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Domain Name - How To Pick One

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 "type in traffic". As an example, do you search for "Amazon" 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. "Halstatt's Rip'n Marketing Campaigns, Inc." 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 "s" 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 ".com" 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 http://www.marketingtitan.com - 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.

In The News:

ICANN attacked, domain name briefly stolen
FierceTelecom, DC - 33 minutes ago
Now, ICANN probably will face more knocks from detractors after the agency was hit by a security attack last week in which two of ICANN's own domain ...

ICANN Press Release Acknowledges Theft of Its Domain Names
Associated Content, CO - 23 hours ago
ICANN is the organization which is charged with regulating the use of domain names among other things. Having its own domain names stolen is comparable to a ...
New International Policy to Change the Face of the Internet Associated Content
all 2 news articles

ICANN Loses Control of Its Own Domain Names
Slashdot - Jul 5, 2008
NotNormallyNormal writes "CBC picked up an AP story about ICANN recently losing control over two of their domain names on Thursday, June 26. ...

The billion-dollar domain babies
Bizcommunity.com, South Africa - 5 hours ago
In contrast, for over a decade, and after toying with nickel-and-dime registration fees and fighting over domain names, this mature approach will alter the ...

First big change in Internet for 40 years could see Maori names in ...
Scoop.co.nz (press release), New Zealand - 17 hours ago
... perhaps thousands, of new Internet domain names to join ".com," making the first sweeping changes in the network's 25-year-old address system. ...

The Domain Blast
Global Politician, NY - 16 hours ago
For a cost, you can create your own suffix, any letters and any name. Domain names are made of three parts. The www, the "name" and the suffix like .com. ...

The credibility of the domain auction system was impeached
Domain informer, IL - 1 hour ago
All began with a thread at NamePros about .us domain names going through auction at GoDaddy’s TDNAM and the high prices they were bought at. ...

30000 applications for .ME domain
Montenegro Times, Montenegro - 3 hours ago
ME domain. .ME domain names that receive more than one application will be awarded through an auction process. .ME is expected to be utilized as a ...

Icann opens things up
Information World Review, UK - 5 hours ago
Icann's recent decision to effectively relax the rules on registering domain names has again highlighted the importance of choosing the right suffix to ...

SIDN quarantines expired Dutch domain names for 40 days
Telecom Paper (subscription), Netherlands - Jul 3, 2008
Dutch organisation SIDN, which manages .nl domain names, intends to quarantine terminated domain names for 40 days. The object being to prevent domain names ...

domain names - Google News

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