5 Tips For The Perfect Domain Name

by Niall Roche

Adomain name is the location of your website on the Internet. Your domain

namewill be what you become known by online so it's important to get it

right.

 

Eachwebsite on the Internet is labelled with something called an IP

addresswhich is the actual address of the website online. A typical IP

addresslooks like this: 159.134.27.64. Remembering a string of numbers

likethat is difficult so a domain name translates all those numbers into

somethinglike www.amazon.com.This is far easier to remember.

 

#1 Dot what?
Each domain has what's called an extension. The most well known of these

extensionsis .com. This, however, is not the only type of domain extension

available.There is also:

 

.net
If you can't find your preferred .com domain name you could always choose

thesame domain with a .net extension. It might not have the same ring as a

.combut is still as just useful as a .com.

 

.org
These domain extensions were orginally designed for educational and more

formalwebsites. Anybody can register a .org however so you have more

optionsfor domain selection.

 

.info
A more recent introduction to the domain name game are .info domains. Many

ofthe valuable .info domains were bought up overnight but there's still a

hugerange of good .info domains available. With a little creativity you

couldreally make a .info work for you e.g. www.moviereview.info.

Bearin mind that most web surfers tend to remember .com more easily than

anythingelse.

 

 

 

#2 Branding vs Business Name
There is an age old debate on the whether or not you should establish a

brandname online or use a domain that more actually reflects your real

business.Let's look at Amazon as an example. Amazon sells books online.

Mostpeople setting up a business would have chosen say www.booksonline.com

insteadof www.amazon.com.Amazon has since established itself as a brand

nameof global recognition - proving the value of building a brand name.

You'llneed to choose between the two. Brand name or your own business

name.Consider how your domain sounds, how it might look on a business card

andhow well it relates to your business.

There'sno one right answer to this question. You need to choose what makes

mostsense for you, your website and your business in general.

 

 

 

#3Hyphenated or not
This is another area of debate. Should your domain be one single word or

shouldthe words be separated by hyphens? There are advantages and

disadvantagesto both approaches. Single word domain names can be easier to

explain,use on header paper and lend themselves to brand names very well.
Single word domains are in very, very short supply.

 

Hyphenateddomains names can be slighltly more difficult to explain, may

notlook as well on headed paper and possibly harder to establish as a

brandname. There's no shortage of multiple word domains.

Thesingle biggest advantage a hyphenated domain has is that searche

enginescan "read" the domain more easily. For example in a domain like

www.foreignholidaysonline.com the search engine can onlyread the first

word"foreign" and that's it. It can't tell anything else about thewebsite

domainname.

 

Ifyou hyphenated that to www.foreign-holidays-online.comthe search engine

canread "foreign", "holidays" and "online" asseparate words and therefore

knowsthat this website is about foreign holidays.

Awell chosen hyphenated domain name can be just as effective as a single

worddomain name.

 

#4 Your Domain Registrar
These are the people you pay to register the domain for you. There are

dozensif not hundreds of these companies out there so which one do you

choose?This takes some research but things worth checking are:

 

*Do you retain sole ownership of the domain or do the registrar keep some

levelof control over it?

 

*Search Google for any horror stories relating to the registrar

 

*Does the registrar allow you to transfer the domain to another registrar?

 

*Is there an online control panel for domain administration?

 

*How easy is it to change the domain Name Servers?

 

Shoparound for domain registrars.  What you really want to find is a

previouslysatisfied customer to ask questions before you buy.

 

#5 Cheap Domain Names
You can save a lot of money on the domain names you purchase. A typical

.comdomain costs about $15 to register from most registrars. However you

canget the same domain for as little as $7.95 from other, very reliable,

companies.

 

Oddlyenough some of the cheaper domain registrars are more reliable, have

fewerhorror stories and offer equally good customer service as their more

expensivecompetitors.

 

Arethere any disadvantages in using a discount domain registrar? Will it

affectyour website in any way? The answer to both is a definite No.

If you'd like more information on choosing and setting up your domain name

thenvisit http://www.affiliate-advocate.com for our Domain Guide.

 

 

============================================
http://www.affiliate-advocate.com is run by Niall Roche. Thesite offers

reviewsof affiliate marketing ebooks and software as well as advice and

tipsfor new and existing affiliate marketers.
============================================

 

 

 

Regards,

 

NiallRoche
http://www.spam-site.com
http://www.affiliate-advocate.com

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