What is domain name?
A domain name is basically the web address of a particular website. For example "myownminisite.com" is a domain name.
If you want to have a serious online business, you NEED your own domain name.
Why do you need a domain name?
A website is the online equivalent of "real estate".
And if that's the case, then a domain name is like the title deed to your website.
There are plenty of free web hosts out
there who will let you host your site on their server without owning
your domain. Typically they'll put it on a subdomain of their own
domain. The problem with that is that you don't own the "title deed" to
your own website. In fact, THEY own it.
Suppose the free host suddenly went out of
business? Or suppose they decide to stop offering free hosting and they redirect
all the traffic to their own site. Ouch!
You need to have your own domain so that
you can build EQUITY in your online business.
If you don't own your domain, it's
kind of like renting a home instead of buying it. You'd be building
equity in someone else's property for them.
By building equity in your own online property it becomes an asset that you can keep for the long term, or sell to an investor.
Okay, now you understand why it's so
important to have your own domain... let's talk about what type of
domain you should register.
Domain Extensions
First, which domain "extension" should you
choose? Of course you're familiar with the ".COM" extension, but when
you go to register a domain you'll see several different options. What
about those?
It really depends on what you're going to
be using the domain for. If it's going to be primary domain for your
business, I'd settle for nothing less than a ".com". For example, yourbusinessname.com.
.com's have
long been considered the "gold standard" of the domain name industry.
It is the most memorable extension for most of the general public, and
could be viewed more favorably by potential investors if you should
choose to sell your business someday.
If it is important to your business that you be identified
as being from the U.K. for example... then choose the U.K. extension .co.uk
Australia... com.au and so on.
However, if the domain is not intended to
be the central identifying address for your business, there are some
other good options available. The next best domain extensions are
generally considered to be .NET, .ORG, and sometimes .INFO and .BIZ.
Choosing a Domain Name
If you're choosing the main domain for your
online business, there are several strategic marketing factors that can
come into play.
Often the best website names are "made up" words
(eBay.com, Xanga.com, Flickr.com, etc), while others are more straight
forward (facebook.com, digitalpoint.com, etc). If you decide on made
up words for your domain name... you need a fair budget to get the message out
there!
When it comes to selecting a
domain for a content-based site it is generally far-and-away best
to choose a name that concisely describes exactly WHAT the site is
about.
So if your website is about car wheels, the
best domain would probably be CarWheels.com. If that wasn't available,
you would look to see if other extensions are available (such as CarWheels.net, CarWheels.org, etc.). If those were not available, look
at adding another word to the domain. Most people would start by trying
combinations like CarWheelsOnline.com, CarWheelsStore.com, etc.
ShopSmartDomains will actually come up with some other suggestions for you, if
the one you're trying to register has already gone.
Adding another word to your original choice
can be a good strategy, but another way to find unique domains is by
adding a personal touch. For example if your name was Bob, you could
register BobsCarWheels.com, or if you're marketing locally you could
register SpringfieldCarWheels.com. The downside to BobsCarWheels.com...
would someone called Charles want to buy that site at a later date?
Springfield limits your sale possibilities too. But if you have no plans
for selling the business and the site later, personalize it.
What about hyphens?
This is a very common question that we are
asked. Traditionally, a domain is less valuable when hyphenated. For
example, car-wheels.com would be worth less than carwheels.com. That's
probably because it's more difficult to remember a domain with a hyphen
in it, or to advertise it on the radio, on TV, etc.
However, hyphens may also help with search engine optimization.
It is hard to draw any concrete
conclusions, because there are so many factors involved in Search Engine Optimization, but the
success and top ranking of many hyphenated domains would lead us to
believe that they may have an advantage.
Some people have also speculated that the
search engines could penalize hyphenated domains due to
the proliferation of spam sites using hyphenated domains. I have not
seen this to be the case, but it is something to be mindful of.
Domain pitfalls to avoid
|
 DON'T use intentional misspellings (you can
use misspelled
domains to capture traffic, but you should NOT build a
full
fledged site on one).
DON'T use abbreviations.
DON'T use numbers (digits), unless you have a really good
reason.
DON'T make it too long. Shorter domains are more
memorable, and
generally more attractive in your advertising
and search engine
listings. |
It's okay to include multiple keywords if your site warrants
it (low-cost-life-insurance.com), but don't go overboard
(buy-your-low-cost-term-life-insurance-here.com) because it will make
you look like a spammer.
Okay, so now that you know how to choose a domain, let's look at exactly how to register one...
Registering your domain
There are literally hundreds of places on the internet where you can register a domain.
If you've already found a good and reliable registrar, feel free to stick with them.
But do compare their prices and free inclusions with
ShopSmartDomains.
Here's To Your Internet Success!
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