Tips on Choosing and Registering a Domain Name

To begin, for those unfamiliar with the concept of a domain name, it is a unique name for a website that you type into your web browser address bar to visit a particular site. More simply put, it's a website's address on the internet, just like our domain name is sheandidesigns.com. A domain name is also a websites primary identity, so there are several things you need to consider before choosing and registering a name for your online business.

"Decide on a name for your business and then register that domain." Sounds pretty simple right?! Well, unfortunately this might not be quite as easy as it sounds. In fact, some people find getting the right domain name for their online business to be very difficult.

Domain names are constantly being "snatched", much like money being thrown from a bank window. Domains are currently being registered at the rate of over 10,000 names per day, and almost all single word domains have already been taken. Practically anyone can register a domain name. You do not need a website or even an online business. Consequently, there are many people that own hundreds of domain names.

So, what does all this have to do with what you name your business? A lot! Domain name availability plays an extremely important role in deciding on a name for your online business.

Your domain name should also be your business name for the simple reason that when people think of your website, they think of it by name. If your business name is the same as your domain (website address), customers automatically know where to go.

The domain name you choose should reflect your business and somehow portray what you sell or what you do. Try to obtain a domain name that is "catchy", yet easy to remember, easy to spell, easy to pronounce AND easy to type. If your domain name contains too many characters, too many words, hard to spell words, or unusual letter combinations, you will most likely lose potential visitors as a result.

Another thing you will quickly learn about while trying to obtain a domain name of your choice are TLD's (Top Level Domains) or extensions. A TLD is the suffix that follows your name, such as .com or .net. The most popular, and also the most difficult to obtain is .com, but there are many others. Whenever possible, your first choice should be a .com extension. It's the suffix most people associate with the web and it's the first extension that most people try when searching for a website. If you settle for a domain name with an extension other than ".com", make sure you advertise and promote your website with the full domain name INCLUDING the suffix. Otherwise people will assume a .com extension and end up at your competitiors site. If you are fortunate enough to obtain the .com name of your choice, it may also be a good idea to register other secondary top level domain names such as .net or .org, since several domains can point to the same website. You more than likely will never use them and very few people will use these domain names to access your website, but by registering them you prevent other businesses from registering them to steal website visitors or damaging your brand by displaying obscenities at these addresses.

Hyphenated domain names (such as my-website-name.com) - are they a good choice or a bad choice? The disadvantage to having a hyphenated name is the hyphens are easily forgotten and harder to type, which will often lead to potential error. Most users are accustomed to typing website addresses without hypens, so it's a good possibility they'll leave them out and end up at your competitors site. The advantage to having a hyphenated name is search engines can distinguish your keywords much easier. Search engines will often credit words in the domain name as part of their ranking process. If your domain name combines two separate words, you might want to consider registering both versions, with and without hyphens. Search engines prefer domain names with hyphens and users prefer them without.

Beware of Trademarks! If there is any one thing you want to avoid when obtaining your domain name, Trademarks is it. If you accidentally violate a trademark, you will more than likely be required to surrender the domain name, and possibly anything you've earned with it too. For this reason it's best to try to find a fairly unique name. One very good example of this is the well-known toy store Toys'R'Us. They are also well-known for protecting the "R Us" part of their name. Any person or business found having or creating an "R Us" site may very well find themselves in legal difficulties. Make sure that your domain name is not substantially the same or similar as any major company or trademark. When in question, the US Patent and Trademark Office is a good place to start checking.

Remember, a name means a lot on the web. If you think you might have found the right domain name for your business, yet not quite sure if it's the "perfect one" or not, register it anyway before someone else does!

Registering a Domain Name
Once you have decided on a domain name for your business the next step is to register that domain through a domain name registrar such as GoDaddy at www.godaddy.com When you purchase your domain name, you are essentially reserving that name for your own usage, for a set period of time. You will be required to pay a registration fee for the specified period of time, afterwhich you will need to renew. There are several domain name registrars available, but we have found GoDaddy to be the most affordable and widely used service. Other domain name registrars include Yahoo, Dotster.com, and Register.com

Some web hosts will also register your domain name for you, but before going that route please be sure that you are named the registered owner. Being the owner of your domain name is extremely important! If someone else (such as your web host) places themself as the owner, they have control over that domain name. This may present a problem in the event you decide to change web host in the future. Unless you are named the registered owner, you may not be able to take that domain name with you.

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