Choosing Domain Names For Your Website

Choosing domain names for your website is important, as the domain name that you choose is like the signpost that leads people to your site. Seeing as there are millions of websites online that may or may not be just like yours, people have no way of knowing what you are trying to promote if your domain name doesn't make it clear. There are many things to keep in mind when trying to choose a domain name, and here are a few tips that can make the selection process easier for you:

Think of the keywords that you are using for your website, and consider using some of the keywords as your domain names. Brainstorm to come up with the top 5 keywords that will best describe your site, and play around with them to see if you can come up with some clever ways to use them as the domain name for your website.

Make sure that your domains are as unique as possible, as there are going to be many other websites that have names similar to yours. If your website is "funnystuff.com" and someone else owns "funnystuffs.com" and "funnystuff.net", you may find that your potential visitors may end up visiting your competitor instead. The uniqueness of a domain name is one of the things that makes Twitter, YouTube, and eBay such successes, as no one had domain names remotely similar to these sites when they first launched.

You may be tempted to choose a .net or .biz domain if the .com name that you want is available. DON'T! You will find that most people will automatically enter.com or hit Shift + Enter to add the .com automatically when typing a website URL. Change your desired name in favor of another.com that you can own.

Make sure that your website domain is easy to type. Most people hate using the "-" when trying to input URLs, and you should avoid using letters that are on the extreme ends of the keyboard, particularly Z, X, Q, and P. The easier it is for the people to type in your website's URL, the easier it will be for them to visit it regularly.

Choose a name that people will remember easily. Notice how Monster.com and Amazon.com are far more memorable than Jobs.com and Books.com, as their names are unique and easily memorable. If you can find a name that people will associate with your website's "brand" in their mind, you will find that you can get far more visitors than competing sites with generic names.

Keep it short when possible, despite the fact that the short domain names are the most expensive. It may be well worth it to pay for a short domain name that is easy to type and easy to remember, as that will ensure that people will learn about your site quickly and will find it much easier to remember the URL.

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How to Name a Website

When choosing how to name a website for your local business what you are really choosing is a Domain Name, also called a Web address or URL. This name is linked to an IP address which represents a physical point on the Internet. When someone types your domain name into a Web browser, your Web page displays. Your domain name is arguably the most important aspect of creating a small business website.

This article includes three strategies you can use when choosing your domain name, plus lists three pros and cons of each strategy to consider before making your final choice...

STRATEGY 1 - Use Your Business Name: If you are a new business choosing a domain name may be easier to accomplish because you can choose your business name and domain name at the same time. If you are an existing business this may be more difficult to achieve because there are times when your specific business name is not available as a domain name.

Pros

Easy for your customers to remember Keeps your online branding consistent with your physical store If a potential client sees an advertisement with your business name they can easily Google your name and be directed to your website

Cons

Your business name may not be available as a domain name Your business name may not contain important search terms relating to your trade or products Your business name may be long

STRATEGY 2 - Use Your Name: Using your name for your business name is definitely a personal choice that makes more sense for some businesses over others. For example, being a sole proprietor I use my name for my website URL. Even though I am still in the same industry, over the last 10 years or so the services I offer have evolved and my customer base has changed with it. But because my website URL is not tied to any specific product or service it will always be relevant to my business.

Pros

Easy for customers to remember Personalizes your business Very flexible as your business evolves over time

Cons

You may want to keep your name and your business name separate If you decide to sell your business using your name may make it more difficult Not search engine friendly

STRATEGY 3 - Use Your Service/Product and Region You Serve: When people use a search engine to find products/services locally they will generally type in the product/service plus the nearest city they feel they can get the product/service at. This is the number one way people look for local businesses like photographers, florists, stylists, salons, etc.. By having a domain such as citynameproduct.com you have helped your position in search results improve greatly because the domain name is the most important factor for a site's ranking in search engine results. It can be difficult to get the most searched terms as domains though because many people already know of this strategy. Plus if your domain name is losangelesflowers.com and you also have a store in San Francisco you can see how that doesn't help local traffic in your San Francisco location.

