Register Your Domain Name

Website Basics-How to Register Your Domain Name
by: Richard James



The simple and short answer is that when you buy a domain name, you are registering it. The reason for this article is that there are some optional features available that are well worth considering when registering a domain name.

First and foremost, make sure that the email address and contact information you give when registering a domain name are accurate. This is especially true in the case of the email address. Communications regarding the status of domain names are sent to the email address on file, so give an email address that is readily accessible to you, and if you change email addresses at some point please be sure and update the email address attached to your domain name. It cannot be stressed enough how important this is. Often people lose access to their domain name or lose the domain name altogether because they can no longer access it, and the number one reason for this is their email address changed, they failed to update it with their domain registrar, and they no longer receive important communications regarding the status of the domain name.

Privacy One of the “deluxe” options you will be offered at the time of domain name registration is the option for privacy. You’ll probably want to take advantage of this option. All domain names are listed in a large internet database called the WhoIs database. Without adding privacy to your registration, your contact info, including your name, address, phone, email, etc. all become public information, and readily accessible to spammers, telemarketers, and junk mailers. Private domain name registration is not mandatory and will not block all spam, but it is well worth the extra investment nonetheless.

Business Registration This next option concerns how your domain name is perceived in the WhoIs database and by the search engines. If your planned website involves commercial interests, this is a highly recommended option as well. Business registration places your domain name in WhoIs as a business, rather than a personal registration, and lists you by business category and subcategory. There is also an option to place an online business card and a link to a map to your store location, which will show up on the search engines. This also boosts your standing with the search engines; ie., business vs. personal.

Platinum Registration This option protects your domain name from domain name hijack. In the event that you give others access to your account, such as when hiring a web author to build your website, Platinum Registration locks the domain name down in such a way that no one can modify or steal it in any way. Highly recommended as well.

Multiple Years In the past few months Google and Yahoo, among others, have modified their search techniques to include checking the length of registration of a domain name. This is to weed out the pretenders from the players. Registering your domain name for a minimum of 5 years (or more) will boost your esteem in the eyes of the major search engines. For more information on this topic, read the article HERE.


About The Author
Richard James

StartMyWebsiteToday.COM was created by Richard James as a helpful resource for people new to building websites. Featuring free articles and 24/7 telephone support, the site aims to help newbies with their first web venture. You can visit the site at http://www.startmywebsitetoday.com This article is copyrighted, please do not alter in any way.



How To Register A Domain Name
by: George Meszaros



You may be wondering if you should get a .com, .net, .info, or .whatever kind of domain. So many different kinds of domain extensions to choose from, and so little time. If you are registering a domain name for a for profit business, you should always register a .com domain. From a brand perspective, there is no better domain than a .com domain. Most people associate business domains with the .com extension just like they associate school domains with the .edu extension.

It may not make any difference in the beginning, but the more successful you become the more it could hurt you. Let’s say you develop a new product idea and the .com domain name you want to call it is not available, so you register the .net domain instead. Sounds harmless enough. Now, let’s fast-forward a couple of years. You have spent time and money to develop your brand and people are searching for your product online with the .com extension simply because they expect you to own the domain with the .com extension.

Another reason to shy away from other than .com domain names is that someone may already have copyright protection for the domain name you want to register. Look further if the .com domain you desire is not available. Even if you don’t find the exact domain you initially searched for, you may find one that is better than your original idea.

Whenever the domain you desire is not available through the registrar, you can try purchasing it from the registered owner. Unfortunately, many people register domain names to take advantage of others. The common name for such a person is domain squatter. I only recommend buying domain names from domain squatters if you have money to burn. The more they know you want it, the worse your chances of getting a good deal.

In other situations, someone may have good reason to own your desired domain name. It is unlikely that you’ll be able to buy the domain name from a thriving online business. It is possible that you run across a Web site with the perfect domain name for your business.

About The Author
George Meszaros with Webene http://www.webene.com





Website Basics-Choosing a Domain Name
by: Richard James



The first step in building a website is in the choice of a domain name. Whether you are a doctor, lawyer, plumber, aluminum siding salesman, or if you want to start up a website to feature your family dog Spot, the entire endeavor begins with the choice of a domain name.

The next logical question you might ask, is “What is a good domain name?”. The answer is, it depends. For example, if you are the person above who wants to build a website devoted to Spot, the family dog, then the answer is that the choice of a domain name really doesn’t matter. Why? Because you probably don’t really care about gaining a lot of traffic to your website, your site is probably only something you are going to produce for family and friends, to let them know about the latest goings on in Spot’s life. In a case like this, it does not matter whatsoever if you find a domain name like “ourdogspot.com” or not, since most likely you will only be giving out the website address to a few friends and family and maybe Aunt Tilly in Toledo.

