Choosing a Successful Domain Name for Your Website.
Domain Name Registration is one of your first most important tasks when starting a website and while registering a domain name at TechMan3k.Biz can be done for under $10, your domain name is one of your most important website investments.
Good domain names actually bring traffic to your site and will reduce the cost of advertising. Some domain names that cost more initially will more than pay for itself in the advertising dollars you will save. Remember just because you registered your business name in your state, does not mean you will get the matching domain name on the internet. It is important to register your business domain name as soon as you can (if it's even available), only one registration in the world will be accepted for any domain name and it's usually first come, first served.
When choosing a domain name for your business, think about how you could market your business with it. You should be able to make catchy slogans using the domain name, that says what is offered at your website in a memorable, non-offensive way. If you (and marketing professionals) can't do that, the name is not going to be worth much to you or anyone.
There are several rules of thumb to follow when choosing a domain name for your business or determining the value of a domain name.
1. The .com extension
Get a .com if possible. The .com extension is much more common and more accepted currently than any other extension for most business applications (since it means "commercial enterprise"). While the .net extension is sometimes used and is the second most common and accepted extension, it rarely commands any price above the registration cost unless you also have the .com to sell. A good .com domain name is typically valued at 10 times a .net extension with the same words and letters. The .org extension is typically used by non-profit organizations and is avoided by most for-profit business. The new extensions like .to or .cc are too little known for any value to be placed on them. The .us extension is not commonly used by many for-profit businesses in the United States.
2. Simplicity
On the World Wide Web domain names with fewer letters, fewer syllables, and fewer words will be preferred over more difficult domain names. The more letters people have to type, the more mistakes and frustrations they will have finding your site. Domain names made of one or two words with 6 or fewer syllables and fewer than 15 letters are the best and also have the highest values.
3. Memorability
Sometimes, the simplicity rule can be thrown out the window when you combine words in a memorable way (e.g. WebSitesThatSuck.com).
Typically, though, memorable and simple can combine to work for your benefit even more (e.g. Amazon.com). Memorable combinations of words or syllables present an easier job to market your site to the public. In addition, a domain name that is unique can be an advantage in memorability (e.g. WebSynergy.com) if it combines elements of words used often in everyday speech ("web" + "synergy") in new ways.
4. Should Flow Well
A good domain name should flow well when you say it. It isn't a good name if other people stumble when saying it or can't pronounce it.
In addition, various consonant and vowel sounds and combinations can evoke specific good or bad reactions in potential customers because of their prior associations. Examples of sound clusters to avoid in combination with other sound clusters would be "con" or "old". Good clusters would include "new", "pro", or "tron". Rhyming also helps make for a good domain name.
5. Avoid Spelling Confusion
Good domain names are spelled the way they sound. Try to avoid domain names that could be spelled many different ways.
Think of the marketing problems you would run into using different advertising methods - radio, TV, print, banner ads, etc. If you ever use radio advertising, ads will not be as effective if there are multiple ways of spelling the domain name. An example would be cyborg - it could be sciborg, psyborg, syborg, or siborg as well. Sound out the domain name, say it to friends and family and see what spellings they come up with. The more the alternative spellings, the poorer the domain name. Avoid cute alternative spellings - like jobz.com. Again, when you start using auditory advertising like radio many people will go to the jobs.com site (think of the confusion that may exist with "NewMoney.com" and "KnewMoney.com").
6. Avoid Number Confusion
The same confusion problem occurs for numbers which can be confused for words - 4guys.com, forguys.com, fourguys.com (unless you own all three and refer people who get to the wrong site to the right site).
7. Avoid Hyphens
Similar marketing problems occur when a domain name has a hyphen in it. Imagine having to advertise "Easy-Limo.com" when an already existing web site "EasyLimo.com" exists. Advertising dollars spent for "Easy-Limo.com" will also bring people to "EasyLimo.com". Because of this, domain names with hyphens are rarely worth more than their registration price.
8. Validity
Validity refers to the relevancy of the domain name. The domain name should have something to do with the services or goods you sell and it should be fairly easy for the general public to recognize it. A domain name that has relevancy improves its memorability as well. If you sell electronics, a domain name like "HairPinSales.com" is not going to be good relevancy wise and will be harder to promote on the web than a name like "BestElectronics.com".
9. Ability to Trademark
A major consideration in a website domain name is to examine its ability to be trademarked. You can check the status of the domain name and who owns the trademark at the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Even if a name is trademarked or pending, you may still be able to trademark the name for another class of goods or services than what it has already been trademarked for. If you get a domain name which is already trademarked and plan on providing the same types of goods or services which the trademark protects you will be infringing on the holder's trademark rights.
10. Domain Business Market Popularity
Last, but not least, is the consideration of domain's business market popularity. Good domain names in business areas which are quite popular like electronics, power, web design, banks, job-search sites, internet telephony, stock market, etc. are harder to come by and command a much higher price than domain names in relatively obscure or niche markets on the Internet.
Bonus Tip: "Strike while the iron is hot!"
When you are searching to for that Great Domain Name and finally find it, Do Not Hesistate or Procrastinate, Register It Right Then!
This is especially true when TechMan3k.Biz offers it for only $10 - $20 a year! Chances are it will be long gone when you come back even a short time later. People are out there registering new names all the time and good domain names are snapped up fast.
Conclusion
Although every rule is made to be broken, (names like yahoo and google are examples) following these general rules will give you a great domain name for your website.
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