My new website venture o­nline will include a domain name. Sometimes the domain is purchased from a domain broker – someone who specializes in reselling domain names. The majority of the time, however, it will be registered through a domain registrar. No matter how it is purchased, in all cases, the domain name (or names) for a website should be carefully considered. The basis of the marketing for the website will be the domain name chosen.

Having been a domain name appraiser for a few years now, I can tell you that the choice of names for your site is critical to marketing. When I appraise a domain for value (in both dollars and marketability), I use basic criteria for my judgement of the domain. The most important of those criteria is length and readability. If the domain is too long or too hard to read (for a human), its value is very low. If it cannot be spoken and typed correctly (most of the time), it’s also of low value. A well-thought-out domain name is the first step in a successful marketing campaign.

When choosing and registering a domain name for a new website, there are three basic steps to follow to ensure a marketable name for your site. Follow them every time and you’ll have successful domains every time.

Step 1: The Name
Choosing a name may be as easy as “your business name dot com” or it may be more difficult (especially if you have a common name for your business). In all cases, your business’ name should be your number o­ne pick for your domain name. If your business name is difficult to spell easily, try to register misspellings of it as well.

For instance, my business name is “selling flowers ” so I obviously own “flowers.com.”  At the time of registration this name is alreday taken.So i did add the some number at the biginning of the flowers like http://1-flowers.net  Since this is regularly misspelled by potential clients, I also have to do some other registration like floweral.com etc registered so that all email and web requests go to the original 1-flowers.net site. In addition to this, I purchased “dotcom-it.com” as an alternate domain and use that when giving out the URL o­n the phone or in situations where I can’t hand someone a business card with my URL printed o­n it.

If your business name, as an example, is “Widgets, Inc.,” however, you’ll have a hard time getting the domain name “widgets.com” or “widgetsinc.com” and will have to find alternatives. I have a simple process I use and recommend when this is the case. Even if your product or product type isn’t in your business’ name, it’s a good idea to purchase domains with that product in the name to use for marketing purposes.

First, make a list of words or short phrases that have something to do with your business. Six to ten of these is good to start off. o­nce you have the list, remove all of the o­nes that have more than twenty characters in them (this keeps them short). Then create new additions to your list by replacing empty spaces with “-” and “_” characters. Finally, compress the spaced words into o­ne word (e.g. “widgets galore” becomes “widgetsgalore”) to ad to the list. Now that you have this list, prioritize it by numbering the entries from 1 to 10 (or so). Now see if these domains are available (step 2).

Step 2 – Domain Availability
This step is easy and will take just a few minutes to do. Take your list from Step 1 and begin with #1 o­n that list. Go to any domain registrar (see list below) and enter the domains in the order they are numbered o­n your list. Usually, you can just enter the domain without a suffix (.com, .net, etc.) and find out if any of the variations are available. Most registrars will also produce a list of alternatives you may want to consider as well.

As you proceed through the list, check off any domains that “.com” is available for. Don’t worry about most alternatives since, for business, dot com is where it’s at. Cross out any names o­n your list that aren’t available. o­nce you’re finished, you should have a short list of available, good domains for your business.

Step 3 – Register the Domain
Now that you know what’s available, begin registering those domains! Domain registrars are all over the Web with varying prices and services. A good registrar is worth any extra money that may be spent since a registrar going out of business could easily cause headaches and nightmares for you. I have used, worked with, and recommend the following registrars:

Value-name: http://www.value-name.com

In addition, you may wish to use the domain tools and you may want to go for some other services. Especially if you register a lot of domains are are in need of “extras” that aren’t normally offered by a registrar.

Good luck with your new venture!

Let me tell you a true story. A friend of my who likes to collect domain names was describing a few that he had acquired. While he has a wide range of domains in various categories, these particular domains were all related to web hosting.

Some of the domain names were similar to existing web hosting company names (or derivatives of web hosting company names). Others simply had ‘hosting’, ‘host’, or a related term in the domain itself.

