Domain Name - How To Pick One

Picking a domain name should be easy, right? Why, I'll just use my business name. Not so fast, Sparky. A good bit of thought should be given to selecting a domain name. A Cautionary Note Picking a domain name is like getting married. You are going to have to stick with it till the bitter end. People that use your site will come to know it by the domain name. Repeat visitors will often simply type in the domain name to get to the site, better known as &quot;type in traffic&quot;. As an example, do you search for &quot;Amazon&quot; when you want to buy a book or do simply type in amazon.com? If Amazon were to change its domain name to Desert, there would be a lot of confusion. The same goes with your domain. Once you pick something, stick with it. Your Choices Well, the obvious choice is your business name, but it may not be the best. There are four significant issues to consider. First, is there something about your business name that makes using it as a domain an unwise choice? This situation typically arises if you have a long business name or have plural words. &quot;Halstatt's Rip'n Marketing Campaigns, Inc.&quot; is going to be a horrible domain name. Clients are going to find it difficult to type in such a domain name. Double letter problems are a second issue that is entirely unique to the Internet. What if Sams Salon wants to use its business name as a domain? The &quot;s&quot; at the end of first word and beginning of the second can cause confusion. Is the domain name Samssalon.com or Samsalon.com? Confusing your users is a bad way to run a site. The third issue concerns the nature of your site and search engine optimization. If you are shooting for a particular keyword phrase, you may be better off using that keyword phrase in your domain name. Google, for instance, looks at the domain name when evaluating a site. If the words in your domain name are spaced with dashes, many believe it will help in the ranking process. This is why you see so many xxx-xxxx-xxx.com domain names on the net. If your business focuses on a very specific area, strong consideration should be given to using relevant keywords in your domain name. Finally, your domain name should end in &quot;.com&quot; and I don't want to hear any argument or see any rolling of the eyes. The simple fact is that when people think of sites, they always type in .com. Yes, there are other extensions and .us, .net, .biz, etc., may seem unique, but it kills your traffic. Pavlov and his dog experiments had it right. People have been mentally conditioned to type in .com, so don't select any other ending. If you do, a smart competitor will register the .com version of your name to get some free traffic. If you are really lucky, a porn site will do it! Take a breath before you select a domain name. Like a spouse, it can be either a good or bad choice. Halstatt Pires is with <a target="_new" href="http://www.marketingtitan.com">http://www.marketingtitan.com</a> - an Internet marketing and advertising company comprised of a search engine optimization specialist providing meta tag optimization services and Internet marketing consultant providing internet marketing solutions through integrated design and programming services.

How To Really Profit from Domain Names

Have you heard about domain names that sold for over a million dollars? Inspired by this, you imagine registering a great domain name, hanging onto it for a while, and then selling it off to become the next multi-millionaire. It could happen, but don`t count on it! First of all, many of the truly great domain names are already taken. Second, the dot com bust took some of the wind out of inflated domain name prices. (If you sell your domain name for millions of dollars worth of stock in a publicly traded dot com flop, what is the name really worth?) The cybersquatter buys domain names totally on speculation. Sometimes he will register names of famous brands, companies, or individuals. Time and again, these domain name speculators learn the hard way that they must respect intellectual property rights. They hope that some large corporation will pay big bucks to them for the use of the company`s own (already trademarked) name. Instead, they end up with threatening letters from a law firm for their attempts at extortion. However, you can still make money from domain names if you are sensible in your approach. Here are some suggestions on ways to profit. 1. Affiliate Programs: Use your domain name to promote an appropriate affiliate program. Either redirect to the affiliate site or write a review that links to them. 2. Informational Sites: Create content and then profit from it by earning advertising revenue through Google AdSense or a similar program. 3. Redirect to Your Own Site: Some reasons you might want to do this include preventing competitors from using a particular domain name and benefiting from searches some users perform by domain name. (For example, if they wanted to order flowers, they might just type "flowers.com" in their web browser. You could get some traffic and sales this way.) 4. Product Sites: Create your own or sell someone else`s product appropriate to your domain name. 5. Park Your Domain Names: You might feel that your name has real potential for resale value. There are companies that will allow you to park your domain on their servers, advertise that your name is for sale, and split advertising revenue with you. The trick is to generate traffic for your domain name. That traffic in turn will create revenue. Then, when you go to sell your domain name, you will have a few things going for you. First, you will have a fully developed website. A fully constructed building on a piece of land increases the value of the real estate property. Similarly, the value of your domain name is enhanced by a complete and operating website. Second, you have traffic. Just as a shopping mall with no traffic results in no sales, so a website must have traffic to generate income. Third, you have income. An income property, such as an apartment building, can be appraised on the basis of its income (as well as other factors). Similarly, the gross income, net profits and cashflow of a website have value. For example, if someone offered you $1,000 for your domain name and website when it was generating $10,000 per day in profits, you would likely laugh at him. You really can profit from your domain name investments by adding value and properly developing your web properties. For further information about profiting from domain names, visit <A target="_new" HREF="http://www.yenommarketinginc.com/domain-names.html">http://www.yenommarketinginc.com/domain-names.html</A> RESOURCE BOX: J. Stephen Pope, President of Pope Consulting Inc., <a target="_new" href="http://www.popeconsultinginc.com/">http://www.popeconsultinginc.com/</a> has been helping clients to earn maximum business profits for over twenty-five years. For valuable Work at Home Small Business Ideas, visit: <a target="_new" href="http://www.yenommarketinginc.com/">http://www.yenommarketinginc.com/</a>

