5 Tips For The Perfect Domain Name
What is a domain name? A domain name is the location of your
website on the Internet. Your domain name will be what you
become known by online so it's important to get it right.
Each website on the Internet is labelled with something called
an IP address which is the actual address of the website online.
A typical IP address looks like this: 159.134.27.64. Remembering
a string of numbers like that is difficult so a domain name
translates all those numbers into something like www.amazon.com.
This is far easier to remember.
#1 Dot what? Each domain has what's called an extension. The
most well known of these extensions is .com. This, however, is
not the only type of domain extension available. There is also:
.net If you can't find your preferred .com domain name you could
always choose the same domain with a .net extension. It might
not have the same ring as a .com but is still as just useful as
a .com.
.org These domain extensions were orginally designed for
educational and more formal websites. Anybody can register a
.org however so you have more options for domain selection.
.info A more recent introduction to the domain name game are
.info domains. Many of the valuable .info domains were bought up
overnight but there's still a huge range of good .info domains
available. With a little creativity you could really make a
.info work for you e.g. www.moviereview.info.
Bear in mind that most web surfers tend to remember .com more
easily than anything else.
#2 Branding vs Business Name There is an age old debate on the
whether or not you should establish a brand name online or use a
domain that more actually reflects your real business. Let's
look at Amazon as an example. Amazon sells books online. Most
people setting up a business would have chosen say
www.booksonline.com instead of www.amazon.com. Amazon has since
established itself as a brand name of global recognition -
proving the value of building a brand name.
You'll need to choose between the two. Brand name or your own
business name. Consider how your domain sounds, how it might
look on a business card and how well it relates to your
business.
There's no one right answer to this question. You need to choose
what makes most sense for you, your website and your business in
general.
#3 Hyphenated or Not? This is another area of debate. Should
your domain be one single word or should the words be separated
by hyphens? There are advantages and disadvantages to both
approaches. Single word domain names can be easier to explain,
use on header paper and lend themselves to brand names very
well. Single word domains are in very, very short supply.
Hyphenated domains names can be slighltly more difficult to
explain, may not look as well on headed paper and possibly
harder to establish as a brand name. There's no shortage of
multiple word domains.
The single biggest advantage a hyphenated domain has is that
searche engines can "read" the domain more easily. For example
in a domain like www.foreignholidaysonline.com the search engine
can only read the first word "foreign" and that's it. It can't
tell anything else about the website domain name.
If you hyphenated that to www.foreign-holidays-online.com the
search engine can read "foreign", "holidays" and "online" as
separate words and therefore knows that this website is about
foreign holidays.
A well chosen hyphenated domain name can be just as effective as
a single word domain name.
#4 Your Domain Registrar These are the people you pay to
register the domain for you. There are dozens if not hundreds of
these companies out there so which one do you choose? This takes
some research but things worth checking are:
* Do you retain sole ownership of the domain or do the registrar
keep some level of control over it?
* Search Google for any horror stories relating to the registrar
* Does the registrar allow you to transfer the domain to another
registrar?
* Is there an online control panel for domain administration?
* How easy is it to change the domain Name Servers?
Shop around for domain registrars. What you really want to find
is a previously satisfied customer to ask questions before you
buy.
#5 Cheap Domain Names You can save a lot of money on the domain
names you purchase. A typical .com domain costs about $15 to
register from most registrars. However you can get the same
domain for as little as $7.95 from other, very reliable,
companies.
Oddly enough some of the cheaper domain registrars are more
reliable, have fewer horror stories and offer equally good
customer service as their more expensive competitors.
Are there any disadvantages in using a discount domain
registrar? Will it affect your website in any way? The answer to
both is a definite No.