Choosing a Domain Name
In this article you will learn how to chose an effective and
memorable domain name and learn how you can actually increase
traffic by using an old, expired domain name.
Times wasting so lets get started...
In the physical world, you can distinguish a business because of
its structure, window displays, or signs. You cantell that a
bank is a bank, or a clothing store is indeed a clothing store.
In the Internet, however, it is an entirely different story
altogether. Your domain name is the only clue to your online
business. You do not have visual clues: no location, no look,
and no store design. Instead, users have to type in a word or a
set of words to reach your site. Your prospective visitor has no
way of knowing what your site is all about until he/she finds it
and reads its contents. Who can ever tell that Amazon.com sells
books? Or that Excite is a search engine?
Your domain name can spell your success on the Internet. A good
domain name is the best asset you can ever have. It can make
your business stand out in the crowd, or just float aimlessly in
space.
The need to provide immediate clues to an online business led to
the prevalence of generic domain names. Generic names instantly
provide the user with an idea of what a business is all about,
what to expect and look for in a site. For instance, Etoys.com
is a toy store.
The temptation of the generic name has been so powerful; that
some companies even paid ridiculously high prices to get the
name they want. The domains Loans.com and Wines.com were both
bought for $3 million each. Telephone.com was acquired for $1.75
million, while Bingo.com sold for $1.1 million.
However, generic names do not necessarily create the "buzz" that
you'd like surrounding your website. Branding has always been
about proper names: McDonald's did not name their store
Hamburger. Hertz is not called Car Rental. FedEx is not Mail
Carrier. Kodak is not Photographs. Microsoft is not Computer
Software.
For better branding results, your domain name should be
memorable and easy to remember. Remember the following tips when
creating a domain name.
* The domain name should be short * The domain name should be
simple * It should be suggestive of your business category * It
should be unique * It should be easy to interpret and pronounce
* It should be personalized * It should not be difficult to
spell * It should not be difficult to remember
Domain names can be registered through many different companies
(known as "registrars") - a listing of these companies is
available at ICANN: http://www.icann.org. You can register for 1
to 10 years - prices can vary anywhere from $10 to $20 per year.
Most web hosting companies, as explained later, will handle the
registration process for you, but make sure that you are
properly listed as the owner of the domain when it is
registered. If you have registered a domain name for a specific
period, make sure you renew it in time. You can be surprised at
the number of cases, where site owners have let a domain name
slip by if they have not renewed in time.
Using expired domains to skyrocket your traffic
At some point while you're building your website, you're going
to have to buy a domain name. This is the address that users
type into their browsers to reach your site. That takes about
five seconds, and depending on the name you want and whether
anyone else owns it, it won't cost you more than a few bucks.
But domain names are also a golden opportunity to make some easy
money.
I'm not talking about Internet real estate, where you buy up
good names and sell them on for a profit--if you haven't got
into that now, forget it. The bottom's fallen out of the market
and the best domains are long gone.
I'm talking about expiring domains.
Thousands of webmasters invest time, effort and money to promote
their site and build up traffic. Many of them then lose interest
and move on, leaving their site active. That means that although
they still own the domain, they're not actively promoting it.
But they don't need to. All the automatic marketing systems
they've put in place are still bringing in traffic. The site
runs itself.
Now, at some point the ownership of those domains is going to
expire. If you snap up those domains once they come back onto
the market, you've got a pre-built stream of customers.
You can either rebuild the site, or redirect the traffic to your
domain. You could set up an affiliate program get paid for users
someone else paid for.
It's that easy.
There are tons of options, and lots of easy ways to make lots of
money with very little effort. Opportunities like these are
everywhere.
Websites such as www.expiredtraffic.com or
www.deleteddomains.com actually do all the legwork and let you
reap all the rewards. Expired Traffic even has an affiliate
program and www.snapnames.com allows you to back-order a
specific domain name.
Do be careful when using other sites though. There are some
swindlers out there that will sell you subscriptions, provide
you with outdated lists, take your money and keep the good
domains for themselves. It happens, and there's little point in
taking a risk when www.deleteddomains.com does such a great job.