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At this point, you already should have an idea of what kind of business you should be going in.
Now, it's time register your identity on the Net. In this section, we will discuss domain names and how to register for one.
What is a domain name?
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Simply put, your domain name is your Internet identity. It is the unique name that identifies an Internet site. Of course, the most famous domain names are those that made it big: Yahoo, Google, eBay, Amazon, MySpace, etc. Almost all businesses have their own domain names, mostly their corporate name or a product brand.
If you are thinking of doing business on the Internet, it is best to register your own domain name. It is possible to have a free domain name. However, a free domain name lacks credibility and in the Internet, credibility is of paramount importance.
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URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator; it is the address of a Web Page. This site's URL is:
http://www.clixbiz.com
Domain names are managed by the Domain Name System or DNS. Domain names are read from right to left. Here are some of the available extensions for domain names:
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.com
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Stands for commercial. This is the most widely used and most preferred extension.
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.biz
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Stands for buisness. Commonly used when the .com extension for the chosen domain name is no longer available
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.net
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Stands for network and normally used by people doing business related to the Internet such as hosting companies.
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.org
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Stands for organization and is normally used by people by associations, charities and non-profit societies
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.info
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Stands for information and is normally used by resource websites.
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.name
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This is used by individuals to register their names or fictional characters that they have rights to.
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above extensions + specific country
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Used by individuals or companies to register names whose .com extensions are no longer available or as a way of telling the market that the product or service is specific to that country.
For example, you use www.fruitbaskets.com.uk when you plan to sell your fruit baskets only to uk.
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How to choose your domain name?
As mentioned previously, your domain name is your identity and great care should be taken when choosing your domain name.
1. Keep it short and simple
You can be extremely creative as you are allowed to have 63 characters in your domain name but don't be tempted to use it up: the shorter, the better. It is much easier to remember. Unfortunately, though, the shortest domains are most probably taken so just choose the shortest name that can be associated with your product or service.
2. Stick to simple and memorable words
Not everyone is a Spelling Bee contestant. Avoid using words that are difficult to spell or type.
3. Mind the extension
If you can still get a .com extension, go for it. When people try to remember domain names, they think of the .com first. However, keep in mind that a short and simple domain name with a .net or .info extension is better than a complicated one with a .com extension.
4. Your domain name must reflect your business
There are some gurus that espouse using creative names for your domain names to separate you from the rest. The argument is that people remember creative names; hence, you remember google, yahoo, amazon. Keep in mind, however, that these names were during the Internet heydays when companies had millions of dollars to spend on offline advertising.
If you are a small business owner, your best bet is to use words in your domain name that reflect your product or service. If you are selling costume jewelry, it is better to use costumejewelry.com (granted, it's available) rather than something creative like razzmatazz.com
Another reason for using words that are related to your business is to help your site's findability. This is so because the actual domain name contains the keywords that are being searched for. So, you have higher chances of being ranked higher for your keywords. To illustrate, if a Net user is looking for costume jewelry, your site will appear in the search engine higher if your domain name is costumejewelry.com than razzmatazz.com.
5. Generic or Branded?
During the dotcom heyday, there was a rush to register generic names as domain names. So you have pets.com, books.com, business.com, wine.com, etc. Hindsight showed us that not all generic names became very successful, as a site, although quite a number became very successful when they sold their domain names. A recent example is vodka.com, which fetched more than 3 million dollars when it was sold last November 2006.
These days, however it is not easy to register a generic name, as most generic names are no longer available. But if your product can be equated with a generic word, it is worth a try, as you can also get a higher search engine ranking because of the keyword search.
6. Use lower case
Although browsers can recognize both upper and lowercase, stick with lowercase.
7. Use only letter, numbers or hyphens
Only hyphens, letters and numbers are allowed when choosing your domain names. Other special characters are not allowed. Hyphens are used to represent a 'space'. For example, if your domain name contains two words (eg. copper pans ), you can register copper-pans.
8. With or without hyphens?
Users prefer URL's with no hyphens and search engines prefer domain names with hyphens. The best bet is to register both, if they are available. This way, you also protect your domain.
The difficulty with a hyphenated domain is that it fails the radio ad test or teleconversation test. Obviously www.mysite.com is easier to say than www.my-site.com. As a general rule, see whether you can come up a with a non-hyphenated domain before you settle for a hyphenated one.
9. If you found it, grab it
Remember, there are millions and millions of people registering domains everyday. Unless your product is extremely unique, you are sure to have competition for prime domain names. If you think you've found your ideal domain, register it right away.
10. If it's no longer available, you still have hope
If after you have tried com, .net, .biz, .info and found that they are no longer available, check out the list of expired domain names. If you have the budget, you can also purchase existing domain names. However, be prepared to pay at least 50 dollars to a few thousand dollars. If you are a newbie, I suggest you stick to a new domain or expired names and use the money to promote your new site.
To continue, click here.
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