What is a Domain Name?

Your domain name is basically your online identity. It is the name prospects and customers will use to find your Web site, your products or your services. For example, www.homedepot.com is the domain name for the Home Depot web site.

The technical definition of a domain name is complicated and really not necessary for you to understand in order to register an effective domain name for your business.

When you register your unique domain name, you become the owner of that domain name as long as you continue to pay your registration fees. This registration system prevents the domain name from being registered by more than one person or company.

1. Make It Memorable and Easy to Understand
   
   You want people to remember your domain name so that it is easy for prospects and customers to return to your website and to refer others to your site.
   
   Don't use domain names that have symbolism that may not be understood by all of your prospects and customers. There is a fine line between clever and cryptic.
   
   Avoid dashes in your domain name where possible. Dashes can either make your domain name easy to understand or difficult to remember.
   
   
2. Don't Be Afraid To Change Your Domain Name or Add a New One
   
   If you are not happy with your domain name, change it. There is no reason to stick with something that is not working for your business. Just change your printed materials, marketing and advertising to reflect your new domain name when you re-order them.
   
   You don't have to get rid of your old domain name, you can just add a new one that points to the same web site. In fact, you can have as many domain names for your website as you want. That way any prospects or customers that are used to your old domain name can still use it.
   
   
3. Your Domain Name Does Not Have To Be Representative of Your Company Name
   
   To make your domain name easier for prospects and customers to remember, consider having a domain name that is representative of what you sell. For example, you might want both www.mycompany.com and www.greatwidgets.com to display your website.
   
   Different people remember things in different ways. Some people will remember www.mycompany.com while others will more easily remember www.greatwidgets.com.
   
   
4. Multiple Domain Names For Your Website Can Be a Powerful Marketing Tool
   
   Having multiple domain names for your website can help you to market your company.
   
   For example, you may want to register www.floridawidgets.com for a special marketing campaign or special offer that will only be in the state of Florida. That could make it easier for prospect and customers in Florida to remember your domain name. If you are releasing a new line of widgets for children you could register www.widgetsforkids.com.
   
   You will have to pay the annual renewal for each domain name, but the nominal cost could be well worth it, if the new domain name helps increase traffic to your site.
   
   
5. Don't Let Your Domain Names Expire
   
   If you let your domain name registration expire, either accidentally or intentionally, you can be almost guaranteed to lose it. There is an entire industry on the web comprised of companies and individuals who buy up expired domain names. They do so with the sole intention of extorting huge sums of money from businesses needing to buy back their domain names. It even happened to us once.
   
   If you think you want to let a domain name expire, keep it for at least another year or two. The money you spend to keep the domain name a bit longer is nothing compared to the hundreds or thousands of dollars you will have to pay if you decide you want or need that domain name after all.
   
   
6. Don't Give Up Too Easily
   
   Just because a domain name that you want may already be registered by another company, don't assume that the domain name you want is not available.
   
   If the domain name you want is taken, first check to see who owns it. It may be a competitor or similar type of business as yours or it may be one of these companies who resell expired domain names.
   
   Next, make sure there is a website for the domain name you are researching. If no website comes up, the domain name may still be available to you. If the domain name is for sale, you may be automatically taken to a page where you can get purchasing information for that domain name.
   
   Many people allow domain names to expire intentionally because they no longer want or need them. Companies that buy expired domain names, do so with the intent to resell them. If the company who originally owned the domain name does not buy it back, after a little bit of time, the price comes way down. I've seen used domain names for sale a low as $25. If the price is affordable, you can grab the domain name that you want.
   
   Even if you have to pay up to a few hundred dollars for a really good domain name, it is worth the investment to buy it. Companies spend thousands of dollars for logo's and branding that have to be updated every few years. The few hundred dollars you spend to get a great domain name is a one-time investment that never has to be updated, and it could mean the difference between a good domain name or one that repels your website traffic.
   
   
7. Stay With the Same Domain Name Registration Company
   
   Once you decide which company to register your web site through, stay with that company for all your domain names. This way when you need to make changes, you only have to go to one website to make the changes and you only need to remember one username and password.
   
   We use register.com which is a little pricey, but for technical reasons register.com is our first choice for our domain names.
   
   We actually have six different domain names that will get you to our web site. Imagine the time it would take to go to six different sites, log in and make changes just to do something as simple as switching our hosting company.
   
   At register.com we manage all seventeen of our domain names from a single management console.
   
   
8. Keep It Short
   
   Make sure your domain name is not too long. Even though more than 80% of website traffic is from click-thru's, some traffic will come from people typing your domain name into the address field of their browser. Since you will be putting your website on business cards, letterheads, envelopes, brochures, catalogs, etc. the instances of click-thru traffic won't be that high, especially if you are a local business.
   
   If you will be emailing someone your website address, remember not all email supports hyperlinks. Not everyone can just click the hyperlink in the email and be taken straight to your site. Those prospects and customers may still have to type in your domain name.
   
   Our first domain name, years ago, was www.krystalkleartechnologies.com because other domain names, like www.kkt.com and www.kktech.com, were not available. Also, our email addresses were myname@krystalkleartechnologies.com. We had assumed that most people would click thru to our site and save our email addresses in Outlook. We didn't know there was any problem with that domain name until we heard complaints from a few people about it.
   
   Spare yourself the trouble of learning this lesson the hard way. Keep your domain name short.
   
   
9. Watch Out For New Extensions (.info, .biz, .name, .us, etc.)
   
   While you may get a great domain name not otherwise available to you using these new extensions, not all website hosting companies support these new extensions yet. Check that your website hosting company supports the extension you want BEFORE you register it.