that has been registered by someone else now being resold at a premium rate) 

Use keywords

Try using keywords that describe your business and the services you offer or your name. For example, if you’re a hairdresser, you may want to register BuzzCut.com or Hair-Style.com. (Advice: that capitals letters are not used only lower case)

It helps improve your rank on search engines (which increases traffic) and just makes more sense to your customers. (Advice: If possible don’t use numbers as people may type “five” instead of “5” or visa versa)

Research

Make sure the name you’ve selected isn’t trademarked, copyrighted or being used by another company. It could result in a huge legal mess that could cost you a fortune, as well as your domain!

Be memorable

There are millions of registered domain names, so having a domain that’s catchy and memorable is essential. (Advice: Once you’ve come up with a name, share it with close friends to make sure it sounds appealing and makes sense to others.)

There is no short answer to this it depends on you as a customer providing the copy text for your website and signing of on images and pages. Normally it will take 10 to 20 days as long as the communication works well back and forward.

You will own the website contents and the website address where you have paid for it in advance. If you are paying monthly, you will not own anything until the 12 months payments have been made. You should be aware that you have to continue paying for your site to be on the web every year.