Domain Name Tips

Talking about top-level Internationalized Doma...
Image via Wikipedia

Your Internet identity is very important so selecting the right domain name may be the life or death of your business.  If you want to draw visitors and customers to your site take heed to a few of the following:

Helpful Domain Name Tips

•    Choose more than one name-It may be a very wise idea to register more than one domain name.  The reason for this is that if you register “myname.com” you should also register “myname.net” so no one else gets it.  You can also register the company’s full name and a version that is much shorter so people will remember it more easily.  It may surprise you to learn that some people register frequent misspellings of their companies name so that if people misspell the domain name, they will still be led to the site.
•    Use appropriate characters-Domain names are only permitted the use of numbers, dashes, and letters.  Symbols and spaces are not permitted.  In addition, these names are not case sensitive.
•    Get feedback-After selecting several domain names to choose from, consider asking clients, friends and family what they think about the name.  They may steer you in the right direction and get you to ponder the following questions, is the name easy to say? Does it make perfect sense? Is it easy to spell?
•    Do not invest a large amount of money in the name-There was once a time when companies charged significant amounts in reservation fees in addition to a InterNIC fee that was a mandatory $ 70.00. Now the prices have lowered significantly, giving other companies the opportunity to compete with selling domain names.
•    Choose a name now-If you are not 100% sure about a particular name you have chosen, register it anyway before someone else get a chance to.  The names go very quickly so it is best to register and change later than to procrastinate in this area.

Enhanced by Zemanta
Filed Under: Domain Name, Web hosting | Tagged: Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Using Your Name as a Domain Name: A Good Thing?

The logo of ServInt, a managed web hosting com...
Image via Wikipedia

Depending on what kind of business you do, you might want to consider using your name as your domain name. Large businesses rarely do this, but smaller companies – and sole proprietors – often do. It’s more common with musicians, writers, and artists, but there’s no reason that other businesses can’t follow that lead. When you get your domain name, it’s mostly about building a brand. What do you want your brand to say? Do you want to be known by name, or would you prefer to be in the background? Thinking about these kinds of questions can help you decide on the right name for your domain. You don’t have to decide right away. Take some time to research domain names and web hosting, so you have all the information you need to make the right choice.

If you do decide to use your name as your domain, be sure which variation you want to use. Do you go by a nickname? Is your name easily misspelled? What do people looking for you find if they use the most common misspellings? It’s important to know these kinds of things, because you don’t want your name and brand to become wrongly associated with something unsavory. That would be bad for business, and could also be humiliating for you. It could also be hard to downplay and recover from when looked at from a business standpoint. There’s much more to consider than just having your name as your domain name. As nice as that would look to you, you’ll need to make sure that it’s the right choice.

When you’re interested in a domain name, be sure to find out about web hosting, too. If you can find a company that you like and that offers both, it can make things easier and more streamlined for you. Of course, you have plenty of options for how you want to host your domain, so take the time to learn about all of them. That way you can pick and choose until you get the one that’s the best for you.

Enhanced by Zemanta
Filed Under: Domain Name, Web hosting | Tagged: Tagged With: , , ,

What if Your Chosen Domain Name is Taken?

If you’ve come up with a great Internet business, you’ll want to get a domain name, set up a site, and start making money. That sounds easy, but if the domain name you had your heart set on is taken, what should you do? There are several options. The most obvious, and by far the easiest, is to simply choose a different domain name. You may be able to get one that’s very similar, or you may be able to go with a dot info or dot biz domain, instead of a dot com. Be careful doing this, though, as some people don’t feel these other extensions have as much credibility and your site could suffer because of that.

Another thing you can do is try to buy the domain name that you really want. If it belongs to a large, well-established business you probably won’t have much luck – and it may be completely unaffordable for you, even if the company would consider selling it. On the other hand, if it belongs to a small company, or if a person has registered it and hasn’t done anything with it, you might be able to get it for a price you can afford. The person or company who has registered it has no obligation to sell it, so you can’t force the issue, but you can contact the person and ask about it.

It can be frustrating if you can’t get the domain you want, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t start up your site. Think carefully about other ways to say what you want. How would people search for what you have to offer? What kind of brand do you want to build? There’s more than one way to get your message across and to bring people in, so get creative and you’re sure to find something great.

Enhanced by Zemanta
Filed Under: Domain Name, Internet | Tagged: Tagged With: , , ,