How to Select and Register Your Domain Name

How to Select and Register Your Domain Name – Like picking a name for a newborn child, selecting your domain name is a big decision that can impact people’s impression of your business. Your domain name can also determine the ease with which a prospect finds your site. Admit it, there have been times when you wanted to visit a company’s Web site but didn’t know the URL. Instead of using a search engine to search by company name, you simply added www. before the company name and .com after it, and entered it into the address bar in your Web browser.

Admittedly, this isn’t the best approach to finding a company’s Web site; however, this is the approach many people take. Even if your URL is not your company name, having a URL that’s easy to remember and relates to your company name will greatly help prospects find you on the Web.

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When determining your domain name, pick something that relates to your business or business name, is easy to remember, easy to spell, fairly short, and doesn’t closely resemble a domain name used by a competitor.

Here are some questions to consider when determining your domain name:

Do I want to use my full company name? If your company name is tough to spell or remember, or is really long, you may not want to use it or least want to abbreviate it in some logical manner.

Is my company name available? Your company name may already be someone else’s domain name. To see if it’s already in use, conduct a search with one of the registrars listed in the Domain Resources sidebar. Even if your desired name is not actively in use, it may still be registered, which the registrar will indicate in the results of your search. Don’t despair, however, if your desired name is already registered, because it may be for sale by the owner through a domain name broker. You just need to determine if it’s worth what the seller is asking for it. There are many extensions to choose from, such as .net, .com, .org, and you may want to purchase your domain name using more than one extension.

Is there a logical abbreviation of my company name that I can use? For example, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority’s URL is www.tesda.gov.ph and Department of Science and Technology’s URL is www.dost.gov.ph. Both are fairly easy to remember.

Is there a phrase or word that best describes my business and is memorable? For example, if you own a bakery that specializes in bread, perhaps your domain could be something similar to www.warmbread.com.  When you settle on some options for a domain name, you can use a registrar to find out which ones are available.

After you narrow your list to those that are available, share them with employees, family, and friends, and gauge their responses to determine which domain name will be most user friendly.

Once you know which domain name you’ll use, it’s time to select an extension (or multiple extensions, if you want to prevent competitors from using your name or believe that your prospects may look for you under multiple extensions). Here’s a high-level look at some popular domain extensions:

.com: The most popular extension for business Web sites
.net: Most often used by businesses whose products or services relate to the Internet, for example, ISPs (Internet service providers)
.biz: Commonly used by small businesses
.org: Most frequently used by nonprofits and trade associations
.info: Most commonly used by resource Web sites
.gov: Mostly for government institutions
.us: The newest extension and specifically for American Web sites

After you select the right domain name and extension, there are many ways you can register it. For example, you can purchase the domain name independent of the site design and hosting or get a package deal wherein the design or hosting company may offer to waive the fee for the domain name. To find the option that’s right for you, simply conduct an online search or review the resources in the Domain Resources sidebar. Search around for the best deal, but also verify the legitimacy of the registrar.

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Domain Resources
To find registrars, domain name brokers, user reviews, and additional tips for selecting your domain name, visit Internet Goldrush. And to verify the legitimacy of a registrar, visit InterNIC or The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).

Additional Reading:  What Type of Web Site That’s Right for Your Business