Naming a domain

Naming your site after your domain may seem obvious to some of you, but you'll be surprised to learn that not every website is named after the domain name even when the webmaster owns that domain name.

Naming a site after its domain name is important, for the simple reason that when people think of your website, they'll think of it by name. If your name is also your URL, they'll automatically know where to go.

Imagine if your business (or website) is called "Acme", but somebody else holds that domain name. Instead, you have some obscure domain name called, say, "mybusiness.com". What happens when your customers, recalling that Acme has a product they want, type "www.acme.com"? They'll wind up at your competitor's website.

In the modern world of the Internet, where people automatically turn to the Web for information, it pays to have a domain name that reflects your site or business. There are just lesser things for your customers or visitors to remember. Moreover, you don't seriously think that they'll try to memorise an unrelated URL just because you want them to, do you? The only people who'll memorise it are you and your competitors who want to compare your prices.

What if you cannot get the domain name of your choice? It really depends on how committed you are to that particular name. If you have an existing brand name that you're known for, you'll probably not want to ditch that name just because you couldn't get the domain name. After all, it took you a lot of time and money to establish that name. If so, you might simply want to try to buy over the domain name from the current owner. Check up the "whois" information for the domain, and contact that person listed to see if they're willing to sell it. You probably should be aware that they are likely to want to charge a higher fee than you'd normally get when buying new domains.

On the other hand, if you're just starting out, you might prefer the cheaper alternative of trying to obtain a domain name first, and then naming your website (or business) after the domain that you've acquired. So if you've acquired, say, the domain name "acme.com", then your website and business might be named "Acme" or "acme.com". I know this seems a bit like putting the cart before the horse, but that's the reality if you don't want to lose out on the Internet.

Getting a domain name

How do I really check availability?

Most Web hosting companies and domain registrars let you check the availability of a domain name and it associated extensions (like .com or .org). Some even offer alternate versions if the name you searched on isn't available.

How do I register the name?

You'll need to use an accredited domain name registrar or one of their agents. Often, your Web hosting company has a relationship with a particular registrar that allows you to purchase your Web hosting account and domain name with one transaction.

That's easy, but it isn't always the cheapest option. You can buy a domain name from any authorized dealer; you aren't required to go through your Web hosting company. Prices for domain name registration vary widely - from as little as $8.00 to $35.00 for the same name!

This is one area where it pays to shop around!

What if the name I want is taken?

Go to the InterNIC WhoIs search page to find the owner. Perhaps he/she is willing to transfer the name to you. Transferring ownership is simple. It may not be cheap.

Some people buy hundreds of domain names on a speculative basis, hoping to sell them at a profit. Expect to pay a premium if you approach a speculator. Depending on the name's perceived value, you may have to pay hundreds, even thousands for it.

However, if an individual owner has just lost interest or decided not to use the name, you can probably get it for very little or nothing.

You can also investigate some relatively new services that allow you to immediately register a domain name if the owner doesn't renew it.

• SnapNames: "Back order" a particular domain name. Automatically registers the domain in your name as soon as it becomes available.
  
  


• NameWinner: Works on an auction model. You bid on particular domain names and only pay if you get the name.
  


• ExpireFish: Uses a different model where you place money in your account to cover names you'd like to purchase and then the ExpireFish service goes "fishing" for the names. Allows users to monitor an unlimited number of names.

Is it ok to buy an expired domain name?

That depends on the name's history. Find out why the previous owner doesn't want it anymore. The most obvious reasons are pretty benign:

• Lost interest in maintaining the site.
  
• Bought it on a speculative basis and couldn't sell it.
  
• No longer running the online business.
  

A less obvious - and more dangerous reason - is that one or more search engines have permanently banned the site for spam tactics. Gambling and adult sites like to buy up domain names, link them together, and use every spam trick they know to try to boost the search engine rank.

Once the search engines discover the spam sites (it usually doesn't take long), the site (or sites) may have their URLs permanently banned. At that point, the URL is worthless to the spammers: they release it and buy more.

That means that no matter how hard you work at link popularity, how carefully you create content and optimize your pages for particular engines, you'll never achieve a high rank with the expired domain name.

Check out the history of expired domain names before you buy at the Wayback Machine. It's a historical search engine that maintains records of how Web sites appeared months - or even years - in the past.