Why El Cheapo Domains Will Cost You Money

You want your own online business? Good because it's one of the most fun things you can do with your spare time and can be very profitable. Remember that just because it's an online business doesn't mean that you should treat it with any less professionalism or seriousness than you do your daytime job. Why? Simply because when you run an online business it's a serious business. Well it should be taken seriously if you want to make serious money. One of the most important aspects of any online business is the domain name. This is where the vast majority of new online entrepreneurs make their first big mistake - they choose one of those free domain name providers to represent their business online. This is a critical mistake. Let's say you're starting a computer repair business. Which one of the following domains looks better: 'www.computerfixer.com' or; 'computerfixer.freehosting.com' The truth of the matter is that computerfixer.com is a top level domain and computerfixer.freehosting.com is a sub-domain. These free domain providers would have you believe that their cheapo subdomain is as good as a top level domain - this simply isn't so. Online shoppers expect your online business to be located on a top level domain. If they find your website on one of these cheap or free domain services you've just lost 50% of your potential customers. They'll click back and look at the next search result in Google, Yahoo or MSN. Free domains make you look cheap, show that you don't want to invest in your business, that you don't take your customers seriously, look terrible on business cards and make you look like an amateur. There aren't any benefits to cutting corners on your domain name. A domain name costs, at most, $15 per year. That's 4 cents per day. If your business can't afford this then you really shouldn't be running an online business at all. This article was written by Niall Roche and provided courtesy of <a target="_new" href="http://www.domaintutor.info">http://www.domaintutor.info</a>. This website has lots of informative and useful articles on the topic of <A HREF="http://www.domaintutor.info" target="_blank">web domains</A>.

Choosing Your Domain Name ? Internet Marketing

This is actually an important key to your business and sometimes its success. I will explain why through-out this article. Firstly when choosing a domain name you can use letters, numbers or hyphens however you can't use hyphens at the beginning nor the end of your URL. You can use up to 67 characters. Choosing a smaller domain name will help your website be more easily remembered for repeat vistors (who don't bookmark your website but wish to return). Problem is most of the smaller domain names are taken these days. Choosing a name that is relevant and rich in keywords for your product or service will enhance your chances of being found in the search engines. From my knowledge using hyphens can actually give you a better position for example, if you are selling horse shoes you might choose a domain name that looks like this: www.horse-shoes.com Some of my websites are found by someone typing this as a keyword www.horse (example only) and that's all they type. If you type that into google you'll see that all domain names that start with www.horse are brought up first! You may also want to consider buying the domain names such as if you wanted www.horse-shoes.com also buy www.horse-shoes.org and .biz and .us? This can help ensure that someone doesn't take any business from you simply by buying your name and replacing the .org .net .us .biz etc. If you have an already establish a company name and already well known then you would want to obviously choose that as your domain name. ? Joanne King - http://www.joesy.com Get your Free book on &quot;Affiliate Marketing ? Quick Start Guide&quot; by visiting <a target="_new" href="http://www.joesy.com">http://www.joesy.com</a>. You are welcome to reprint this article on your website or send to your mailing list however it may not be edited and the link in this bio must stay active. Cheers =)