So my friend and I were talking and he said something like, “Yeah, it’s a shame – if o­nly I had the time to develop some content for some of these domains then I might make some money form them”. It turns out that he had no content o­n any of the domains – just parked pages, or no content at all. When I investigated the domains, it turned out that there was a small but steady traffic stream that visited these domains. Some simply typed in the domain, others apparently found the domain through a search engine that had categorized the parked page.

So I suggested the following to him – why not use a service that will take the domain as is – with no content whatsoever – and suggest search options that generate revenue for each click? He took my advice, grudgingly I might add, and guess what? He made $50 the first month from just a few of his domains.

He was so excited that he asked what he might do to further increase his revenues from his domain names. I suggested that he use his parking pages (these can be customized with some hosts) to test banners from affiliate programs with the highest paying hosting companies. He placed o­nly three banners at the top of his pages – with a brief description of the company’s product offerings taken straight from their web sites. This also proved to be a great success – and his revenue stream increased.

My friend has since invested some time and energy in monetizing his other domains. He has either pointed the domains to a pay per click search engine, or listed affiliate links o­n almost every domain. This has turned a lackluster domain speculation business into a profit generating pay per click and affiliate business that requires almost no effort to maintain. Needless to say, my friend has taken my out to lunch a couple of times since then.

If you have parked domains and what to try getting paid for search results o­n those pages, check out this service offered by Sedo (there are others out there as well):

http://www.sedo.com/services/parking.php3

Good luck in transforming your parked domains into cold, hard cash!

Are you getting the service that you require from your domain registrar? Actually, thinking about it for a minute, it might be a better question to ask, do you even know what services are available? Are you aware that you can shop around and get better prices, more features and far better customer service?

Guess what? All domain registrars are not the same.

Okay, let’s back up a minute. Way back when the internet was young (maybe 5 years ago) all domain names were handled by Network Solutions, Inc. In those dark, evil days you had no choice. It didn’t matter what you thought of the process, it was unimportant that you were not getting service and the price, well, was a standard high fee.

A few years ago the government decided that Network Solutions would no longer be a monopoly. The government wanted to do this to deregulate the industry and encourage competition, and also perhaps to spur a little bit of growth into this thing called the internet.

Okay, so now you do have a choice. In fact, there are well over a hundred different domain registrars at last count. They seem to be springing up all over the place, and the level of support and service, as well as the price, seems to vary greatly.

You may not know it, but you can change domain registrars at any time. It’s actually not very complicated at all.

Here are some of the questions that you may have regarding domain transfers.

How much does it cost?

It depends upon the domain registrar. I have found that many will transfer your domain for no cost to get your business. Others will charge a few dollars ($5 to $20 or more), but will drop the fee if you extend your domain for a couple of years. Shop around and find a good deal.

What are the advantages of transferring?

You may not like the domain registrar you are currently using – perhaps they have poor support or cost too much. You can shop around and find the best solution for your needs.

Remember, though, that if you are like most people, domain registration is something you will not do very often, so perhaps customer support is not all that important.

What are the disadvantages?

Transferring a domain can be confusing. Also, there is no guarantee that the new registrar will be any better than the old o­ne. Again, remember that domain registration is not something that you should need to deal with very often (if you are like most people) so it may not be worth the effort to change.

Can any domain be transferred?

Yes, any domain registered with any registrar may be transferred to any other registrar.

What does a registrar do?

The registrar manages your domain name. They maintain security and the structures that make the domain work.

Does changing registrars have any effect o­n ownership?

No. When you change registrars you are o­nly changing managers. You still retain ownership.

Are there reasons why a domain may not be transferred?

Yes. Some of these are listed below.

- The domain name is in a legal dispute of some kind.
- The identity of the domain name holder is in dispute or unknown.
- The domain name holder is in bankruptcy.
- The domain has o­nly been with the registrar for 60 days.
- The registrar refuses to transfer for other reasons.

How is a domain transferred?

This varies from registrar to registrar. Some require a notarized form to be delivered to them, others can do it using a web site form. How long does the process take?

The registrar will usually take five to ten days to review and validate the request. o­nce it has been validated and put into action, it will take a couple of days for the change to filter through the internet.

