It’s hard to see why anyone today would NOT want to register their own personal domain name. This is your piece of “Internet Real Estate!" Grab the perfect name, word or phrase that best describes you or your business. Registering a domain name is easy, very inexpensive and can greatly increase your level of professionalism. This is especially important if you are advertising an affiliate program or replicated website. Sub domains and trailing slashes “/" can weaken your image.

Also, instead of a long URL (web address) like: "http://www.ipodiums.net/members/proleads/newmember.html", you can register something short and catchy like: "www.ProLeadCapture.com". Of course, you'll have to see if your domain choices are available. This brief article will address some of the benefits of registering your own domain, tips on choosing your domain name, and ideas on how you can get the most out of having your own personal domain name.

BENIFITS of having your own Domain Name:

• Eliminate the "/" from your website address and make it shorter

• Brand yourself and your business… and look more professional

• Easier to verbalize and remember (when telling someone to visit your web page)

• Looks better in print (on business cards, labels, letterhead, etc.)

• Brand your email address to match your domain name (ex. if your website was "www.yourdomain.com", you can use the following as your email address: "info@yourdomain.com" or "yourname@yourdomain.com"). Most domain providers offer free e-mail forwarding with your domain registration. You can use your domain email and have your messages forwarded to your primary email account. (ex, Hotmail, Yahoo, AOL, etc.). You’ll want your prospects to see YOUR domain name in your e-mail address, instead of giving “AOL" free advertising.

TIPS on choosing a Domain Name:

GOOD Example: "www.ProLeadCapture.com"

BAD Example: "www.Generating-efficacious-Leads-4-U.ws"

• Keep it simple, short & easy to remember

• You may want to avoid numbers and letters in place of words (like in the example above). If you verbally give someone your website, you'll have to remember to tell them to use the number "4" and the letter “U" instead of the words "for" and "you".

• Try to use words or name that are easy to spell ("efficacious" may be easily misspelled and therefore you might lose a customer. For example, "Google" also registered "Gooogle.com" just in case someone typed an extra "o" and they didn’t want users sent to another site).

• Avoid hyphens ("-"). Unless you are only using the domain for Internet marketing, where prospects are only clicking links, people who type your domain may leave the hyphens out and inadvertently go to a competitor's website instead.

• Try to get a ".com". This is the most common extension. If you can't find a ".com" with the name you want, the next best option would be a ".net". But, make sure that a competing site isn't using the ".com", because people you send to your site may mistakenly go to someone else’s website instead. A ".com" should always be the first choice. I would rather settle for a longer domain name than choose a shorter one with a different extension. The following are some of the most common extension choices available: ".com", ".net", ".org", ".info", ".biz", ".ws", ".us".

IDEAS on how you can get the most out of your Domain Name

Once you register your domain name, you can easily “Forward" it (or re-direct it) to any URL web address you want. Most domain providers have free forwarding services included with their basic domain registration, which, by the way, should NEVER cost you more than $9.99 per year (unless you’re adding on web hosting). If you have a replicated website or an affiliate page, you do NOT need web hosting because you’re just forwarding the domain to a page that is already being hosted on the web.

Another FREE service that most domain providers offer is “E-mail Forwarding", which I like to call “E-mail Branding"! This lets you brand your email address with your domain name. This way, every time you send an email to someone, you are advertising your domain… and your website. For example, if your domain was “www.YourDomain.com", your email address can be “YourName@YourDomain.com". And, you don’t have to get another email address. Your “domain e-mail" will simply forward all your e-mail messages to your “AOL" account (or whatever e-mail service you are using). It looks much more professional to have your “domain e-mail" and your “domain website" on your marketing materials than displaying a free e-mail address, like AOL, Hotmail, Yahoo, etc..

Generally, with “e-mail forwarding", you have two options: “Catch All" or specific e-mail forwarding addresses. There are pros and cons to each:

PRO: With “Catch All", if someone sends an e-mail with anything before the “@" sign, it will still get forwarded to your main e-mail account. This is especially beneficial if someone misspells your name in your e-mail address, because the message will still get forwarded to you. For example, if someone sends an email to: "John_Do@yourdomain.com" instead of "John_Doe@yourdomain.com" it would still get delivered.

CON: "Catch All" e-mails are more susceptible to being SPAMMED because SPAMMERS can easily get a list of domain names and just put common words like "info" or "contact" in front of the "@yourdomain.com" expecting that many of their solicitations will get delivered.

SUGGESTION: Use a "Catch All", but only advertise a single e-mail address. This way if someone misspells the word before the "@" sign, it will still get through to you. And, if you find yourself getting too much SPAM with other words being used before the "@" sign, you can always switch back to a single e-mail forwarding address using that single word. This way you'll be able to stop the SPAM and won't have to worry about missing e-mails from all the other e-mail addresses you might have advertised. Another tip, if you're not using a "catch all", is to avoid common words that SPAMMERS use to SPAM domain names. For example, "info@yourdomain.com", "webmaster@yourdomain.com" or "sales@yourdomain.com". You may want to use something less common, like your first name (ex., "Jim@yourdomain.com"). This way if someone sends SPAM to "info@yourdomain.com" it will NOT clutter up your inbox.

There are still lots of good “.com" domain names available. Take your time looking for those that are just right for you… and grab them while you still can!

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