Before even thinking about search engine optimization or online sales and marketing you will need a website. And to setup a website you will need a domain name. I do have roughly 50 to 60 websites myself and they are all sitting on individual domain names each. I am doing online marketing through my websites for the longest time and through my different websites I have learned quite a few things.
I’m always setting up new blogs and websites when I feel that there is an opportunity to increase my online revenue. Some of my websites are kind of “set it and forget it” and they bring home some bacon month after month without me doing much work on it. It is so easy to start a new website because you can literally set one up in a hour, but before you do so you will need to have a good domain name. For those of you that are aren’t quite sure what a domain name is, it’s one of those .com or .net URL’s you type in your web browser to visit websites on the Internet.
What Is Really Important For Domain Names?
I cannot stretch it enough, but it is super important to choose a good domain name right from the start. Too often I see those long winded domains with maybe 2 or 3 dashes – that’s a big No No anyway. An example would look like JackDalton-RealEstate-DenverColorado.com or coloradosooperdooperhomesforsale.com – don’t go there. Keep a domain name short and simple. It’s easy to remember for people, it will actually fit on your business card, and for brand building it is extremely important to have a short name. Long domain names are hard to remember, they look ugly, and it really shows the lack of effort you are putting into all of this.
Now, what do you do when all the obvious and good domain names are taken already? Be creative. Let’s say you are into real estate and you want a domain name that still shows that you do real estate, but if you combine it with your name or your city where you work it just looks ugly (if it is available at all). There are some tricks that get you going.
coloradoRealEstateservices.com = CREServices.com
FrontRangeAirConditioningSalesandRepair.com = FrontRangeAC.com
HighlandsRanchHomesforsale.com = HRHomeSales.com
RichardSmithRealEstate.com = RSRealEstate.com
FrankMitnickComputerRepair.com = FMAdvanced.com
Of course these are just some examples, but the main take away is to not use full words, but to rather use name initials or shorten words. Don’t insist to use a domain name that matches your entire business name. Don’t insist to have your own name within the actual domain name. If you still don’t find anything that you like or even those abbreviated names are not available, become really creative.
Cleanercarpetstoday.com = this domain name is descriptive and pretty much tells a reader exactly what they get.
DenverAC247.com = One abbreviation, some number and still very easy to understand and an extra marketing message, too.
When buying domain names you can go with large companies like GoDaddy or with smaller players. It does not make a big difference. However, the pricing should be in the same range when you compare the different services. So, do not pay $35 for a dot com domain name – the price should rather be more in the $11 to $15 range (depending on the vendor and if maybe a sale is going on). Very important: when the name gets registered, make sure it is in your name. Some web hosting providers get a little tricky and the ownership shows them accordingly. Not good. Get the name registered and then 24-48 hours later check that it shows the correct WHOIS information.
That’s all there is to know about selecting and registering a domain name.