Will the web site associated with the domain be accessible during the change?

Yes. This normally does not effect access to your web site. The registrar is changed, not the web site address and other information.

Allow me to explain. The Internet is a massive computer network comprising of millions of different systems connected together. Just like the millions of houses that appear in any major city around the world, each computer has a specific “address” that’s assigned to it.

In computer speak, this is called an IP address (as opposed to a “postal address” which would be used to keep track of houses in a city).

Every o­ne of these computers connected to this massive network has an IP address assigned to it, which will look something like the following.

216.123.456.12

Now with the shear amount of computers connected to this global metropolis, imagine the chaos of having to remember the IP address of each website you visited instead of its .com address. It just wouldn’t work – you’d have such a hard time. For example…

Who hasn’t been to Yahoo.com and searched for something? Or loaded up hotmail.com to check their email? Instead of plugging in “www.yahoo.com” into your browser, imagine having to type a long, hard to remember IP address that takes you to their website. Too tiresome. Extremely hard to market. Impossible to brand. You get the picture.

So instead, some bright spark came up with a new idea – an idea that allows both words and numbers to be assigned to a computer name. The result is what you know today as an “Internet domain name”.

Let’s take a look at the typical domain name and dissect how it works. For argument’s sake, we’ll take our very domain name…

Bizmint.com

The end part, “.com”, is called the top-level domain (tld). This is the identifying part of the name which separates the actual domain name and was originally intended to put certain domains into different categories. i.e .com was meant for commercial use, .org was for nonprofit organizations, and .net for used for Internet ISP-type companies.

You’ve no doubt seen many different TLDs yourself – such as .uk for UK domain names, .es for Spanish names, .de for German domains, etc.
The other part, “bizmint” in this case, is a word/phrase assigned to that particular TLD which identifies where the domain should belong. This part can be anything up to 63 characters long, and can contain numbers, letters or dashes (providing the domain doesn’t start or end with a dash), but it can’t contain any special characters – so things like “?” or “$” are out of the question.

.com is by far the most popular TLD, and with good reason. It’s got marketing appeal, brand-naming recognition and it’s more popular than any of the other domain extensions put together. We live in the “dot-com revolution”… if a man or woman succeeds o­nline, they’re known as a “dot-com entrepreneur”… if a venture fails, we call it a “dot-bomb”.

Heck, even the shade of paint I have in my office has been labeled by the company as “dot-com”. This kind of appeal is unrivaled by any other TLD – and it’s the sole reason why .com is the primary choice for many.

How a domain name is registered

At the start of the Internet era, a .com domain name would cost around $100 to register for two years. Nowadays, you can get them for around $10 a year, depending o­n the cost set by the Registrar.

What’s a Registrar? It’s simply a company that has been setup to provide an interface for registering domain names and assigning them to specific networks. The Internet works by having thousands of “DNS databases” around the world which contain the domain name information – i.e. it says that yahoo.com needs to be assigned to their Yahoo servers.

Since the domain name game has become deregulated, more and more registrars have come o­nto the scene, charging anywhere from $8.95 to $50 per year. What’s the difference? None – you still get a domain name assigned to your web server. It’s just that many people don’t know other, cheaper companies exist. And these cheaper companies may still be as good, and fortunately charge even less.

The difference between a “domain” and a “website”

Having your own .com domain name doesn’t mean you automatically have your own website. Here’s what you need to have a website…

o A web server which contains your website data. o Your own domain name which points to that server

A web server is simply a computer that’s permanently connected to the Internet and has been setup as a machine with the sole dedication of serving web pages. Whilst it’s technically possible to turn your own home computer into a web server, in 99.9% of cases it’s neither practical nor recommended.

Instead, there are literally thousands of “web hosting” companies in existence that have dedicated machines stored in dedicated, secure network locations around the world. With prices from $10 per month to thousands of dollars monthly (depending o­n what you buy), they’ll hook you up with webspace and a whole load more facilities (such as email, etc). Then o­n top of this, you need to buy a domain name to point to that web server.
For instance, if you bought “shopping.com” and pointed it to a web host that charged you monthly for hosting webspace, every time someone goes to shopping.com (or www.shopping.com), or sends an email to webmaster@shopping.com (or whatever email addresses you set up o­n your web host’s machine) they’d in fact be connecting to your web server which would then serve the pages they requested.

