We all know the Internet is an endless spring of community, entertainment, commerce and information. Unlike traditional mediums (print, TV, radio, brick and mortar businesses), the web promotes interaction by enabling everyone with a computer and a connection to cautiously dip their toes or cannonball full force into the world's biggest pool party. Encouraging that do-it-yourself spirit in each of us are an endless line of designers, programmers and hosts who are anxious to assist even the most technically timid to sprout wings with their own site. However, you'll never make it out of the nest if you don't have the perfect domain name for your site. And thus, the search begins.
Before wasting time by throwing darts at names on a wall, it's best to maintain focus and recognize a few naming parameters. First off, it's paramount that the domain name doesn't confuse potential visitors. Strive for a site name that sounds exactly like it's spelled so you don't need a search engine to find it. A quick trip to Alexa's Top 100 U.S. sites shows there are few exceptions to this rule. With most basic words already spoken for, be prepared to get creative, mixing words together or coming up with an appropriate onomatopoeia.
While it's a good idea for a domain name to describe the site, it's equally important to come up with an original name that is catchy enough to be passed along at the water cooler. Look no further than domain names Yahoo or Google. While these names really don't reveal much about two of the web's most visited sites, they're easy to recall and short on syllables, making it simple for first-timers to find.
If you're after serious traffic, commit to securing a “.com" name. It only takes a quick trip to Alexa to discourage any thoughts of settling for less popular “.org," “.net" or “.info." Of the Top 100 traffic-ranked sites in the United States, only 10 ended with something other than “.com." At the end of the day, why argue with 90% of the country's most-visited sites.
Now that you're armed with these factors, head over to your favorite domain name registrar. Don't get too discouraged when you discover the fabulous names you've painstakingly researched are already spoken for. This is your opportunity to recruit family and friends to get involved by emailing them your naming guidelines. Don't be surprised if someone who isn't invested in the project suggests the perfect, available name.
The company I work for recently survived the re-naming process and we still have the bruises to show for it. Originally named RadioFire.net, we're a site that allows people to discover unsigned music artists in their own communities and across the country. With a complete redesign underway to amplify a more community-oriented experience, our design firm said the “.net" name had to go. The “.com" version of our domain name wasn't available, so we followed the steps above. After much brainstorming and research, we feel we've hit a home run that will elevate our site's experience. Curious? You'll have to stay tuned for the re-launch.
In the meantime, dive into your own website with a great domain name.
If you are looking for web hosting, it is quite unlikely that you are not aware of domain names and their essence. But still let me define it once again for you so that things go in a much smother way. A domain name is a name by which your website will be known in the internet. These names act as a website’s Universal Resource Locator (URL) in the World Wide Web, which is a home to thousands of websites round the globe.
Bagging the correct domain name is an important point of consideration for any type of online business. A correct domain name which well suits your business perspective can allure a high percentage of customers to your site and a wrong one can decrease the trafficking confusing them to a great extent. None of the web masters can give a perfect suggestion when it comes to choosing your domain name as there is not any unanimity regarding their views. This article deals with some points that could be of some help in your decision of extracting the right domain name.
From the SEO perspective, the search engines continuously keep on changing their algorithm of weighing the various aspects that would keep your site on a higher position in SERPs. A little bit of research could be of help in this respect. Generally it always helps to stick to the KISS principle (keep it short and simple), without any numbers or hyphens in your URL. But the search engines find it suitable to locate a site with hyphens between the words in the URL. So if this is what you want, i.e. search engine optimization, than keep this consideration in mind before selecting your own domain name.
But if you are a profit making industry relying totally on your customers then the consensual view is to keep it simple avoiding numbers and hyphens, so that your customer should have no problem remembering it. But most of the people tend to overlook the market sector they are in and use numbers thinking that it would contribute to bring their site into a better position by placing it even before the letter ‘A’.
One of the minute consideration that should be taken care off is that .com is still the most recognized extension and people tend to type it before thinking even. So a “.com" always helps. However, when it comes to country code level domains like .co.us or .co.uk, it always work better for regional level business as someone from distant east may not like to trade with someone at distant west. So when you go for country based domain extensions, be doubtless that you deal with that particular region.
Some precautions to be taken when you go for a domain name of your own include at the first place that you make sure that the domain name is registered with your own name and correct contact information. You can check it out anytime using the WhoIs record which is a search engine providing detailed record of the domain registrar, the owner of the domain and Domain Name System (DNS) records of an internet entity, for example, a domain, a network, a host, etc. Also be particular of not using any company’s trademark on your domain name as it may drag you to lawsuit. The domain name is the online identity, of yours and your business, so be very particular and responsive while choosing one be sure to rest the authenticity of your domain name registrar which must be ICANN and ccTLD accredited.
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