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- Domain Names Article Selection of domain name articles and Webmaster tips for getting started online. Includes web hosting, domain name and Webmaster articles. Choosing the Right Domain Name - By Vincent Adams Choosing the right domain name for your website can make a huge impact on the success of your online presence. It probably wont "make or break" you if you are committed to developing your website, but it can make things much easier, and often send a lot more traffic your way over the term. There are many things to consider before popping over to your favorite domain name registrar and registering a successful domain that is right for you. Here's a few tips for getting started.. 1) Consider your Business Firstly, if you already have an established business, like Mcdonalds or Walmart and you just want to create an online presence for your bricks and mortar business, you should register something like www.mcdonalds.com or www.walmart.com. If your business shares its name with a common word or term there will be almost zero chance of acquiring the domain without parting with a substantial sum of cash. So if your bookstore is also called McDonalds, you may have to go with something like mcdonaldsbooks.com. 2) Com, Net, Biz, Info, Org? Known as Top Level Domains (TLD), they can affect your online business image. The most popular is the dot com domains, like www.domainmonk.com. If someone doesn't know your website address, but knows your business name, there's a good chance that they would type in www.mcdonald.com rather than www.mcdonalds.info. Also, once your online business is established and people want to come back to your site, they will often type your domain and dot com after it, even if you have the dot net domain. I maintain a popular dot net domain name and have had people linking to the dot com version, even though they were meaning to link to me. I've also sent a lot of traffic to the dot com domain with visitors trying to reach my dot net site. Even though the dot com site has no content and is just parked domain with an advertisement on it, it still gets a decent amount of traffic (and the owner will not sell for less than thousands of dollars even though it's not a premium domain). There can be different reasons for choosing to go with a different TLD. There are generic Top Level Domains or country code Top Level Domains. Generic TLDs include .biz (for business), .com (commercial), .edu (education), .info (informational sites), .name (for peoples names), .net (network), .org (for an organization), .pro (for professionals in their field), .travel (travel related sites), and several more. The country code domains vary from country to country and include extensions like .us (United States of America) and .it (for Italian sites). Conditions can vary when ordering different TLDs. 3) should-i-choose-a-domain-name-like-this.com? People are always looking for ways to trick the search engines in to sending them more traffic. For a while, it was popular for people to choose very long domain names with as many keywords in them as possible. Industries like home based businesses, loan sites and pharmaceutical websites exploded with giant domain names filled with keywords. Search engines quickly discovered the abuse and mostly plugged the holes, like they usually do. It's much better to choose something as short as possible and as memorable as possible. Obviously domains like www.ok.com and www.bob.com are now taken, but there are still plenty of worthwhile dot com names available. Just make sure it is memorable and easily spelt, so that visitors can easily find you again once they leave your site. Things like www.EntrepreneursAscension.com would probably be misspelt by a lot of people! 4) Domain Tricks and Fads and Brand Image There are many different fads that come and go in the domain industry. Long keyword domains, domain names starting with 123 (to be alphabetically at the top of directory lists), and numerous others. But if you are concerned with presenting a professional image and being around for the long term, you have to consider a memorable domain, preferably with a dot com TLD. The obscure word google has been made so popular through clever marketing, a memorable name, and providing a good service, which has made www.google.com one of the most popular sites on the Internet. I doubt whether the domain name www.google-search-engine-and-technology.com would of been as catchy as google.com! Vincent Adams is an Internet entrepreneur and publishes webmaster articles on the http://www.domainmonk.com/ Domain Names and Web Hosting Guide. If you wish to re-publish this free domain name article on your website the above signature must be placed on the page where the article is published. The link to DomainMonk.com MUST be made live, pointing towards the Domain Monk homepage. |