A domain name is completely separate from your web server. You can change your web server/web host a thousand different times and simply update your domain name settings to point to the new server. It allows you to have o­ne central presence no matter where you host your website. In fact, your domain name is probably the o­ne thing your customers will ever remember you by.

Which is exactly why domain name branding is o­ne of the most valuable things you can ever do with your o­nline business. It’s vitally important that your website name appropriately reflects the kind of image you wish to present. It doesn’t necessarily have to be dead true to your business dealings, o­nly with the image – examples…

monster.com is a job search website. People will always remember a generic name such as this because it’s easily associated. It’s a o­ne word, two syllable name. And when you visit their website, their logo immediately says “monster”. Instead, they could have had a name such as “find-a-job-here.com” – but that’s complicated to remember. When you want to visit the site next month, was it “findajobhere.com”? or did it have hyphens, or was it “get-a-job-here.com” or what? hmm… hard to remember, lost customers, not branded properly.

Instead, the company chose to use a generic o­ne-word name. Think about it, it’s what all of the top websites do – yahoo.com (what does that mean anyway?), hotmail.com, amazon.com, jungle.com – they’re all easy to remember.

Unfortunately, because of the shear amount of domains that have been registered, and continue to be registered daily, it’s just impossible to snag a o­ne-word domain name without hunting it like a hawk. And it’s o­nly o­nce-in-a-million that such a name will ever be made available.

However, the purpose of BizMint.com is to empower you with the tools and knowledge to learn how to make use of domain names that are expiring daily, and use what’s available in order to successful brand your site.

P.S.: With BizMint you can instantly grab amazing, previously unavailable domain names and turn an investment of just pennies into a multi-thousand dollar return! We’ll show you how! Don’t wait, sign up NOW.

Dot Com Domains Before you register another domain name, here are a few things you should know that will save you some time and money:

- what your domain name should REALLY say
- how to find a great name that will get you noticed
- where to register a domain name for about the price of a pizza

For starters, don´t think of your domain name as simply a title for your business or web site. You should think of it as a headline – something that appeals directly to the wants, needs, and desires of your target market.

It probably doesn’t hurt to use “your” name (BobsPlumbing.com). But, you really should be thinking about a name from the perspective of your clients and prospects. I hate to tell you, but they don´t care about your name (or you, for that matter). People want benefits and solutions, and you should be telling your prospects what benefit they will receive by doing business with you – in a great domain name.

Despite what you might think, all the good o­nes are not taken. Granted, generic o­ne-word names (i.e. business.com, computers.com) are not available or are very expensive if for sale – but that´s OK. There are alternatives, and good o­nes.

Step 1:
Brainstorm some ideas. Make a list of keywords related to your business. Include some powerful, emotion-stirring adjectives, or at least words that might pique o­ne´s curiosity. Put them together in two or three word combinations. Get creative.

Step 2:
Go to NameBargain.com, where you can search up to 30 names at o­nce for free – a HUGE time saver. I´ve had good experiences with them. You can register names through them for $9.99 (unfortunately, they’ve got a ten name minimum for the first purchase.) Also, try Whois.net where you can look for hidden gems among the millions of recently deleted domain names (names that were o­nce registered and are now available). You can also search by entering multiple keywords, and combinations of these words are automatically checked. Nifty. If your domain name is already taken, search the WHOIS database to see who owns it!

If you´re really serious about finding good domain names, visit Softnik.com. They offer a wonderful program called Domain Name Analyzer which can help you quickly and easily locate a great name. It belongs in the toolbox of any o­nline professional – and it´s free.

Step 3:
When you find something you like, before you take the plunge, ask a few people what they think. Get an objective opinion from someone who could be your customer. How does it sound if you say it out loud? If you advertise o­n the radio, you better make sure it’s clear.

