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So, you want to have a web site. What are you going to call it? How do you go about choosing a name? What do you look for in a domain registrar?
Well, choose a name that makes it obvious what type of web site you have. www.MyReallyNeatWebsite.com doesn't exactly scream out to people that you are selling remanufactured ink cartridges.
Personally, I prefer spelled out names, rather than initials. For example, www.TheBestPlaceForDiscountRemanufacturedInkCartridges.com, while long to type out, will be easier to remember than www.tbpfdric.com. Guess how many times your customers will type that in before they actually get it right? (Before they give up?) Your visitors will know exactly what kind of business you are in. (Okay, so that name is a little bit long. You are limited to 67 characters in a domain name.) And, having all those keywords in the title is not going to hurt you in your search engine rankings, either.
Pick a name that relates to your business, but keep in mind the potential growth of your business. You may start out selling one item or service, but branch out to other items/services, and your domain name, which by now, is fully established, may no longer fit. For example, when Patrizia was thinking up a name for her web site, she was thinking something along the lines of "Stained Glass Night Lights" because that is what she designs and creates. However, she also makes custom made clocks (made from extra tile squares people use to decorate their kitchens or baths), lamps, candle holders, and other custom hand painted work. For her web site, she wanted to concentrate on just selling her stained glass night lights. She chose the name The Art of Patrizia because it speaks to her passion for art, yet it also leaves the door open for her to add those additional products on her web site, should she so choose.
Once you've chosen your domain name, write it down and take a good look at it. Make sure the combination of your chosen words doesn't create any unintentional new words that send a different message regarding your website. I've seen some pretty humorous examples of domain names which unintentionally spelled out swear words.
Once you've settled on a domain name, go register it, even if you don't have plans to get the actual web site up and running anytime soon. You can reserve the name for roughly $10 to $20 per year for a .com name. You wouldn't want to wait until you are building the web site to find out that someone else has already snapped up your chosen name.
Make sure you pick a reputable domain registrar. Read the fine print. Make sure you will be the owner of the domain name. Some sites will register the name for you, but then, they own the name, not you. Not good.
Ask around and see what kinds of experiences other people have had with their domain registrars. Was it easy to transfer the domain name to another domain registrar? Were there any troubles when it came time to renew the domain name? I have heard horror stories about domain registrars that failed to renew the domain name for owners, and the owners lost the rights to their domain name. Someone else scooped it up quickly, and the legal fight begins.
Many web hosting sites will also register a domain name for you for a small fee. I don't recommend this. Keep the two separate. Register your domain name at a domain registrar different from your web hosting company. Some web hosting companies give their customers grief when they try to switch web hosting companies or domain registrars.
What do I recommend? Well, I am reluctant to include that here in the tips because what I recommend today might not be what I recommend 6 months, or a year from now. Email me offline, and I'd be happy to answer any of your questions.
Hope this helps! Feel free to email Lesley if you run into any problems.
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