What
is a Domain Name?
A domain name
is your address on the web.
It's the information that customers
type in to find your website.
It's what comes after the www. in
www.domain.com.
A domain name can
be any combination of letters and/or
numbers up to 63 characters.
The official domain name extensions
are .com, .net, .org, .biz, .info,
.us and .ws. There are also
other extensions like .tv and .tk
but don't waste your time with
those. Stick with a recognized
one.
How to Choose a Good Domain Name
Here
is some information and tips to help
you select the best domain name for
you:
Keep it short.
The shorter, the better. It’s best
to keep your domain name less than
15 characters if possible. A
shorter name is easier for people to
remember and it also reduces the
likelihood that your visitor will
mistype it or spell it wrong. For
example, BuyIt.com has a lot less
chance of being mistyped than
isellthispleasebuyitfrommetoday.com.
Keep it sweet.
The more memorable the name, the
easier it is for people to remember.
You can have the best site in the
world, but if people can’t remember
your domain name it will cut down on
your return visitors. It’s
hard enough to get traffic on the
web without “losing” visitors that
want to come back but can’t find
you.
Keep it simple.
Make sure the domain name is easy
for people to spell. Don't
spell words unusually. Unless
you have incredible branding, people
will type in the common spelling of
your domain and your competition
will get visitors who were looking
for you. For example,
BlueRight.com is much better than
BluRite.com
Choose a domain
name that reflects your business.
Don’t just choose a random name.
For example, if your sell horse
supplies, you should choose a name
that has the word “horse supplies”
in it such as
YourHorseSupplies.com. Or, your
domain name should refer to horses
in some way, like whoa.com. The
former will help you in the search
engines. The latter will be
memorable.
When
in doubt, choose a .com.
If you are debating between several
different domain names, go with the
.com. It’s what most people
think of when they are typing in a
domain name. It’s true the
best names are gone, but you can
still find a good .com if you look.
Thousands of .coms expire and are
released back in the market each
month so there is always a steady
supply of new domains coming into
the market.
Special tip:
If you can afford it, you may also
want to get your name followed by
.com along with whatever domain name
you decide to get. I
think the way the internet is going
it is smart to do and you will be
very glad you have it later on.
Best Place to Get a Domain Name
Some people try
to save money and get a freebie
website and domain name. I'm
all for free whenever possible, but
free websites and domain names just
aren't worth it.
I get my domain
names from
GoDaddy.com.
I think they are super. They have
great customer service.
How to Get a Domain Name
All you need to
do to get a domain name is go to the
registrar you want to use (Domain
name companies like
Go
Daddy
are called registrars.) They
will have a search box. Just
type the domain name you want in the
search box and it will tell you if
the domain is available.
If it is, just
follow the steps and pay for it.
If it isn't, search for another
name. You can use their search
tool to find variations of the
domain name. It
may
take you a bit of time to find the
one you want, but keep looking you
will.
Domain
Name Information