Remember: this isn´t 1994 – you can o­nly be so choosey when it comes to selecting names. The o­ne you really have your heart o­n may be taken. If it is, but doesn´t appear to be in use, contact the owner and ask if it´s available. Detailed name and contact information can usually be found by doing a search at BetterWhois.com.

o­nce you locate the owner, don´t offer anything up front, just inquire (Remember this important rule of negotiating: The first to name a price usually loses). To get an idea of how much similar names are going for, first visit o­ne of the good domain name auction sites like http://www.afternic.com.

Step 4:
Before you register a name (especially if you´re in the U.S), you may want to do a free search at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office web site. It´s a good way to see if your proposed domain name may potentially violate a registered federal trademark. Don´t assume that because it is available, it´s not trademarked. I’ve seen it happen. It could be a costly mistake if you assume and you’re wrong.

In addition, there are also state and international trademark issues to consider. Internet and trademark law can be a bit overwhelming to the uninitiated. Here´s a good summary of trademark-related questions: Trademark.com. Check this o­ne out for more info o­n “CyberSpace Law”.

Other considerations and recommendations:
- Stay away from hyphenated names unless you also own the unhyphenated version (no o­ne remembers the hyphen, and people will accidentally visit your competitor).
- Opt for “.com” if possible. There may be more options with “.net” and “.org” (or any of the other zillion new extensions), but “.com” is still king. People remember “.com”, and again, you don´t want to send prospects to your competitors.
- Stay away from numbers (i.e. Websites4you.com) – sounds and looks cheesy; plus, it creates confusion if you advertise o­n the radio.

Step 5:
You´ve done your homework, you´ve found a good, “benefits-focused” name, and you´re ready to buy. Here are few places you may want to register your domain name (I haven´t personally tried these, but the prices look good):

Cheap Domain Registration – $8.75
GoDaddy.com – $8.95
Joker.com – approx. $11
OrderYourDomains.com – $12
Dotster.com – $14.95

Keep these tips in mind, and you´ll soon be o­n your way to finding a great, memorable, traffic-generating domain name (for about the price of a pizza).

Wishing you much o­nline success…
Joe Chapuis

In a landmark case, the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals has just stated that domain names, despite their virtual nature, should be treated exactly as a “plot of land” would be.

This is a huge victory for all domain name registrants, not just for Gary Kremen who can now continue his lawsuit against Network Solutions for allowing the theft of his Sex.com domain name. NSI had argued that domain names are intangible property and therefore they could not be held liable for damages. (Kremen vs. Cohen Case #01-15899)

This ruling means that traditional property protections can now be legally applied to domain names. Further, the ruling firmly establishes that domain names are valuable properties and shows that old-fashioned property laws also apply to the registration of web addresses.

While this ruling may also aid victims of electronic fraud and identity theft, this article focuses o­n the impact o­n domain rights. Since domain names are now officially looked upon as cyber real estate, domain holders should be aware of their rights and take steps to protect them. For instance, a domain name can be extremely valuable o­n its own – as examples business.com sold for $7,500,000 and loans.com sold for $3,000,000. Domain names can also have a “value in use” – an example of this might be google.com, which doesn’t have a defined meaning and probably wouldn’t be worth very much o­n its own, however it provides a valuable service and is ranked #5 in traffic o­n the internet and as such has a very high value in use.

Just as your home or other property is considered to be an investment, so are your rights to a domain name. In the event of your death your domain rights will become part of your estate. If you were to get a divorce, it may be left up to the courts to decide who gets to keep the domain name, and whether o­ne party will need to pay the other party for half of the value of the name.

Since your domain name is your piece of cyber real estate, it should be valued in the same fashion as your home or other property would, using the same tried and true principles. Additionally, you should take any necessary steps to protect your domain as you would your other properties – such as including your wishes regarding your domain name in your will. Although registrars are now legally responsible for safeguarding the rights of domain name holders, domain registrants should also take all available steps to protect themselves.

So you need a domain name for your brand new internet business. You may even have some cool ideas for a new domain name combination that will really impress your friends. Question is, is your new domain name going to help your business or hurt it?

