– why you need a site name
– why the proper area call is critical on your business
– a way to pick the simplest domain call in your enterprise
– a way to pick the great variations of your area name (even if you already very own a website call)
– where to shop for and host a domain call
– area call terminology
Why Buy a Domain Name?
A memorable area call is a valuable asset to your commercial enterprise. It will allow human beings to find your Web web site greater easily, however extra importantly, it establishes you as a severe commercial enterprise owner, not a starving wannabe or maybe a shady man .ca domains or woman!
I’m always dismayed to see small groups trying to establish themselves on-line with domains that manifestly came with a free hosting account. They have URL’s like geocities.Com/seattletowing or members.Shaw.Ca/giftbaskets. URL’s like these without delay mark those groups as “struggling, not in all likelihood to live to tell the tale.”
If this is you, please move and purchase a very good area name right away! People love to do enterprise with companies they consider are successful. And on the Web, you could look a hit pretty without problems. That’s how most folks began online. We seemed successful lengthy before we became a success, and no one become any the wiser.
Probably the most inexpensive component you will buy for your business is its domain name! Please don’t try to keep $5.Ninety nine USD a yr with the aid of using the URL supplied by using a unfastened website hosting account.
IMPORTANT: People assume they can not use their personal domain name if they are the usage of loose web hosting area on their nearby ISP. This isn’t proper! A domain call can be parked with the registrar and pointed at any other URL on the Internet.
Tip: Domain names are sold from area name “registrars.” Later in this article I’ll inform you which registrars promote inexpensive domain names.
What’s in a Name?
“What’s in a call? That which we name a rose, through every other call could scent as candy.” – William Shakespeare
Unfortunately, it’s no longer that easy in terms of domain names. If you can pick any vintage domain call and feature your Web website online “smell as sweet,” there would not be people buying and selling domains for thousands of dollars!
So, how do you pick the proper area name?
Let’s faux our enterprise is called Smith & Sons Towing Company and we are placed in Seattle, Washington, USA.
1. Always purchase your full organization/enterprise name, if you could. The “&” sign can’t be used in domains. We need to replace it with “and,” so we’re going to purchase smithandsonstowingcompany.Com.
2. Then buy the nickname or brief model you commonly cross via. In our case, smithandsonstowing.Com. If we are able to get smithandsons.Com, we will purchase that, too, however it is not in all likelihood we’ll discover that also to be had.
Tip: Buy whatever versions of your company name that you could discover as a .Com. Don’t worry approximately some other extensions like .Net or .Org. If you can not locate your commercial enterprise call as a .Com, then look for your u . S . A . Extension. Example: smithandsonstowing.Ca, smithandsonstowing.Co.United kingdom.
If you’re a charity, you can also buy the .Org model. If you are a telecommunications company, you could additionally purchase the .Net model. Forget every other extensions like .Biz, .Information, and so forth.
If you could ONLY get the .Org or .Net variations of your organisation call, purchase them, but be conscious that this isn’t always the excellent preference. Everyone kinds .Com on the cease of a domain call robotically. In our hypothetical case, clients may additionally emerge as at a useless end or on someone else’s Web web site if they type in smithandsonstowing.COM and we sold smithandsonstowing.NET!
3. Buy keyword-wealthy domains. In addition to shopping for our enterprise call, we need to assist human beings locate our Web website once they don’t know our business through name. One good choice is to shop for a few key-word-rich domain names like seattletowingcompany.Com and seattle-towing-business enterprise.Com. If we purchase both versions we will preserve the competition from buying a comparable domain name to ours. Also, serps will study the version with hyphens as separate phrases, which will assist pressure site visitors to our Web web site.
But first, to discover the first-class key-word-wealthy domains we want to realize what human beings are the usage of to search for organizations like ours. A free device to apply to discover this data is WordTracker.Com.
