Registering a domain for your web site
Perhaps one of the biggest decisions (at least initially) you will spend is deciding on a domain name. After that will come hours of “where do I register my domain?” and “how do I register my domain?”. That will come next. Today I just want to talk a little about domain names.
Domain names are your unique identity on the Internet. I look at domain names like fingerprints. No two domain names are (can be) the same. However, just like your fingerprint (or your hand), domain names can tell a lot about your business, if it’s descriptive enough. More on that later.
So how should you go about choosing a domain name? Here’s some suggestions I can provide.
A domain name will always follow the following format:
<domain>.<extension>
Let’s deal with the extension first.
1. .com, .net, .tv, .org – What should I choose? Most businesses aren’t clear about what extension their domain name should have. Unscruplous vendors will try and sell you anything. .com extensions were the first extensions and generally stood for a “commercial establishment”. However, during the Internet boom most people reserved almost all of the .com domains possible. Some still make it a business trying to reserve and sell popular name domains. Anything for a quick buck, eh? Although the new domain extensions are slowly getting popular, the .com is still popular. This is primarily because a .com still give the impression of a business being longer in existence than other domain extensions. Of course, if your business is purely local and you want to intentionally advertise the fact, you would probably prefer having a domain with a country extension. For example, the country extension for Canada is .ca. So if you see a domain name of mybusiness.ca, it implies the domain name is registered under Canada. A good place to check all the different extensions for countries is http://www.domainit.com/country-domains.htm
2. A good domain name – Simple rule – try to keep it short but descriptive. Of course, almost all one word (and perhapd two-word) domains have all been taken. However, it does not mean all of them are taken. You just might be lucky. Try http://www.register.com/ to search for a domain name to see if it is available or taken. You can also visit http://www.checkdomain.com/. Another very popular site to visit is http://www.godaddy.com/.
3. Sometimes the challenge is to even think of a good domain name. Sometimes, it may not be uncommon to spend hours (or days) trying to think of all the various combinations for domain names that are relevant to your business. Luckily, these days (thanks to technology), there are sites that may help you by trying to generate domain names by you entering some keywords and letting technology do the rest. For example, you can visit http://www.nameboy.com/ to generate a few good domain names for you based on your keywords. You start off by typing a primary and secondary keyword, then you select a theme/category. You can also specify if you want your domain name to rhyme. Once you start the search, Nameboy will display domain names that are available, taken as well as names that are available for sale. Another good site is http://www.e-gineer.com/domainator/ . Of course, you can also go to a search engine and type in “domain name” or “domain search” and broese through the results.
4. Keep your domain name short and relevant to your business. The more meaningful your domain name is, the easier it is for your customers, prospects to remember.
5. Remember that domain names are not CaSe SeNsItIvE. Besides, they can only contain alphabets, numbers and hyphens. Spaces and symbols (special characters) are not allowed. Also ensure your domain name is easy to spell and not susceptible to mis-spellings. Which brings me to the next point.
6. Register mis-spliings, if possible. If your domain name is susceptible to people mis-typing your domain name, register the domain name with the mis-spelt word as a separate domain name. You just might get some extra business on that initiative.
7. Think about registering your domain name with multiple extensions. This is just in case you truly want to pick a unique identity and want to ensure no one else “grabs” it. For example, if you register your domain as mybusiness.com, you may want to register mybusiness.net, mybusiness.org etc. Of course, it may not be necessary and just depends on how unique you truly want to be.
8. Register your domain. Domain registrars are all over the place and their prices vary too. Shop around but don’t try to get the “best” bargain. However, be wary of sites that tell you they can register your domain for free. In my humble opinion, there is no free lunch. A good site to visit is http://www.godaddy.com/.
9. Ensure your domain is registered in your name. Often times I have seen a web host try to register your domain for you and leave themselves as the registrant, contact name etc. This is not good practice. Later if you want to “move” your web host, you could have problems getting the domain name “transferred”.
That’s it. Have fun registering your domain name. Be creative, yet distinctive.