Pros

Search engine friendly Obvious what you do Obvious where you are

Cons

Not a unique name You may offer multiple services or products You may service more than one area

Additional guidelines to consider when choosing how to name a website for your local business:

Keep the name as short as possible: A short domain name is not always an option because 99.9% of single word domains are already taken so we are forced to choose longer names. But as a general rule, the shorter the better because it is easier to remember. Choose a.com:.com names are the most widely recognized names on the internet. If you are forced to choose a.net or.biz most likely the.com version of your name is already taken. Your customers WILL type in the.com version of your domain name when they are looking for your website. This will confuse your customers, or even worse, send them to your direct competitor's website. Be hesitant about using hyphens (-) in your domain name: Names with a hyphen in them carry less weight than a name without. For example: losangeles-flowers.com is viewed as a less important name than losangelesflowers.com as far as search engines are concerned. Plus verbally telling someone your domain name when you have to say "los angeles (hyphen) flowers (dot) com" can be confusing.

As you can see, choosing how to name a website for your local business requires a lot of planning and thought. I highly recommend considering each of these three strategies when choosing your domain name. Researching available domain names using each of these three strategies will ensure that the choice you make will be relevant for your business now and in the future.

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How to Buy an EDU Domain

Easy answer on this one: You can't. You cannot buy a .edu domain name. Unless, of course, you happen to be a four-year postsecondary U.S. institution that is Institutionally Accredited. For your educational institution to become Institutionally Accredited, by the way, your organization is to be given this status by an agency registered on the U.S. Department of Education's list of nationally recognized accrediting agencies. Your organization must also be physically located within or legally organized in the United States of America or at the very least legally and officially recognized by a US State or Federal Agency.

Unless you have, or can obtain, all of the above the chances of getting one of these is basically zero. The rules and terms for eligibility are, in the terms of the United States Department of Commerce, strictly enforced. Apparently they just don't have a sense of humor about this stuff at all.

Brief .edu Domain History

The .edu domain name is one of the oldest Top Level Domains on the Internet. As part of the original set of seven (the others being .int, .net, .org, .gov, .mil and.com) the .edu extension was created in the mid-1980's and intended for higher education institutions. Some of the first organizations to register a .edu were UCLA, Berkeley and Purdue University. While there was some lose running of the extension in the 1990's, apparently a few "got away," the domain has remained almost entirely exclusive to educational institutions.

Who cares?

Why is the .edu domain such a big deal? Well, there are two reasons anyone outside of the educational environment cares about this extension.

For one there just are not that many of these things in use. Currently less than 10,000 are in play compared to hundreds of millions of.com domains. The fewer there are, and the harder they are to get, the higher the interest level. Also those in the non-accredited educational world tend to get a put off when they are not allowed one of these so it gets some minor press once in a while

The second point has to do with search engine optimization. Because the .edu domain is so tightly controlled within the education system, and there are relatively few of them out there, back links from an edu website are considered the "Holy Grail" for SEO's. Many involved in search optimization feel that major search engines consider these types of links more important and hold greater weight than all other types of back links. Now, most search engine companies will contest this theory of course, however that does nothing to keep webmasters from trying to obtain what they feel is the best of the best of all back links.

Take away

Sorry to disappoint on this one but a .edu domain is just not in the cards.

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Domain Names - How Long Should You Register a Domain Name For?

When it comes time to buy a domain name the question comes up from on how long to register that domain for. Remember when you register a domain you're not really buying it, it's more like a rental on a yearly basis. There are a couple of points to consider.

Minimum registration times

Currently the minimum amount of time you can register a.com domain name is 1 year. This should cost you right about $10 for the year and during that time you can do whatever you want with it be for a website or blog, run an online business with it or simply use it to create email addresses. It's your for that amount of time. Now, at the end of that year you will have the option to re-register the domain for another year, or two years or the next ten years. If you choose not to register the domain again it will go back into the unregistered domain pool to be picked up by someone else.

When to register for a long time

There are some cases where registering a domain for a longer period of time makes sense. For example if you have a business, either online or off, that is associated with your domain name you may as well register it for a longer period of time. Not only is this a little piece of mind but you'll probably save a few dollars when you register for multiple years. If you're thinking of starting a blog, and you're not all that sure if you're going to do much with it, then you'd go for a shorter time. We're talking a very little amount of money here, about $10 a year, however remember that the registration fee is all paid up front at the time of registration.

Other benefits of longer registration

There are a few other benefits of longer registration times. One of these touches on the world of search engine optimization or SEO. There are many out there that believe the major search engines view domains that are registered for longer periods more favorably than those with a shorter period. The theory is a junk or spam website owner will probably not waste the money for a longer term. This, of course, can't be verified one way or the other as the major search guys don't really shared their methods. On the other hand, even if it's a long shot, any little bit helps.

