The address of your website right after www is called the domain name, as in ‘Google’ in www.google.com.
What makes a good domain name?
The web address of your site should, by no means, be a difficult one to write or remember. It is supposed to be an aid, not a barrier. Well, for a domain name, you can definitely consider your company’s name but at the same time, you can have a bias towards a phrase that promotes your own identity and your offerings.
It is expected that you consider the opinion of others about your choices of domain name to familiarize yourself with the kind of domain names that your users might prefer.
Well, here I denote certain things that you need to fight shy of while registering a domain name to be used for your main company web site:
1. Avoid using any hyphens in the domain name since it increases the chances of the domain name being forgotten by people while they type it in their browsers, or even while they want to send you an email.
2. Try not to use digits in your domain name. For example, if it is 3.com, you have to inform everyone that it is ’3′ instead of ‘three’.
Now consider some good points which make a domain name a unique one:
1. Well, though not necessary, it is better to use ‘.com’ as a part of your domain name. You will get to see that people often forget addresses that end in ‘.net’ or ‘.org’ and on a more serious note, wrong address often becomes the destination of confidential e-mails.
2. Keep the spelling of the domain name simple.
3. 3 words or 20 characters should be its maximum length. So, make it as short as possible.
The above mentioned aspects have to be thought out with due consideration for your main company domain name. Only for your secondary sites, can numbers, hyphens and non-.com domain extensions be. Follow the above ones for your company’s main domain. Does my domain name have to end with .com?
Well, as far as websites are concerned, ‘.com’ extension is the most available one. So, I would suggest that use ‘.com’ as part of your domain name. Finding good ‘.com’ domains is difficult as most have been obtained.
It is of immense importance to clarify that ‘.com’, ‘.net’, ‘.org’ actually indicated three different things. ‘.com’ stands for commercial purposes, ‘.net’ stands for network purposes and ‘.org’ stands for non-profit purposes. But, this demarcating line has become fuzzy. Now, don’t think about these and outs and choose any of the extensions available for domain names.
Using uppercase or lowercase letters
As capitalization does not make any difference, your domain name can have thus anything ranging from numbers to letters or even to dashes.
Should my domain name have dash?
Remember that a situation may arise that your desired domain name has already been bought, but, the same name is available with a dash. As sometimes it may remain as the only choice for you, familiarize yourself with the problems of using dash.
1) An ideal situation for your communication can never arise by using a dash in your domain name. Unless you tell the users the proper place to put the dash and they put it perfectly, they are likely to end up at a wrong site.
2) Dash is never easy to use and common to type. It is often left out by people. The Cost of a Domain Name
Price of a Domain Name: You need to know that you have to pay as annual fee ranging from $6 to $50 varying as per the registration service) for your right to use the chosen domain name. But, it is just a rental service without letting you purchase the domain name.
It is your choice whether you wish to use a cheap registrant whose service over a period of time is doubtful. But remember that a saving in the short term might cost you in the long run. You should stress on the access control panel domain when you are registering for your domain. As far as the domain registrars go, many of them permit the webmasters to edit the domain hosting, manage the DNS records, and also widen the domain so that transfer of the domain from one registrar to another becomes easy through the internet, without requiring any support. This gives you a lot of control and freedom as a webmaster. If you have got registered under a particular registrar, you will never want to bear the effect of any mistake incurred by the registrar, if you have settled on the domain for a fair period of time.
So keep the things mentioned above in mind before selecting a registrar and registering your domain with them. Is it okay to let someone else handle my domain name?
It is expected that you will remain the owner or administrative contact of the account to solve future problems, though you can let others manage. For example, the information needed to shift your files to a new server in the future may be impossible to edit for you. You won’t be able to direct browsers to your site’s new location if you are not the owner or administrator of the domain name.
There are more than 20 million registered domain names so getting one may give you a lot of satisfaction. Registering a good unregistered domain for the future may make a lot of sense as well. But keep in mind that it should be in line with your business, and you might be required to spend a lot of money for it as well.
The research on the subject which is expected of you as a marketer will make you familiar with a variety of opinions. You can also be sometimes discouraged by your choice of domain name. Nevertheless, there are two common points.
1. Choosing your domain name at the very outset of your business plan is perfect in a competitive market.
2. Register the domain name as soon as you select it.
To conclude, let me inform you that even if you haven’t resolved your business plan, purchase the domain names that have fascinated you. It is not very expensive if it is bought at an affordable registrar like GoDaddy. In the future, you can resell it and can even enrich it with creative content. But, once you don’t buy it, you may not get it in the future.
About the author: Matt Ewing is a web hosting admin and professional blogger. Visit WebHostingMadness.com to read his reviews of the top hosting companies each month.
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