When we do a search on “towing,” we get too many regular phrases and too many other cities. When we do a search on “seattle towing,” we see that the pinnacle range of searches are actually for “towing seattle.” If we will scoop the domains towingseattle.Com and towing-seattle.Com, we’ve got completed our business a wonderful service. If we cannot, we will try and maintain the same phrase order, however buy a longer domain call, like a1-towing-seattle.Com or aaa-towing-seattle.Com.
4. Buy domains that come near the beginning of the alphabet. Why could we pick “A1” or “AAA,” as opposed to “rapid,” “quality,” “cheap,” and many others. Because the first phrase in our keyword-wealthy area call? Because, if we’ve the selection, we have to try and get a domain name that falls as close to the start of the alphabet as feasible. A1 and AAA each suggest “high-quality,” but they positioned us on the top of any towing listing online, whereas, “fine” does no longer.
Note: Numbers come before all letters in an alphabetical listing list. So 123towingcompany.Com can be indexed earlier than aaatowingcompany.Com.
Tip: If your domain name does not begin with a “A” or with more than a few, purchase one which does. Then use that domain name as your enterprise call for on-line directories you advertise in. This will placed you on the pinnacle of the list alphabetically.
Five. Buy the plural or singular of words in your area name that humans are probably to kind incorrectly. So, in case your enterprise call is Adventure Cruise Company and your quick domain call is adventureCRUISE.Com, additionally buy adventureCRUISES.Com!
6. Avoid perplexing spelling on your area call. Example: If your employer name is Logic Computer Company, don’t spell “common sense” with a zero as opposed to an “oh” on your area call. If you can not get your real corporation call, select a key-word-rich domain call as a substitute.
7. Avoid unusual hyphenation. Hyphenate all or none of the phrases for your domain name (purchase both versions). In our case, a1towingseattle.Com and a1-towing-seattle.Com are each higher domain names than a1-towingseattle.Com. The handiest cause to shop for domain names with strange hyphenation might be to hold the competition from buying them.
8. Look for short, memorable domain names. Short domain names are scarce, but no longer not possible to locate. People will do not forget a short area name better and they may make fewer errors when typing it. For instance, ablewebs.Com is better than ablewebswebdesigncompany.Com.
Tip: Visually, a long area call is better while hyphenated: able-webs-internet-layout-enterprise.Com. If I had to buy a protracted domain call, I would purchase it with and with out hyphens, and I could use the hyphenated version on my enterprise playing cards, letterhead, advertising, and many others.
9. Capitalize the first letter of every phrase whilst you positioned your URL on any advertising media, along with your electronic mail signature, commercials, business cards, letterhead, and so on. Example: A1TowingSeattle.Com is less complicated to read than a1towingseattle.Com.
10. Buy misspellings of your agency call or key phrases. For instance, if your organization call is Debra’s Doughnuts, strive to buy deborahsdoughnuts.Com, debrasdonuts.Com, and many others. To cowl all possible spellings of Debra and doughnuts.
Where Do I Buy My Domain Names?
Cheap Domain Names
To sign in a .Com domain name, visit 1and1.Com. You can get domains there for $6.Ninety nine USD a 12 months! My non-public favorite registrar is GoDaddy.Com. Domains are on occasion on sale, but their ordinary price is $9.99 USD. I like GoDaddy simply because their interface is simple to use. NameCheap.Com sells domain names at $nine.Sixty nine USD. Moniker.Com sells them at $eight.02 USD.
There are methods to shop for even cheaper domain names, but occasionally those web sites can be complicated for the uninitiated. However, if you need to shop a few bucks, strive BustAName.Com. They resell domain names from GoDaddy.Com for $6.95 USD.
Country-specific Domain Names
Search on line for “domain names [your country],” e.G., “domains canada.” Then search for the bottom price. As I write this, Netfirms.Ca has Canadian domain names for $nine.95 CAD in keeping with yr.
Where Do I Host My Domain Name?
Don’t robotically use the domain name registrar as your web hosting employer! Instead, do your homework and discover a web hosting corporation with excellent customer support and a complete supplement of features blanketed in their simple service. Look for a hosting organization that offers cPanel, a common, smooth-to-use administration interface.