The preliminary step to building a website is the registration of a domain name. Whether you are a doctor, lawyer, plumber, aluminum siding salesman, or if you want to start up a website to display photos of your newborn online, the entire undertaking begins with the registration of your domain name.
Next you might ask- “What constitutes a good choice of domain name?”. The answer to this depends on what type of site you are planning. The domain name chosen for a family and friends website won’t be as crucial as with other types of sites. Why? Because in a case like that you probably don’t really care about gaining a lot of traffic to your website, friends and family are your desired audience, to keep them informed. In a case like this, it does not matter whatsoever if you find a domain name like “mybabiesphotos.com” or not, since most likely you will only be giving out the website address to a few friends and family and maybe your crazy Uncle Bill.
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 coworkers, 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 you are looking to attract customers? And to get as much traffic coming to your site as possible?
It really pays to have a domain name that reflects your company name and website. Put some thought into how people search. For example, if your company sells insurance or doughnuts or bowling pins or toilet bowls, find a way to incorporate WHAT YOU DO in the website domain name. If you can, get your domain name exactly the same as your business, that is your best bet. Failing that, at least try to put the category of your business into the name. For example, a plumbing website should have a domain name like plumbers.com or bobtheplumber.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 need to search the WhoIs database to find a domain name that has not already been registered. For a quick search of your desired domain name, I have conveniently placed a domain name search engine on StartMyWebsiteToday.com for this very purpose. When searching for 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 it’s not available, 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.
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This post was written by Robjohn on June 8, 2009



