.bg or .com, with or without a hyphen, in Latin letters or with the city name? Short rules so you don’t regret it a year from now.
A domain is the address of your website, for example creatiumlab.com. It is hard to change: over time it ends up on business cards, in Google, in profiles and in your customers’ heads. That’s why it’s worth spending ten minutes on the choice.
Short and easy to say over the phone
Try dictating it to someone. If you have to explain “with two ‘i’s, a hyphen, then ‘bg’…”, look for another one. A good domain gets typed correctly the first time.
A test we use: say the domain out loud to someone who doesn’t know it and ask them to type it. If they type it wrong, your customers will too.
.bg or .com?
If you only work in Bulgaria, .bg is a good choice: it shows you’re a local business. .com suits you if you have customers outside the country or if the .bg is already taken. The important thing is to pick one and use it everywhere. If your budget allows, get both and redirect one to the other.
Other endings, such as .eu, .net, .shop or .studio, also work technically, but people remember them less easily and often type .com or .bg out of habit. If you choose one of those, also get the .bg version if it’s available.
Latin letters, no hyphens if possible
Cyrillic domains exist, but they are hard to type and share. Choose a transliteration that people would write on their own: “zdravpokriv”, not “zdrav-pokriv-bg-ltd”.
Be careful with letters that are transliterated in different ways: “ж” (zh or j), “ц” (ts or c), “ъ” (a or u), “щ” (sht). If your name contains them, check which version is more natural and, if possible, get the other one too so that it redirects to the main one.
The business name or the service?
The business name is the better choice in the long run, because it is unique and yours. A domain like “pokrivi-plovdiv” (roofs-plovdiv) doesn’t help you rank higher in Google the way people think. What matters is the content of the website and your Google Business Profile.
There is also a practical problem: if a year from now you start working in Stara Zagora as well, or add a new service, a domain with the city or the service no longer describes you.
Whose name it is registered in
This is the most common mistake we see. The domain should be registered in your company’s name and with your email, not in the name of the person who built your website. Otherwise, if you part ways, you may find the address isn’t yours.
How to check: log in to your account with the registrar (for example SuperHosting, ICN.bg, Namecheap, GoDaddy) and see who is listed as the owner (registrant). If you don’t have an account and don’t know where the domain is registered, that’s a sign you should sort it out now, not when it expires.
Don’t forget the renewal
A domain is paid for every year. Turn on automatic renewal and make sure the reminder email goes to an address someone actually reads. An expired domain means a website that has stopped and email that has stopped.
If a domain expires and you don’t renew it in time, after a grace period it is released and anyone can buy it. There are people who watch for exactly such domains and then sell them back to their owners at a much higher price.
The domain and email
A domain isn’t only for the website. With it you also get email with your company name: info@yourcompany.bg instead of yourcompany@abv.bg. It looks more professional and your emails land in spam less often.
If you already use a free mailbox, you don’t have to close it right away. You can forward emails from the new address to the old one while you get used to it.
A short checklist before you buy
- It is spelled correctly after hearing it once.
- No hyphens or digits, unless they are part of your name.
- It isn’t too close to a competitor’s name or a well-known brand.
- It is registered in your company’s name, with your email.
- Automatic renewal is on.
- If possible, you have both the .bg and the .com.
Frequently asked questions
Can I change the domain later?
Yes, but it involves work: redirects from the old address, changes in Google Search Console, in the Google profile, on business cards and everywhere it has been published. That’s why it’s better to choose carefully from the very start.
How much does a domain cost?
A .bg or .com domain costs from a few euros to about twenty euros a year, depending on the registrar. If someone offers you a “free domain” with hosting, check whose name it is registered in and how much renewal will cost after the first year.
Are the domain and the hosting the same thing?
No. The domain is the address, the hosting is the server the website sits on. They can be with different companies. There is more about hosting in our Maintenance and hosting service.
When we build a website, we also help with choosing and registering the domain, always in your name. See how we work.
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