Enter the domain name you're interested in into the search box and check its history. Steer clear of sites that appear to have consisted mainly of affiliate links, online gambling, or adult content.

Your domain name is your online identity so make sure that it's clear and memorable enough that visitors can find your site after their initial visit. But remember that most first-time visitors will find you through search engines. That's why it's important to optimize your page using Search Engine Power Pack. It's an online tool that gives you valuable advice about selecting keywords, writing META tags, optimizing your page for particular search engines, and submitting your site.

A good domain name is just your first step to online success. Search engine promotion is a continuing process that keeps traffic coming to your site.

How do I decide on a domain name?

How do I decide on a domain name?

First you must consider the following::

Short: The maximum allowed size is 63 characters, but keep the name as short a possible. That's easier to type and remember.

Memorable: Names with special characters like hyphens and underbars are harder to describe to customers over the phone. Visitors aren't as used to them either and you may inadvertently send customers to your competitors if they have similar names without special characters!

Descriptive: Use your company name or a description of your product instead of company initials. Desctibe you site in the domain name as much as possible.

Naming your site after your domain may seem obvious to some of you, but you'll be surprised to learn that not every website is named after the domain name even when the webmaster owns that domain name.

Naming your site after your domain may seem obvious to some of you, but you'll be surprised to learn that not every website is named after the domain name even when the webmaster owns that domain name.

Naming a site after its domain name is important, for the simple reason that when people think of your website, they'll think of it by name. If your name is also your URL, they'll automatically know where to go.

Imagine if your business (or website) is called "Acme", but somebody else holds that domain name. Instead, you have some obscure domain name called, say, "mybusiness.com". What happens when your customers, recalling that Acme has a product they want, type "www.acme.com"? They'll wind up at your competitor's website.

In the modern world of the Internet, where people automatically turn to the Web for information, it pays to have a domain name that reflects your site or business. There are just lesser things for your customers or visitors to remember. Moreover, you don't seriously think that they'll try to memorise an unrelated URL just because you want them to, do you? The only people who'll memorise it are you and your competitors who want to compare your prices.

What if you cannot get the domain name of your choice? It really depends on how committed you are to that particular name. If you have an existing brand name that you're known for, you'll probably not want to ditch that name just because you couldn't get the domain name. After all, it took you a lot of time and money to establish that name. If so, you might simply want to try to buy over the domain name from the current owner. Check up the "whois" information for the domain, and contact that person listed to see if they're willing to sell it. You probably should be aware that they are likely to want to charge a higher fee than you'd normally get when buying new domains.

On the other hand, if you're just starting out, you might prefer the cheaper alternative of trying to obtain a domain name first, and then naming your website (or business) after the domain that you've acquired. So if you've acquired, say, the domain name "acme.com", then your website and business might be named "Acme" or "acme.com". I know this seems a bit like putting the cart before the horse, but that's the reality if you don't want to lose out on the Internet.

What is a domain name?

What is a domain name?

The most common types of domain names are hostnames that provide more memorable names to stand in for numeric IP addresses. This is difficult to remember. They allow for any service to move to a different location on the Internet, which would then have a different IP address. The numeric IP addresses are represented by words or "domain name" that is easier to remember.

By allowing the use of unique alphabetical addresses instead of numeric ones, domain names allow Internet users to more easily find and communicate with web sites and other server-based services. The flexibility of the domain name system allows multiple IP addresses to be assigned to a single domain name, or multiple domain names to be assigned to a single IP address. This means that one server may have multiple roles such as hosting multiple web sites on a single server on a single IP address, or the functions of the domain is distributed among many servers. One IP address can also be assigned to several servers.

Hostnames are restricted to the ASCII letters "a" through "z" (case-insensitive), the digits "0" through "9", and the hyphen, with some other restrictions. Registrars restrict the domains to valid hostnames, since, otherwise, they would be useless. The Internationalized domain name (IDN) system has been developed to bypass the restrictions on character allowances in hostnames, making it easier for users of non-english alphabets to use the Internet.

Welcome to my domain name information blog!

Welcome to my domain name information blog! You've found a reliable source for information on Internet domains name. Here you will learn about all aspects of a domain name. Thanks for stopping by come back often as this blog is updated regularly with useful Internet domain information.



Enojoy!
Tony