How to Choose a Domain Name for Starting an Online Business

It’s not easy to choose a domain name these days because most have already been taken (especially a dot com name). This has grown the business of buying and selling domain names.

For example if you wanted to buy business.com (if it was for sale) it would cost you millions of dollars to acquire it.

Why you shouldn’t get a free domain name?

If you wanted to save the $20.00 it costs to purchase a professional domain name you could use one of the services that offer a domain, web site and hosting for free.

For example you could sign up for a free blog at WordPress.com. You could start with this if you’re short of cash. The problem with this method is that if the company goes bust you lose your online business. If you’ve created lots pages with optimized content that ranks well in the search engines, you’ll lose all your hard work.

How to choose the best domain name

Branding

If you wish to brand your company name (ie Amazon.com) use it in the domain name. This will help visitors to easily identify your business online.

You may even use your own name to brand your business. Chances are, it may not be taken if it’s not too common..

Include keywords

People often associate the keywords in your domain name with the type of business you are in. For example I chose iSiteBuild.com because I build web sites. I chose ihost-websites.com to offer my web hosting services.

Action steps

* Create a list of possible keywords that reflect the type of business you have.

* Visit Godaddy.com and enter your suggested domain name. If it’s already taken it will offer many alternatives. It’s best to get a .com name because it’s the most popular for business names online however if you’re not particular try .net, .org, .info, .us.

You may have to try many different keyword combinations to find a domain name that’s available and reflects your company.

* Keep it short. Long domain names are them hard to remember. A short one is easy to type. When you add web pages your domain name already gets longer ie www.isitebuild.com/hostingplans.htm.

* Make it easy to spell. Don’t keep your visitors guessing. They’ll avoid mistakes when typing it into their browser. A mistake on their part will take them to another web site.

* Avoid dashes. Dashes in a domain name makes it harder for visitors to remember and spell. Only use dashes after exhausting all your options.

* Register your domain name. Depending on the extension it will cost a little over $10.00. Godaddy runs you through mine field of features you can add to the purchase of your domain (ie privacy, hosting, etc). If you don’t need all these extra features opt for the quick checkout to bypass this.

If your chosen domain name is not available and is one that you have set your heart upon, you may be able to buy it from the owner. As I mentioned above, many people buy and sell domain names as a business. Be careful though..a domain name containing high ranking keywords may cost several thousand dollars.

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Learn how to start and build a profitable online business with a

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Herman Drost is the Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW)
owner and author of Web Design and SEO Services

Comments

  1. Hi, great info. But avoiding dashes in a domain name is not always good idea, I suppose. As far as a main keyward can be included for SEO, you could be better off!

  2. Hello I am just looking around many different websites that offer domain names. Well this is rediculous on how many people out there charge you for so many items that don’t need to be bought and still get the same quality as the paid for sites. I have found out that all you need to really pay out is max $10 year and no more for any product on domain names. And you can get free hosting, website design programs, free personalized emails, free blog account, and free online picture site. ALL WITH A $10 PAYMENT. So don’t waste your time on paying anymore for what you need unless you are running a huge website. And still it shouldn’t cost more than $89.00 Year. By the way if the Blog owner lets me post this I have settled down with http://www.rnrstuff.net. But there are other like this site here that seem real nice. But Beware the Domain BIZ is still very young and it is still got alot of growing so get it while its young.

  3. Hey there, I discovered your site a little while ago and have been reading through all the info slowly. I thought would post my comment and just say hi there & let you know I really enjoy your site so far. Will definately be stopping by to read more when I have a bit more time !

    Thanks,
    Mary

  4. I have 100 domains on Godaddy and i can say that this company is very reputable..’.

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