 What is a a Domain Name
How To Register a Domain Name
Register More Than One Domain Name
.Com, .Net, .Biz, Org, etc. - Which is Best?
Length of Registration - 1Yr? 2Yrs? More?
Adding Privacy to Your Registration
Domain Name Length & Tips for Businesses
Using the word "to"
Capital Letters vs. Lower Case Letters
Domain Name Ideas When Promoting Yourself
Using Hyphens
Spelling Issues
Avoid Using Trademarked Words
Search Engines / Keyword Selection Tool
Search and Register Your Domain Name Now!
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Using the word "to":
Using the word "to" can cause problems. Primarily because people may think you mean the number 2. The reverse is also true. If you use the word "to" or the number "2" be aware
that you will often have to specify whether it is the word "to or number "2" when telling others to visit your web site address.
If you feel that you need to use the word "to" or number "2" you should register your domain name both ways such as "Come2MyWebSiteAddress.com" and also "ComeToMyWebSiteAddress.com". By doing so
you can use whichever you feel is best for your print, web or word of mouth advertising and either way you won't lose a prospective customer
because they spelled/typed it in wrong.
If you do opt to use both domains, then be sure to have one of your selections hosted with a hosting company and
use the other as a pointer domain meaning it simply redirects the visitor to your other web site. Domain name registrars
like GoDaddy, for example, will allow you to easily set up a pointer or redirect site generally for free.
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What is a Domain Name:
A domain name is basically a web site address such as www.ThisIsMyDomainName.com.
Once you select a domain name to use you
can also use it as part of your email address such as Wendy@ThisIsMyDomainName.com. Using your domain name for your
email address gives you more credibility and it just looks more professional.
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How To Register a Domain Name:
After you read through our tips about how to select a domain name, simply use one the links below run your domain
name search, see if it is available and register it. Or click here to view and use all our interactive search tools and more discounts.
Best of all, when you register your domain name from our web site you can take advantage
of some pretty terrific savings!!
After you register a domain name, you'll need a web site hosting company to store your web site files. The domain
name registration companies
we have listed on our web site also offer web site hosting and that makes it alot easier. Once you have had your web site
professionally designed or created it yourself with one of your web host's tools (or a software program of your own), you'll
upload your files according to your web hosts instructions. Then all you need to do is tell others to go to your domain name (web site address)!
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Register More Than One Domain Name:
So how many domain names should you have? Several. Several can mean 2 or 3 or even more. Why? Because you may
want to create additional web sites later to market yourself or your product and try to gain greater search engine
by having multiple ways for people to find you. You also may wish to set up pointer sites that may help your
search engine exposure (each web site or pointer domain name must have content, meta tags, etc. that focuses on a different angle that people might
use to find you).
The other reason for registering additional domain names now is the fact that the web is booming and they just might
not be available later. If you don't use them for your purposes in the future you may be able to sell those domain names
to someone else down the road. Depending on what you select, they might just be a great investment!! So, be sure to use our
tools on this web site to register more than just one domain name.
Tip! Be careful though when setting up pointer domains so that you don't have too many pointer domains all
pointing to the same page. This might upset some search engines. To avoid this you may want to set up additional pages on your
web site specifically for your pointer domains to go to meaning that the pointer domains each go to a different page with
slightly different content.
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Capital Letters vs. Lower Case Letters:
The web as far as domain names are concerned is not case sensitive. So when you
advertise your web site address you may use any combination of upper and lower case letters that you wish. If your visitor types
in your web address as all lower case and you have used upper and lower case in your advertisement there won't be any
problem and your visitor will be successful in finding your web site.
When advertising a domain name (web site address) that has contains more than one word, it is best to capitalize each word so
it is easier for people to read and hopefully remember.
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Using Hyphens:
There are pluses and minuses. For example, if you have a domain name like www.Visit-My-Web-Address.com (with hyphens), remember
that each time you tell somebody what your web address is you'll have to say something like...
Check out my web address at www.Visit (say the word hyphen) My (say the word hyphen) Web (say the word hyphen) Address.com - whew! That is alot to say and
some people may not even be sure what a hyphen is.
On the other hand, you may want to also get the same domain name in a non-hyphenated and a hyphenated version. That way
you are covered and someone else can't take it. Plus you may want to use the hyphenated version later to create an
additional web site that can be indexed by search engines and as a result, possibly helping to increase your online
exposure.
Hyphenated domain names can sometimes be clumsy but one thing can be said about them for sure...they are easy to read. Another
reason you may want to register the hyphenated version of the domain name you were planning to use.