Elvin Picardo
Delivering Net Results to Small Business
Author of numerous articles on web development and Internet Marketing for small business
10723 159th St, Surrey, BC V4N 3J1 Canada
NetMedian.com
Contact Elvin
Domain names are your unique identity on the Internet. I look at domain names like fingerprints. No two domain names are (can be) the same. However, just like your fingerprint (or your hand), domain names can tell a lot about your business, if it’s descriptive enough. More on that later.
So how should you go about choosing a domain name? Here’s some suggestions I can provide.
A domain name will always follow the following format:
<domain>.<extension>
Let’s deal with the extension first.
1. .com, .net, .tv, .org – What should I choose? Most businesses aren’t clear about what extension their domain name should have. Unscruplous vendors will try and sell you anything. .com extensions were the first extensions and generally stood for a “commercial establishment”. However, during the Internet boom most people reserved almost all of the .com domains possible. Some still make it a business trying to reserve and sell popular name domains. Anything for a quick buck, eh? Although the new domain extensions are slowly getting popular, the .com is still popular. This is primarily because a .com still give the impression of a business being longer in existence than other domain extensions. Of course, if your business is purely local and you want to intentionally advertise the fact, you would probably prefer having a domain with a country extension. For example, the country extension for Canada is .ca. So if you see a domain name of mybusiness.ca, it implies the domain name is registered under Canada. A good place to check all the different extensions for countries is http://www.domainit.com/country-domains.htm
2. A good domain name – Simple rule – try to keep it short but descriptive. Of course, almost all one word (and perhapd two-word) domains have all been taken. However, it does not mean all of them are taken. You just might be lucky. Try http://www.register.com/ to search for a domain name to see if it is available or taken. You can also visit http://www.checkdomain.com/. Another very popular site to visit is http://www.godaddy.com/.
3. Sometimes the challenge is to even think of a good domain name. Sometimes, it may not be uncommon to spend hours (or days) trying to think of all the various combinations for domain names that are relevant to your business. Luckily, these days (thanks to technology), there are sites that may help you by trying to generate domain names by you entering some keywords and letting technology do the rest. For example, you can visit http://www.nameboy.com/ to generate a few good domain names for you based on your keywords. You start off by typing a primary and secondary keyword, then you select a theme/category. You can also specify if you want your domain name to rhyme. Once you start the search, Nameboy will display domain names that are available, taken as well as names that are available for sale. Another good site is http://www.e-gineer.com/domainator/ . Of course, you can also go to a search engine and type in “domain name” or “domain search” and broese through the results.
4. Keep your domain name short and relevant to your business. The more meaningful your domain name is, the easier it is for your customers, prospects to remember.
5. Remember that domain names are not CaSe SeNsItIvE. Besides, they can only contain alphabets, numbers and hyphens. Spaces and symbols (special characters) are not allowed. Also ensure your domain name is easy to spell and not susceptible to mis-spellings. Which brings me to the next point.
6. Register mis-spliings, if possible. If your domain name is susceptible to people mis-typing your domain name, register the domain name with the mis-spelt word as a separate domain name. You just might get some extra business on that initiative.
7. Think about registering your domain name with multiple extensions. This is just in case you truly want to pick a unique identity and want to ensure no one else “grabs” it. For example, if you register your domain as mybusiness.com, you may want to register mybusiness.net, mybusiness.org etc. Of course, it may not be necessary and just depends on how unique you truly want to be.
8. Register your domain. Domain registrars are all over the place and their prices vary too. Shop around but don’t try to get the “best” bargain. However, be wary of sites that tell you they can register your domain for free. In my humble opinion, there is no free lunch. A good site to visit is http://www.godaddy.com/.
9. Ensure your domain is registered in your name. Often times I have seen a web host try to register your domain for you and leave themselves as the registrant, contact name etc. This is not good practice. Later if you want to “move” your web host, you could have problems getting the domain name “transferred”.
That’s it. Have fun registering your domain name. Be creative, yet distinctive.
Elvin Picardo
Delivering Net Results to Small Business
Author of numerous articles on web development and Internet Marketing for small business
10723 159th St, Surrey, BC V4N 3J1 Canada
NetMedian.com
Contact Elvin
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