Picking The Right Domain Name For Your Website

 

 

Just about as important as finding the best web host provider would be picking the right domain name. One that will be unique, but also easy to remember and will describe to some degree the nature of what your website is all about. After all, if you’re going to start a website about dogs, you certainly wouldn’t call it herekittykitty.com.

 

Before you choose your domain name you also want to identify exactly what the nature of your website is going to be about. Are you going to have an online business, or are you building a personal website?  The reasons people have websites vary as much as the people themselves, so it’s best to be able to know what goals you have with starting your website and choose your domain name accordingly.

 

Another factor to consider when picking the right domain name is the duration factor.  Remember, this name is going to be the name of your website for the duration of your venture online, and you want to choose something you aren’t going to get tired of.  Compile a list of about 6-10 domain name possibilities and choose your favorite from the list working your way down when searching for available names.  Remember, just because you want to choose that particular name as the name for your site, doesn’t mean that it isn’t already taken, so make sure your list is compiled of names that you sincerely like and will be satisfied with if your number one or two choices are already taken by someone else.

 

Once you’ve actually found the domain name that is available, the next obvious choice is to buy the domain. Personally, I wouldn’t search for the domain until you’re ready to buy, because if you decide to buy later, you may find a surprise waiting when you see that the domain is no longer available for purchase because someone else snatched it up before you could. Once you’ve actually purchased the domain and it’s officially yours, it’s time to begin maintaining the domain.  Many suggest that purchasing the domain for one year initially to see how your site is going to do is a better option than investing money in longer terms and possibly having spent the money for nothing if the site doesn’t do as well as you anticipate. Once your site gets off the ground and is doing well, you can always add an additional year or two to your contract, but the additional funds the first year can be spent on advertising or site design.

 

Make sure that before you purchase your domain name, that you are actually the person who owns the domain and that you have all rights to not only move the domain if you choose, but also that you have all administrative privileges and the power to change any of the domain name information at any time.  The last thing you’d want to do is find out after the fact that even though you thought you owned the domain, that full ownership rights belong to someone else, and that someone isn’t you!

 

To get a domain online you must register it at an ICANN certified domain registrar. The most popular of which is GoDaddy.com. Registering a domain name costs very little to do, as low as $2.

 

Tip: don’t register your domain name at the same company that is hosting your website just in case problems with your hosting arise you don’t have to worry about your domain name.

 

The internet has been around for enough time now that finding domain names has become somewhat tough. You can check the Whois database, which is a database of all registered domain names. Every domain Registrar will allow you to do a whois lookup. My favorite site to check is whois.net to check domain names. If you know your business well enough and give it some creative thought you can come up with a domain that is catchy, tells the user what to expect, and has keywords in it.

 

A lot of people still buy domains and sell them at domain brokerages too. One domain brokerage is sedo.com. There are thousands of people buying and selling domain names via this website. If you find a domain name that you like you can buy it from here. This can get to be quite expensive though, a lot more expensive than finding a domain that has not been registered yet.

 

Starting a website in 2009? Check out our article on Why You Want to Start an Online Business. Reading a whole bunch of web hosting reviews? If you start a business website make sure to check out our article on Small Business Web Hosting. Get your inexpensive web hosting today!

 

 

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