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Search Engines / Keyword Selector Tool:
Can a word in your domain name actually help your search engine ranking? For example, if you sell homes should your domain name
include the word "homes"? Well, it certainly can't hurt plus it immediately tells someone a general idea of what your
web site is about. While there are many, many factors called algorithms that search engines use to sort web site listings,
anything that can give you an edge is something you should do. And yes, it might help with some search engines but keep in
mind that is only one factor or piece of criteria a search engine might use.
To help you see what words are teamed up with each other and how much query activity they get, Yahoo! offers a great tool to use.
You type in a word and it shows you how many recent searches have been done using that word. Plus, it shows you
what other words people have combined with your word. It might help you get some ideas as to some additional words
you might want to consider using with your word or perhaps even instead of your word.
Yahoo! Keyword Selector Tool
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.Com, .Net, .Biz, .Org, etc. - Which is Best?
.Com means Commercial - use for any purpose
.Net means Network - use for any purpose
.Biz means Business - use for any purpose, generally a business though
.Org means Organization - Usually a non-profit organization
.US means United States based could be business or anything else
.Info means information - An information type web site
There are lots of extensions and several country specific ones such as .au for Australia, .jp for Japan, etc. The one
you and everyone else is the most familiar with is of course, .com.
The extension ".com" is always best as it is what people know well and if they know what your domain name is
they may automatically type in .com rather than a different extension.
.Net has become relatively popular
due to the unavailability of many good .com domain names and is still an option if your .com name is not available.
If at all possible try to register a .com as it is definitely the best way to go. You may want to consider registering the same
domain name with other extensions (definitely a .net if it is available along with your .com name and think about also
registering .biz, .us and/or .info if applicable)
to try to prevent others from taking them and riding on your coattails.
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Spelling Issues:
When selecting words to use in your domain name be wary of using words that are difficult to spell. Like the word "attorney" - will some
people misspell it using only one "t" like "atorney"? Possibly. This does not mean that you have to keep every
word as simple as possible as it needs to convey a message about your web site, what it is all about, what you do, etc. However,
if you think that it may contain a word that would be misspelled, you may want to think about registering more than
one domain name and setting the misspelled version up as a pointer to your actual web site. Don't drive yourself
crazy setting up lots of pointers for every possible scenario though.
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Length of Registration - 1 Yr? 2Yrs? More?
When you register a domain name you'll be asked how many years you want to pay for in advance. Some people will opt
for only one year because it is cheaper. However, there are some advantages to registering your domain name for a longer
period of time say 2 years or even more...
- Discounts may be applied for longer registrations and save you money in the long run
- There is some talk that some search engines are now examining your length of registration and figure if you are registered for a longer
period of time that you are more likely to be a serious business.
- Some people may run a search and look at how long you've been registered and how many years you are registered for
in the future when they are thinking about buying products / services from you. If you are registered for
only a year you may not look like you are a long term/stable business.
- Lastly, you don't run the risk of losing your domain name after only one year because you forgot to renew.
If you find a great domain name you'll want to keep and will be using for an online business
then you'll want to consider registering it for more than one year.
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Adding Privacy to Your Registration:
Adding "Privacy" means that your personal information is not displayed when someone does a "whois" search on your record.
Spammers collect names, phone numbers, email address, mailing addresses, etc. from these records and for the small amount
that getting "Privacy" costs, it is well worth it to prevent a possible mass invasion of junk email, mail and phone solicitations.
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Domain Name Ideas When Promoting Yourself:
If you are promoting yourself such like a model, salesperson, politician, etc. be sure to check to see if your name is available first.
If your name is John Smith you can forget that one though. However you might want to combine your name with what you
do such as JohnSmithHomeSales.com or SusanSandersModel.com. It says who you are and what you do - a winning combination every time!
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Domain Name Length & Tips for Businesses:
While you can use several words put together and several characters, shorter is better. The problem is often that
a great deal of short domain names are taken. Try to focus in on something that would be descriptive of what your business does or
the name of your business. Even if your business name is long such like "Chocolate Delight Dessert Factory" be sure to register it.
Sometimes people will just put the name of your business in as a query along with .com and see if they can find you that way.
If you are just starting a business, try to find something that says what you do to create a domain name and business
name that are the same. Such as RapidComputerSupport.com. It has an action word and what you do - descriptive and easy
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Avoid Using Trademarked Words:
One thing to avoid is using a trademarked word, company name, etc. in your domain name. Never do this! Even if you work
for a company you should always get written permission to use their business name in your domain name.
In regards to
trademarked words like "Realtor®" you may not use them either. For example, Realtor® is a trademark of the
National Association of Realtors® and can never be used in an individuals domain name. So, always be careful of
the words you select and do not infringe on the trademarks, etc. of companies, organizations, etc.
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