Article / Tutorial

What's in a Web Domain name?

Choosing an appropriate domain name for your website is very important because it will be with you for a very long time - so give it some considerable thought.

First and foremost, when it comes to domain names, try to stay away from the silly, stupid, ridiculous or what you think is clever.
Keep your domain name simple, catchy and as short as possible and make it something your customers can remember if they lose the link to your business website.
A professional domain name, that uses your primary company name or associated niche keywords, is likely to get more attention and be considered as a stable business by your prospective customers.
Using one of your niche keywords in your domain name can increase your score on some search engines. For example, solderingirons.com could be more effective as Electric-soldering-irons.com, if that domain name was available. Notice the hyphens in the name - search engines read the words as a phrase or separately and index them accordingly.
You might also choose to establish more than one website domain for your home based business using niche keywords and then link these 'doorway' niche domain sites to your main primary web domain. But remember that you will have to pay for each of the domain names and also the monthly hosting fees. This all depends on the type and size of your home based business and your competition.
Keep in mind that some search engines disregard 'doorway' sites. So put at least 5 pages of content on the doorway site with some useful information and then link it to your primary site. Just don't every design it as an empty page otherwise the link back to your primary website will be worthless.
Once you have a list of at least 10 different possible domains, go to one of the many domain name look up sites (e.g. whois.net) and see if your domain name is available for purchase. If you want to register a .com domain (highly recommended) be aware that they are becoming quite scarce and you might have to adjust your chosen name accordingly.
Purchasing a domain name is not that expensive at all. Depending on whether you want a .com or a .net or .org, etc. the cost of the domain names varies between $8-$20. There are many companies that can register the name for you, provided it is available and has not already been used by another company. You pay more or less the same fee annually to retain your domain name.
Warning: While your hosting domain on Geocities or AOL may seem like the least expensive way to go, it may also get you dropped from certain search engines. Many search engines ignore domain addresses that reside on these 'free servers' or on the 'cheap' servers.

Author: The Work at Home Wizard @ www.248wealthwizards.com
Step-by-Step Wealth Creation | Helping ordinary people realize their dreams