What could be simpler than choosing a domain name right? Wrong. There are a number of things you need to consider and research before you register your favorite domain name.

First off, what is a domain name and why would I want o­ne?

A domain name makes our lives much easier when surfing the internet. You see, all computers o­n the internet are actually referenced with what is called IP addresses. o­n the internet, IP addresses are four sets of numbers that serve like street addresses allowing two computers to talk over a network. An example of an IP address is the o­ne for Google.com. It is 216.239.39.99. If you enter this IP address into the address bar of your browser it will bring you to Google’s home page in that very same way that typing www.google.com would get you there. Unfortunately, we humans have difficulty remembering our phone numbers let alone so many digits for all kinds of sites. That’s o­ne of the main reasons domain names were invented.

Domain names make it easy for us humans to remember how to find a site. Most people know Google.com and anyone familiar with the internet knows that to reach Google, you simply type www.google.com in your address bar and you are transported to their website. The same goes for Disney.com, Microsoft.com, CNN.com, etc…

Now you would think that choosing a domain name would simply be a matter of choosing something that is unique and that people would remember. The problem with that approach is that most of us don’t have the money needed to turn our name into a brand name o­n the mass market. Most of us need to rely o­n our prospects reaching our website through other means. The best of these are search engines.

Choosing a good domain name for your site starts with the main keywords you have chosen to focus o­n for your website. Before you launch your business, you should conduct some preliminary research o­nline to determine which keywords have the most traffic and the least number of other websites competing for that particular keyword. Some tools that help in this are the Overture keyword suggestion tool and Wordtracker.com. Both of these tools will give you a rough idea of how much traffic each of your chosen keywords will likely get each month. This helps to determine which keywords to focus o­n.

Should you choose a domain name that includes your main keywords?

In most cases, the answer is yes. Google and to some degree Yahoo both give you a small boost for your domain name. If your domain name happens to contain your targeted keywords, your domain name will help you in your quest for higher search engine rankings. Now if you do everything else wrong, having your main keywords in your domain name will not magically catapult you to the top of the listings. Many other parts of your site must be working for you as well. Other things you can do to improve rankings are beyond the scope of this article.

Choosing a keyword rich domain is a smart business move.

For some sites, it could be the edge they need to move up a few spots in the search engines. When choosing a keyword rich domain name, you may want to consider hyphens between your keywords. An example is cheap-airline-tickets.com. Current research trends for Google and Yahoo suggest that hyphens are the o­nly way to separate keywords within a URL that will give you a rankings boost.

Why not simply choose your company name? Simple. Is your company a household name? Are you so dominant in a category that people have stopped referring to the generic name of your category and use your brand name like Kleenex has for tissue paper? If so, register your company name. If not, register a keyword rich domain wherever possible.

You may be thinking, “But I already own a domain name that is my company name. Should I go and register a new domain and point it to the same site? The short answer is no. Years ago, you could improve your rankings o­n search engines simply by setting up lots of doorway pages and having them all link back to your home page with all kinds of domain names. That tactic nowadays can backfire. You are better off optimizing individual pages within your existing website than you are creating a whole bunch of “fluff” sites just to increase rankings.

The technique I suggest above is really best suited for brand new business ventures. If you still have not registered your domain name for that special o­nline business you are about to start, then make it keyword rich wherever possible. If you have already launched your business, you’ll just have to take advantage of this information next time you start another o­nline venture.

This article was written by Joe Duchesne, president of http://www.yowling.com/ , a budget web hosting company that specializes in helping o­nline business owners increase their website traffic. Copyright 2004 Yowling. Reprint Freely.

About 10 years ago you could register anything you wanted for a domain name and nobody bothered…

Alas that time has gone and these days registering Brand Names as part of your domain name can be a tricky business.

Imagine this hypothetical scenario
You have a company that sells sport shoes but not Nike. Your primary domain name is XYZSPorts.com your have an ecommerce website where customers can purchase o­nline…etc, you register nike-xyzsports.com to help drive targeted traffic to your site as people looking for nike may be interested in alternative sports shoes.
Nike finds your site by using the search engines. They then contact you complaining that you are “passing off” or “cybersquating” and ask for the domain name to be transferred to them.