A Very Simple 3 Step Process To Find That Perfect Domain Name Using Some Free Online Tools

So you finally decided you want your very own home on the World Wide Web. Many people use free services like Geocities or AngelFire for their first home on the Internet. Others jump in and get their very own domain and then set up a hosting account. Here is a very simple 3 step process to find that perfect domain name using some free online tools Step 1 Decide on a Theme. It is very important that you decide on a Theme for your web page. Once you decide on a theme you should pick a Name that works well with your Theme. If your theme is about Pets you wouldn't want your Domain Name to be All-About-Plants. For this example we will choose Debt Reduction and Bill consolidation as our theme Step 2 Find a Domain Name Most Internet Guru's recommend that you get a '.com' for your Domain. It is also best to choose a Domain with Keywords that are Popular for your Theme. Again if your domain is about Pets you probably wouldn't want plants as part of your Domain Name unless you are Selling a Vegetarian Pet Cook Book. If You already have a Domain name in Mind then you can skip to step 3 to see if your Domain is available. If Not keep reading step 2 for helpful hints on finding that Perfect domain Name If you do not have a Domain Name yet and if you are at a Loss at what name to use don't despair their are a few free online tools you can use. If your web site theme is Debt Reduction and Bill consolidation then you would probably want a Domain Name with one or more of those words in it. If you need help finding Keywords to include in your Domain Name here is a free Keyword Suggestion Tool you can use http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/ Now that you have some Keywords Picked out you can use either of these free Online Tools to help you find that perfect Domain Name http://www.nameboy.com/ http://www.domaininformer.com/tools/ Some suggestions for our Debt Reduction theme is <ul> <li>DebtDispatch.com <li>Debt-be-Gone.com <li>Debt-No-More.com <li>DebtNoMore.com </ul> Step 3 Register Your Domain Before you can Register your Domain name you need to make sure it is still available. You can go to the following Whois Server to see if your domain is taken: http://www.internic.net/whois.html You would simply type in one of the names from step 2 like DebtDispatch.com and see if it's available. Once you have found that Perfect Domain Name and verified it is indeed available Internic has a List of approved Internet Registrars Here:http://www.internic.net/regist.html You will notice that the List of Registrars is Long and confusing, A very Popular one is Goddaddy.com Their Pricing is very reasonable and they have a great reputation. Nameboy and Domaininformer from step 2 will also register your Domains. Host Your Domain Now All that is left is to host your Domain. There are hundreds of Web Hosts available some good and some not so good. It is really hard to know which ones to use. Findmyhosting.com has a Web Hosting rating service where users rate Web Hosts. They also Tell you the Up time History of your Web Hosts. Pick your Host Carefully. You may want to ask some of your friends and Associates which Hosts They use. Now anytime you want a New Home on the Web Just follow this simple 3 Step System. About the Author: <br> Mike Makler has been Marketing Online Since 2001 When he Built an Organization of over 100,000 Members Mike uses and recommends Kiosk Web Hosting<br> <a target="_new" href="http://ewguru.com/kiosk">http://ewguru.com/kiosk</a> Get Mike's Newsletter:<br> <a target="_new" href="http://ewguru.com/newsletter">http://ewguru.com/newsletter</a> More Articles by Mike:<br> <a target="_new" href="http://ewguru.com/tips">http://ewguru.com/tips</a> Copyright ? 2005-2006 Mike Makler the Coolest Guy in the Universe

What is a Domain Name and Where to Register?