Take Away

If you know you're going to use a domain for a long time go ahead and register it for 5 or 10 years. You'll probably save a few dollars and, who knows, it might even help your search rankings. If you're just trying one out, or are not sure if you're going to be using it long term, then save your money. You can always register it again at the end of the term

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Choosing the Right Domain Name for Your Website - A Step As Important As Any Other

Choosing a good domain name for your website is like choosing a good name for your newborn; it gives your website an identity, personality and character, and is ultimately responsible for creating value for your brand. For the perfect example, look no further than Facebook - a word that has now become a household term all around the world!

And it's not even that hard, there are countless domain name search tools and websites out there that do this job for you!

Close your eyes for a moment and imagine that you're finally realizing that lifelong dream of yours - starting your very own business! What would the first step in this process be? Giving your business an identity, a name. Regardless of whether your new venture is a brick-and-mortar business or an online one, having a website is as imperative as the business itself. You need to be very careful the name, or in other words, the domain name of your website since it will ultimately become something your business will be widely known by, and you will then be stuck with it forever. But not to worry, since there are domain name search tools that help you with this particular process.

A good domain name should be, among other things, short, memorable, easy to remember, should at a glance explain the nature of your website, and should have commercial appeal. Make sure you check for spelling errors, and any potential legal problems or copyright issues that could arise in the future, before settling for a name.

Then follows the actual process of obtaining your domain name. Fortunately for you, there are domain name search tools that can be of immense assistance with this process. You also need to determine which domain extension, or TLD (Top Level Domain) you will be going for - .com, .org, .net, etc. Using domain name search tools and/or websites will help you with finding the right name, and I personally suggest going with the good old.com TLD.

Once you enter your desired name into a domain name search tool, it immediately tells you whether this domain is available or not. It even recommends the best cheapest places you could buy this domain from. Furthermore, these domain name search tools not only help you with finding the best-value-for-money domains, they even assist you with finding a good hosting service for your shiny new website.

Other things to consider when choosing a domain are: keeping it simple, preferably using keywords which would enhance your search engine visibility, and finally avoiding numbers or slang.

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Register Your Business With Cheap Domain Names

A domain name is an identification string that defines a realm of administrative autonomy, authority, or control on the Internet. Your domain name gives you a recognizable name for the public to identify with. You will find various companies providing cheap domain names to their clients. Your domain name will make it easy for your target audience to memorize and have at their fingertips when they are prepared to look you up on the Internet. You can create your own domain name at a fraction of the cost by visiting various websites over internet. Once you use your search engine to search for domain names, it will populate some web hosting company names appearing on your search results page. Research for a reliable one and hire them for cheap domain names.

Clicking the very first link is often not very fruitful. You need to consider various other points while choosing, right from name to fees. You need to compare cheap domain names companies and get the most for your money. You should check a domain name that will be available to you for a certain period time. Next, you will want to get the fastest domain name approval that you can, usually within one day. The sooner you have your domain name, the quicker you will get results on the Internet. If you already own a domain name but want to switch to a cheap one, find one that will switch your domain name at no cost to you.

When you are going for cheap domain registration, make sure you also receive free parking for the domain. You need not have to pay extra fees for having your domain on the site. The ability to be able to register as many domain names as you want, without limit, is a big plus, too. You will also want to have access to easy management tools. Once your cheap domain name is registered, you should be able to do whatever you like with it. Use it to point to a particular web site if you want to increase the traffic to that site. Or use the domain to point to an e-mail address. There should be no limits on how you use the domain.

Use it to build your brand and promote your business and use it for personalized or family projects. Announce new ideas and use the domain as a public relations tool. The uses are wide and varied. Be sure that you are the license holder of the cheap domain names. Keep in mind, however, that if you fail to renew the name, the license becomes invalid and the domain name is then up for grabs to someone else. A cheap domain names company will let you have up to sixty-three characters, not including the dot and the "com" characters used. The advantage of having a longer domain name with up to sixty-three characters is that you can register phrases suiting your business and making it unique.

Browse the net thoroughly and stick to the best one. Choose a company whose services, products and domain management registration tools are user-friendly for you and enjoy the profits.

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