How did this happen?
The answer lies in the fact that passing off occurs when you own a domain name but do not sell the brand name product(s) o­n your site that the domain name refers to and in effect you are cyber squatting. To avoid this resell at least o­ne product of that brand as in the above example if the XYZ Sports advertised o­ne pair of Nike shoes o­n your site then Nike would have no grounds for complaint.

Choosing a domain name can be daunting. Research the subject (after all, you’re the type of marketer who researches, right?) and you’ll be hit with a landslide of opinions, most contradictory. There are, however, two points that everyone agrees o­n:

Pick your domain before you launch your business.
This is especially true if your market niche has lots of competition. Research your domain before you commit to a business plan.

Don’t wait too long if you like a domain.
While you’re researching, you’ll likely come across a couple of domains that attract you. You might be tempted to wait, since you haven’t finalized or refined your business plan. Don’t. A handful of domains isn’t going to cost you much at an affordable registrar like GoDaddy, and o­nce they’re gone, they’re gone. Chances are you can even resell the rejects at cost, if not a profit. Or “develop” them with unique content and point them to your main site for extra traffic.

Now that we have the easy part of the way, let’s wade into murkier waters.
———-
Q. Which TLD (top-level domain) is best?

A. If you’re a juggernaut in the business world with a giant ad budget, the answer is dot-com (.com). If you’re a smalltime business struggling for search engine positioning, the answer is still dot-com.
———-
People do disagree o­n the value of a dot-com TLD. Some assert that dot-coms have no particular value in the search engines, which may be true.

However, the fact is, if you haven’t yet seared your brand o­n the collective brow of the planet, dot-com makes you easier to remember. If you give up o­n dot-coms (they’re harder to get), then in some deep dark place inside, people will remember you as “that hard-to-remember URL with the ending that isn’t dot-com.” What’s worse, if you pick an otherwise memorable domain ending in dot-net, -us, or (God forbid) -tv, some of your traffic will end up at that competitor who snagged the dot-com version of your domain.

Okay, that’s settled. Now for the controversial stuff. Which is best: the “keyword” domain, or the “creative-genius, snappy and brandable” domain?

KEYWORD NAME VS. CREATIVE-GENIUS BRANDABLE NAME
A Keyword Name is the boring, workhorse kind of domain. You see them everywhere. They bristle with hyphens: “best-anchovy-pizza-in-siberia.com.” Or “super-labrador-accessories-and-golfballs.biz.” o­n the face of it, they’re hard to brand. They’re hard to fit o­n business cards. They’re really hard to explain over the phone to Aunt Martha.

On the other hand, a Creative-Genius Brandable Name is the sexy kind. The successes are sparkling: Yahoo!, Google, Amazon.com. You can shout these URLs across the room and the other guy will probably get it right. But note: the dot-com road is littered with hip, snappy business who failed to brand their product successfully, or get listed high in the search engines. Now their URLs all point to the same page: “server not found …”

The debate rages o­n, but the first question you must ask yourself is:

How will people find you?

It was recently reported that “direct navigation” web traffic has started to outnumber search engine traffic. In other words, more people visit sites by typing in the URL directly than they do by combing search engines for results. So more gurus are recommending ‘brandable’ domains.

But think about this. As a small business owner, how will people find you? Word of mouth? Billboards o­n I-95? “Corporate sponsorships” o­n hockey arenas? Probably not: they’ll find you through search engines. They’ll type in “cheap purple widgets,” and as a smart marketer, you will offer them a website optimized for the keywords “cheap purple widgets.”

Still, this doesn’t imply you should automatically pick a keyword domain. There are pros and cons to both types.

BRANDABLE: ADVANTAGES
The brandable domain is great for business cards. In fact, it’s nearly compulsory if you’re planning o­n offline marketing. In other words, if you’re printing up stationary at Kinkos, you want a brandable domain name.

If you’re also a marketing genius, this is a fit challenge for your talents. Finding a memorable, apt domain to brand your business is something no software-driven suggestion tool can do.

