Website
Basics-Choosing a Domain Name
The
first step in building a website
is in the choice of a domain name.
Whether you are a doctor, lawyer,
plumber, aluminum siding salesman,
or if you want to start up a website
to feature your family dog Spot,
the entire endeavor begins with
the choice of a domain name.
The
next logical question you might
ask, is "What is a good domain
name?". The answer is, it depends.
For example, if you are the person
above who wants to build a website
devoted to Spot, the family dog,
then the answer is that the choice
of a domain name really doesn't
matter. Why? Because you probably
don't really care about gaining
a lot of traffic to your website,
your site is probably only something
you are going to produce for family
and friends, to let them know about
the latest goings on in Spot's life.
In a case like this, it does not
matter whatsoever if you find a
domain name like "ourdogspot.com"
or not, since most likely you will
only be giving out the website address
to a few friends and family and
maybe Aunt Tilly in Toledo.
In
fact, in a case like the above,
you could call the site anything
you wanted to, "dogdiary.com"
or even "catsdontlikespot.com"
or something even as silly as "lookatthis.com",
which really has nothing at all
to do with the subject matter of
the website itself. The point is
that in a case like this, there
is no real concern with getting
a lot of visitors to the website
other than friends and family and
Aunt Tilly in Toledo, so there is
no real harm in naming the website
ANYTHING, because you will be giving
out the website address to a select
few people. BUT......
What
if the website is for business?
What if I do want it to attract
attention?
The
simple answer is, it pays to have
a domain name that reflects your
site or business. If your website
is about car parts for example,
do you really expect the average
web surfer to remember how to get
to your website if it is named "bobsthingsforsale.com"
or some other unrelated name? The
best strategy is to find a domain
name that directly relates to your
business, whether it is the business
name itself or related to the category
of business. For example, a car
parts website should have a domain
name like carparts.com or bobsautoparts.com,
something that immediately associates
the domain name with the theme of
the site. It's all about branding,
and making a lasting impression
on the target audience or customers.
You
can find domain names by checking
the WhoIs database on the internet.
While there are any number of places
on the net to do this, we have conveniently
placed a domain name search engine
on www.StartMyWebsiteToday.com for
this very purpose. After searching
the domain name, the results given
will instantly show whether or not
the domain name is available, and
if so, give you the option to immediately
register it. If not, several alternative
domain names will be proposed, to
help you fine tune your search,
or possibly giving you an acceptable
alternative domain name to register
instead.
In
the next article, we discuss strategies
for choosing a domain name, long
or short, hyphenated or not, and
generic or brand names.
About the Author
Richard James has been a contributing
author for this website and is an
acknowledged expert in the field
of domain names. He can be found
on the internet at this website:
http://www.startmywebsitetoday.com
This article is copyrighted, please
do not alter in any way.