A domain name is an alias for an IP address. Now what is an IP address? An IP address is a numeric code that signifies where to look through the Internet for content. An example of an IP address would be 22.226.141.25. Rather than typing in a long and easily forgotten IP address, a domain name helps you by typing an easily remembered name to access the same site. For example, www.domainsatretail.com is a domain name that points to a specific IP address. People can remember a domain name such as www.domainsatretail.com much easier than they can a long numeric code. Domain names are everywhere as many use it everyday. Think of search sites. Google and Yahoo both have corresponding domain names www.google.com and www.yahoo.com. If you have ever sent an email you have used a domain name. For example when sending an email to user@sympatico.ca, sympatico.ca is the domain name. Now that we have a better understanding of domain names, we need to know which domain name to pick and where can we register it. The domain name chosen for a web site can be a very important decision of marketing your company on the Internet. Its quite easy to just say pick a catchy domain that everyone will remember to use and you are set. In most cases it is that simple and you are set on your way to register the domain. However, at times the domain name you want has already been taken. And then you must think of a secondary name that you wish to use that will be just as catchy as the first. OK, now you have picked your domain name you want. What is next? You need to choose a registrar for you domain name registration. There are many registrars who sign up and are available for the year, but you get no service from them whatsoever. Here are two domain name registrars that I would recommend for completing your domain name registration. 1) Domains at Retail ? registrar that registers domain names. We provide great service and have 24/7 customer support. .com domain names are normally on sale for $8.75 US / year, however they are currently being run on promotion for $7.95 US / year. Visit Domains at Retail at http://www.domainsatretail.com for Cheap domain registration and excellent customer service. 2) Domains at Cost ? excellent registrar with very competitive prices. I use this registrar for my .ca domain name registrations and renewals. They offer an excellent price ($14.41 CDN per domain name registration) and I am always able to get someone on the phone and my questions answered. Please Visit Domains at Cost at http://www.domainsatcost.ca for .ca Domain Name Registrations! Good Luck with your domain name registration process and your start to your online marketing! Michael Kralj is owner of Emenki Web Solutions and Domains at Retail. Emenki Web Solutions are web site designers and programmers based in Hamilton, Ontario, providing businesses with an informative and strategic approach to establishing an online presence on the web. Please visit <a target="_new" href="http://www.emenki.com/">Emenki Web Solutions & Web Design in Hamilton, Ontario</a> on the web <a target="_new" href="http://www.emenki.com">http://www.emenki.com</a> Please visit <a target="_new" href="http://www.domainsatretail.com">Domains at Retail - Cheap Domain Name Registration</a> on the web: <a target="_new" href="http://www.domainsatretail.com">http://www.domainsatretail.com</a>

Domain Names 101 - A Dummies Guide to Choosing Great Domain Names

When it comes to choosing your domain name, do not allow yourself to get stressed out or worry over choosing the perfect domain name that will make your website a success. When it comes down to it, there are several things you can do to ensure you choose the best type of domain for your business, and after that any number of domain names will work effectively for you. However, you need to read the following suggestions and follow them in order to avoid any costly mistakes to your traffic and business due to a bad domain name. Tip #1 Short and Sweet You will want a domain name that is short and sweet. There are many reasons for this, however if you have a short domain name it will be easier for people to remember and revisit not to mention tell others about. Also, if your domain name is short, other websites linking to your site will not have to worry about broken URLs and invalid web pages. Tip #2 Make a List You should definitely make a list of the domain names you like the most, but it is best if you make a list of themes rather than exact domain names. The reason for this is there are so many domain names on the Internet that finding an easy one is not so easy. So, come up with themes you are interested in and then start searching from there. Tip #3 Be Open Do not set your heart on one particular domain name, especially if it is a generic one because odds are it is taken. You will only be disappointed and unhappy with any other domain name. Do not set yourself up like this and realize ahead of time that you will need to be really creative with your domain name and open to new ideas and options. Tip #4 Search for Options Once you have your list of themes and ideas you want for a domain name you can start searching online. There are plenty of websites that will allow you to search and register different domain names. Most likely, several that you search for will be taken and the program might suggest you take that domain name with a really large number on the end or other variations that are available. In general, you do not want to do this because it is more difficult to remember your URL and you will get a lot of your traffic misdirected. Tip #5 Dot Com There are many kinds of extensions or suffixes available for URLs from com to .net and .biz to .info. While all of these are options and your particular desired domain might be taken under .com and available under tv you should consider long and hard before doing this. The reason for this is everyone knows about .com and if they are thinking of your website they will probably search for it as .com first. So, having a .com will keep people from getting confused. Also, if your keyword URL exists as a .com and you choose .net, you will probably lose customers and traffic to the other site because people know to go to .com. Michael Turner reveals step-by-step how you can <a target="_new" href="http://www.powertraffictactics.com/">increase search engine traffic</a> in his free 7 part mini-series. Grab it now at <a target="_new" href="http://www.powertraffictactics.com/">http://www.powertraffictactics.com/</a>