Domain Name Ideas - Choosing the Right Domain Name

Choosing the right domain name can be critical to the success of your website.
A very (possibly the most) powerful domain name contains "keywords". Keywords are essentially words that people will type in to search engines when they are looking for your product or service. A good keyword-type domain name for a lawn service in Houston, would be houstonlawns.com.
You can also choose a domain name containing your company name. If your company name is Smith's Roofing, a good name might be smithsroofing.com.

There is not a lot of mystery to selecting a good domain name. It is mostly common sense.

• Keep it short. People will likely not remember, nor want to bother typing in a very long domain name. Who would feel like typing in, smithsbaitandtackleshopamarillo.com for example.
• Keep it simple, as easy to spell as possible. You don't want to have people misspell your domain name and reach someone else's website.
• Avoid domain names that sound like or contain the trade name for another company. You would not want to try to register searsautomotive.com for example. Even if your last name really is Sears, you could get in to a legal battle.
• Avoid hyphens. It is simply too difficult for people to remember. Which words are hyphenated? Which aren't. Even Wal-Mart dropped the hyphen from their domain name in their advertising. You can still reach their site by typing in wal-mart.com, but it now redirects you to the URL without the hyphen. If your domain name idea is already taken, again, adding a hyphen is not a good solution. It is just going to route people to the competitor's site if they forget your domain name is hyphenated.
• Make it appropriate. The domain name should reflect something about your line of business or your business name. Anything that does not associate your company with your domain name in people's memories may not be remembered.
• Use the ".com" TLD. If the .com is taken by someone else, using another TLD like .net or .org is not a good alternative. It will most likely send people to the competition's site, because people are just too used to the .com
• Consider buying other common TLDs in addition to the .com. For instance, the .net and .org, .us, maybe the .biz. You can redirect people to the .com site very easily. This way competitors and "squatters" will not be tempted to adopt the other domains out from under you.
• If your domain name is easy to misspell. For instance, smithsshingles.com, people may not remember if there are one or two letters, "S". You may want to buy both terrysshingles.com and terryshingles.com and redirect to the same site. Google did this very thing. If you type, "gogle.com" in your browser, you will go to Google.com

One more consideration: Is the domain available? Just because you type a domain in your browser, and get a site not found error does not mean the domain is available. There are tools all over the internet that will tell you if a domain name is already taken.

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Why Buy a Domain Name?

You have decided that it is time to put up a website or a blog for your business. Excellent decision. Now it's time to think about the domain name. You can elect to go with one of the many free hosting options available, but you cannot choose your own domain name if you go that route.

There are a number of very good reasons why you should buy a domain name for your website or blog. Having your own domain name will instantly give your site a more professional appearance, and more credibility.

Think of it like a postal address, it looks much more professional to see a physical address as opposed to a P.O. Box address. The same idea goes for your web address. You don't want to use an address that thousands of others are using that is identified by random numbers and letters.

Another reason to buy your own domain name is name recall. If you select a catchy domain name or one that relates well to your business, people will be able to remember your web address and visit more often.

A big benefit of owning your own domain is control. You will own the domain as long as you pay for it. You can move it to a new host if you want to. You can change the theme of it. You can change anything and everything about it. You control it.

If you are promoting affiliate products, it is highly recommended that you purchase your own domain name instead of strictly using the cookie cutter sites that some affiliate programs offer. Yes, they are usually free and the hosting is likely free or discounted. Remember, you get what you pay for.

Imagine that you have spent several months on a marketing campaign to drive traffic to that affiliate site. Sales are starting to come in and all is good. Then one day the affiliate program shuts down for one reason or another. The site is gone, the hosting is gone, and all your traffic driving work has become useless.

If you are wise and you have purchased your own domain name, and an affiliate program that you are promoting becomes obsolete or you just decide to promote something else, it is not a big deal.

You simply go in and change the content on your pages and link to a different affiliate product.

Your pages that you have worked to build traffic to are still intact. It is merely an inconvenience instead of a tragedy.

If you buy your own domain name, you will have a more professional looking email address. No more gmail or yahoo email addresses, unless that is what you want.

If you have any interest in creating a web presence that will be long term you need to purchase a domain name. Start building your online business in a manner that you consider permanent and long lasting. Using cookie cutter sites and free sites do not convey a feeling of commitment to yourself or to your site visitors. Commit to your business and to your success.

Do a little brainstorming, and learn how to buy a domain name.

The cost is minimal when compared to the lasting benefits it will bring. A domain name can give a solid base for building a successful online business.

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How to Create a Domain Name

I was in one of my favourite restaurants in New York the other week, and got to talking to the waiter, a young chap called Jim, about his decision to start a new business. He was planning a private catering company and was keen to tell me his master plan - albeit in the time it took to pay the bill.

So, I asked Jim, if he had bought a domain name?

Jim looked puzzled. Why did he need a domain name - he wasn't planning a website? He'd cross that path when he had to, but for now he couldn't see the need.

Big mistake Jim, I told him. A domain name is as important as his company name and carves out a place for his business in cyberspace. His company name gives him a formal identity in the real world, but he won't exist in the virtual world of the Internet without first registering a domain name!

And a domain name takes only a few minutes to search and register with one of the many service providers and costs only a few bucks. Leave the registration process too long and there's the possibility that the name you want to register may get taken by someone else, or worse a competitor.

One of the first domain names you need to register should be based on your business name. So, 'Joes Plumbing' might translate into 'joesplumbing.com' or 'joes-plumbing.com'. The .com part is called the top level domain (TLD) and use to denote a commercial usage; the term 'joesplumbing' or 'joes-plumbing' is technically called the second-level domain and usually refers to the organization.

Things have moved on since this convention was first proposed and there are many more top level and country code level domains such as the one most business users in the UK use: joes-plumbing.co.uk as an example.

Now, as soon as your domain name is registered, you can start to make use of it as part of your e-mail address. Most domain name service providers have a facility to associate your registered name with an email address. You don't need a website and you don't necessarily have to have an email account with the domain name provider.

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How to Buy a Domain Name? First You Need to Select the Right Domain Name

Choosing a domain name can literally mean success or failure online. Choosing the right domain name could mean the difference between being a second rate player or being a huge household name. It is also one of the most often overlooked aspects of setting up a website or online business.

What makes a good domain name? Glad you asked. There are basically 3 aspects to a good domain name:

1. Keyword targeted

When choosing a domain name you want to make sure it relates to your product or target audience. If you URL has nothing to do with what you are promoting or selling than you have already failed. The keywords you choose to add to the URL should be product or service related. Try to find out what words people relate to your topic and see if you can add them in.

2. Keep it short.

I have seen some really long domain names before. I don't understand the reason behind that. They look like a jumbled mess of random letters. Plus who is going to remember a website if the URL is 40 characters long?

You want to keep the URL as short as you can while still capturing what you want in the name. You don't have to include every single term you can think of and try to jam them all into the name.

3. Make it catchy.

You want your URL to be memorable. The way I do this is always say it out loud before I decide to purchase it. If it doesn't sound like it would go good on a 30 second radio commercial than I would suggest to keep looking. It needs to roll off your tongue and stay in your mind.

If you keep these 3 things in mind when choosing a domain name then you will be further ahead than most of your competition.

Trying to find that perfect name can be very time consuming.

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