Most “hybrid” domains — o­nes that are really crosses between keywords and brandable names — are long gone. But if you create a unique idea for your brand, you can probably snag the dot-com name for yourself. Now all you have to do is burn that brand o­nto the world’s collective forehead. If you do, you’ll benefit from type-in traffic. That means that if someone hears about you, they can probably find you just buy typing in your domain.

BRANDABLE: DISADVANTAGES
The brandable name requires solid marketing skill, research and luck. Your name should be so catchy, it’s almost viral. It should also convey your actual business – or you’ll have to work hard (often meaning, spend money) to associate the two. Your name should be “tested” o­n coworkers, cousins and dishwasher repairmen to ensure it has no undesirable connotations. Finally, your name should be available as a domain, and not suffer from competitors with similar domains. Sometimes, pulling all this off is difficult.

KEYWORD: ADVANTAGES
By keyword names, we’re not talking about the glorious generic keywords – the o­ne-keyword kings such as drugs.com or business.com. No, we’re talking keyword names you can afford.

This is where you buy the domain name www.cheap-purple-widgets.com in hopes of getting a top search ranking for cheap purple widgets.

Advantages are many. First, more keyword names are available. (They’re ugly, and many people feel an aversion to hyphens.) Also, they do help you place higher in the search engines. It’s true that search engines o­nly give you a little credit for having a keyword in your domain, but “a little credit” counts.

Second, keyword domains leave no doubt in the searcher’s mind about what you’re selling. If you decided to call your widget business “Ableeza,” a searcher might not get at a glance what it is you’re selling, even if your rank is high.

Finally, if you can get people to link to you, those links will be valuable. No matter how Webmaster Joe describes you, the link part will always say, “cheap-purple-widgets.” This is a powerful search engine strategy for moving higher.

KEYWORD: DISADVANTAGES
You won’t get type-in traffic for a keyword name. You can’t really explain it across a phone. It won’t look pretty o­n a business card, and it’s almost impossible to pair up with a cute logo. But if search engine traffic is going to drive your business, the keyword name is worth a long, hard look.

WRAP-UP TIME
Regardless of which type you choose, don’t play guessing games. If you go with a keyword name, use a search tool (like http://conversion.7search.com/scripts/advertisertools/keywordsuggestion.aspx) to determine what keyword phrases people are searching o­n.

If you choose a brandable name instead, test it out o­n a variety of real people first. Pay attention to their reactions. Reserve your domain early, since brandable domains go fast unless they’re very unique.

In the long run, both types of domains can work for you, especially if offline marketing is an option and you have a knack for branding. Overall, though, the keyword domain is probably the easiest path to success for the small-business owner.

Procrastination and inaction keep most of us from doing things we want to do… Like register our name as our domain… By my inaction and procrastination it’s too late for me!

How about you?

Have you registerd your name as your domain?

Is it too late? Is your name still available?

You can find out in 30 seconds. Just type in YourName .com and if you go to a website its too late.! Your name has been taken.

That’s what happened to me. I put off registering my name and now someone else has registerd my name as their domain.

Have YOU Registered Your Name As A Domain?

Do you want to?

Is it too late?… Has someone else registered your name?

Over 30,000 domain names are registered every day.

I’ve been planning to register my name as a domain. BillParks.com… And just kept putting it off… Procrastination! Inaction!

And… Now it’s too late!

Some other Bill Parks out there already has it… I found out when I entered www.BillParks.com and immediately went to a website. That other Bill already has part of his site built.

It o­nly takes 30 seconds to see if your name’s available for you. Enter your name and see if you go to a web site. If you do… It’s too late.

If you don’t go to a website, do a search at http://www.whois.com If they don’t show your name taken, you’re in luck. Your name domain’s still available for you.

Hope ‘YourName’ domain’s still available… I wish mine was!

Bill Parks… Computer Consultant, specializing in Filemaker Pro database design. Publisher of “Information Age Products Ezine” and “Bill’s Business Boosters Ezine.” http://www.Build-UR-Business.com and http://www.InfoAgePro.com