In fact, in a case like the above, you could call the site anything you wanted to, “dogdiary.com” or even “catsdontlikespot.com” or something even as silly as “lookatthis.com”, which really has nothing at all to do with the subject matter of the website itself. The point is that in a case like this, there is no real concern with getting a lot of visitors to the website other than friends and family and Aunt Tilly in Toledo, so there is no real harm in naming the website ANYTHING, because you will be giving out the website address to a select few people. BUT……

What if the website is for business? What if I do want it to attract attention?

The simple answer is, it pays to have a domain name that reflects your site or business. If your website is about car parts for example, do you really expect the average web surfer to remember how to get to your website if it is named "bobsthingsforsale.com" or some other unrelated name? The best strategy is to find a domain name that directly relates to your business, whether it is the business name itself or related to the category of business. For example, a car parts website should have a domain name like carparts.com or bobsautoparts.com, something that immediately associates the domain name with the theme of the site. It’s all about branding, and making a lasting impression on the target audience or customers.

You can find domain names by checking the WhoIs database on the internet. While there are any number of places on the net to do this, we have conveniently placed a domain name search engine on www.StartMyWebsiteToday.com for this very purpose. After searching the domain name, the results given will instantly show whether or not the domain name is available, and if so, give you the option to immediately register it. If not, several alternative domain names will be proposed, to help you fine tune your search, or possibly giving you an acceptable alternative domain name to register instead.

In the next article, we discuss strategies for choosing a domain name, long or short, hyphenated or not, and generic or brand names.


About The Author
Richard James has been a contributing author for this website and is an acknowledged expert in the field of domain names. He can be found on the internet at this website: http://www.startmywebsitetoday.com This article is copyrighted, please do not alter in any way.





Your Domain Name, the Marriage of Your Business to the Internet
by: Jason Pearson



Choosing your domain name has a lot in common with getting married. The name you choose will be the one you will be tied to until the end. Your visitors to your site will begin to know your site as your domain name, just like many people get referred to by their last names. Regular visitors to your site will often simply type in your domain name to get to your site, this is called ‘type in traffic’. People that want to go to my space often simply type in my space, or sometimes myspace.com, however should My Space change their name to My Area, or My Room, there would be mass confusion. The moral to that little story is this: once a name is chosen, stick to it.

There are four things to consider before you choose your business name as your domain name. It may seem like the obvious choice, but there are some issues that may arise with it. Before making your business name your domain name ask yourself if there is anything about it that would make it a bad choice for your domain name. For instance if your business name is a very long name or has plural words involved. “Betty’s Beautiful Butter Creamery” is going to make a terrible domain name. Your clients will not want to have to type in a name that they themselves have trouble saying, let alone remembering.

Double letters pose their own unique problem for domain names. Dilbert’s Singles Bar would cause problems as a domain name, the ‘s’ at the end of Dilbert’s and the ‘S’ at the beginning of singles will cause confusion. Would it be Dilbertssingles.com or Dilbertsingles.com? Using a name that causes confusion for your users is not the best way to bring back traffic to your site.

The nature of your site can affect how you are brought up by search engines. If you are wanting to use a particular keyword phrase, you may want to consider using the phrase in your domain name. Many search engines look at the domain name when evaluating a site. Many believe that if the words in a domain name are spaced with dashes that it will help with ranking process. This explains why many names you see will appear as xxx-cccc-uuu.com on the net. If you will focus your business on a specific area you should also consider using relevant keywords in your domain name.

The .com at the end of domain names is the holy grail of site names. Here is where you want forget being unique and stick with the oldie but a goodie. Yes, you could use extensions such as .us, .net, .biz, and so on, but it is an instance homicide to your traffic. Think about it, have you ever automatically typed in .net after a domain name? Chances are probably not. Everyone and their grandmother automatically gravitate toward .com. It has been seared into our brains that everything on the net should end in .com. So instead of shooting for unique and choosing anything other than .com, consider this, a smart competitor will swoop in and use the same domain name with the .com and get some free traffic. Is unique worth all of the traffic you would be losing?

Relax, take your time, and create a domain name that will be memorable, easy, and that you will not mind having for years to come. It is the marriage of your business to the internet after all.


About The Author
Jason Pearson is an online marketing expert who wants to share his secrets with the world. To find out more visit http://jason-pearson-online.blogspot.com