Thursday, December 15, 2011

Selecting a Website Domain Name

By Joshua Nikenya


The number of people building their own websites grows everyday. Some of these sites are personal in nature, while others are commercial websites. Regardless of the kind of site you are building, selecting a website domain name is one of the most important things you will need to do. Those searching for good domain names should ensure that they select the best domain name that fits their website.

Particularly if your website is for your business, your domain name will become part of your brand and as such, it's something which you absolutely have to get right.

Your website domain name needs to communicate what your website is all about as well as being easy to recall; the more memorable your website's name, the more likely visitors are to find it and to return for repeat visits. If you can use your firm's name as your website domain name, this is ideal; of course, you will need to search first to be certain that the domain name you want is available.

If you can't use your company name as your domain name, then you have to think of a domain name which at least includes your company name - failing that, then a name which includes some of the keywords which people are probably going to use to find your website ought to be included in your website domain name.

Your domain name should also, if possible, give the world an idea of what your site's content is about. Online directories like DMOZ.org will allow you to categorize your site based on its content - and if the domain name is related to this, all the better. If your domain name includes words which have frequently used alternate spellings (like color and colour, for example), then it's a good idea to register your website under both versions of this website domain name.

It could be a challenge to find just the right website domain name given the pace of domain name registrations, so you ought to have a few alternate choices in mind for your domain name in case your first choice happens to already be registered to another person or another business. You will also need to keep your domain name extension in mind; obviously, you'll want to select a top level domain extension like .com, .net or .org. You may also want to register your site under all three of these extensions to protect your brand and lock out potential competitors.

If you see the domain name you want is registered by another, well established site under a different domain extension, you may want to reconsider your domain name - it's much better to have a domain which will not easily be confused with that of your competitors, after all.




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