Blog Me Happy I don't want to be a newbie any longer.

So you want to start up a website?  One of the best things you can help yourself with in your domain name choice is to develop a strategy and plan of attack.  One of the best things you can do for your fledgling website is to bestow it with an appropriate, catchy, easy to remember domain name. Ultimately you are seeking to attract customers- the Holy Grail, and good marketing (which will help with Search Engine placement also) begins with your choice of domain name.

What if someone else already owns the domain name you wanted?  Would it still be possible to buy the domain name?  The answer is a qualified YES.  It’s possible, but with conditions to consider.  With some research and hard work you can still possibly register that coveted domain name even if someone has beaten you to the punch.  There are other ways to get the domain name you want:

Hyphenated Names One strategy to consider if the domain name you want is already taken would be to hyphenate it, as in turning ricksantiqueshop.com into ricks-antique-shop.com.  Is it always the best strategy?  Possibly, but maybe not.  If you want a domain name that is already taken by someone else and is already a well known, well traveled website, this might be a bad move, because users already familiar with the original domain name will just type the original, non-hyphenated version into their web browser, and end up not at your site but at your competitor’s site.  Not the desired result!  Also, if you do decide to take a hyphenated domain name, remember to keep it short!  The longer the domain name and the more dashes you put between words the harder it will be for the end user to remember, and therefore makes it more error prone, which could cost you customers who never make it to your website.  Definitely shorter is better.  Another school of thought: IF the web domain you want is already taken, IF the owner of the domain name won’t give it up, and IF the website associated with it is non-existent or poorly designed with low traffic, hyphenating the name might make sense after all.

Longer or Shorter?  If you want to, you can purchase up to a 67 character long domain name.  At 63 characters, thelongestdomainnameintheworldandthensome
andthensomemoreandmore.com claims to be the longest domain name in the world, and it may very well be.  Who would want to type it into a browser?  My website is www.StartMyWebsiteToday.com    When choosing my domain name I wanted something that in a few words would tell the web surfer what to expect from my website.  Good name selection can be helpful also with search engine ranking.  You will want to definitely keep the name as short and sweet as possible, but at the same time let the visitor know what to expect when he surfs to your website.  Remember, keep it short!

Brand Name or Generic  Whether or not to call your website by a brand name or to make the name a more generic description of your business online is the question.  Definitely if your business is known by a fairly well known brand name, then you would want to try and secure that as your domain name.  For instance, Nike.com is a well known brand name site, although there is nothing in the domain name to suggest that it is a site about shoes.  Still, Nike is such a well known brand name to the public that people automatically know what they will be shopping for when they get there.  If your brand name is well known, definitely try to obtain your brand name as a domain name.  But if your company is Nike or Coca Cola or Budweiser don’t discount the idea of buying the domain name shoes.com or soda.com or beer.com if they are available as well.  People often search the web using generic terms, more so even than brand names.  A person is more likely to search the internet with generic terms like shoes or footwear or sneakers than to search by a single brand name, even one as big as Nike.  Think it through and hedge your bets.  You can have as many domain names as you want pointing to a single website, so the more generic terms you can acquire that directly describe your business, the better.   A generic name if your business is new or not yet well known can get great results, if you can find a good one.  To start your search for your own unique domain name, here is a link to a domain name search engine.

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Posted under Emails

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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Posted under Emails

So you want to start up a website?  Have you thought about your long term plans for your website?  Doing so will be a great advantage in determining the best possible domain name.  Careful consideration of your website’s domain name can pay off in dividends once your website is published online. Ultimately you are seeking to attract customers- the Holy Grail, and good marketing (which will help with Search Engine placement also) begins with your choice of domain name.

OK, so now you’ve found the domain name you want, but someone else owns it.  But you really wanted it badly.  Can the domain name still be acquired?  Maybe.  It’s possible, but there are conditions.  However, with a little luck and enginuity you can get the domain name you want even if it is already spoken for.  But for now, lets look at some alternatives to getting that domain name you want:

Hyphenated Names If the domain name you want is already taken, consider hyphenating it, as in taking billsplumbingsupplies.com and making it bills-plumbing-supplies.com.  Is hyphenating the best way to go?  Maybe, maybe not.  For example, if the domain name you want is already taken AND well known, most likely this is not a good idea, because most web surfers would likely just type the non-hyphenated version into their browsers and thus could end up at your competitor’s website.  Not the desired result!  Also, if you do decide to take a hyphenated domain name, remember to keep it short!  The longer the domain name and the more dashes you put between words the harder it will be for the end user to remember, and therefore makes it more error prone, which could cost you customers who never make it to your website.  So keep it short.  But if the name you have chosen is already taken and there is no chance of getting it from it’s owner, and the owner either has no website or a poorly designed one with little traffic, this can be a good strategy in purchasing a name.

Longer or Shorter?  If you want to, you can purchase up to a 67 character long domain name.  You could purchase a domain name like thelongestdomainnameintheworldandthensome
andthensomemoreandmore.com which is 63 characters long, but why would you want to do that?  Who would want to type it into a browser?  My website is www.StartMyWebsiteToday.com  and features a name that in a few words encapsulates the purpose of the site.  Good name selection can be helpful also with search engine ranking.  When choosing your domain name try to keep it short and concise, and if at all possible let the name tell the story of the site.  Keep it as short as possible.

Brand Name or Generic  Should you give your website a descriptive generic name or do you want to use a brand name?  If your business is known by a brand name, and it is a well known name, of course it is the best possible strategy to try to register that domain name.  For instance, Nike.com is a well known brand name site, although there is nothing in the domain name to suggest that it is a site about shoes.  Still, Nike is such a well known brand name to the public that people automatically know what they will be shopping for when they get there.  If your brand name is well known, definitely try to obtain your brand name as a domain name.  But if your company is Nike or Coca Cola or Budweiser don’t discount the idea of buying the domain name shoes.com or soda.com or beer.com if they are available as well.  People often search the web using generic terms, more so even than brand names.  A person is more likely to search the internet with generic terms like shoes or footwear or sneakers than to search by a single brand name, even one as big as Nike.  Think it through and hedge your bets.  You can have as many domain names as you want pointing to a single website, so the more generic terms you can acquire that directly describe your business, the better.   A generic name if your business is new or not yet well known can get great results, if you can find a good one.  To start your search for your own unique domain name, here is a link to a domain name search engine.

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Posted under Site building.

You need a server to put your web site on the internet. Sometimes, owning and maintaining a web server can cost money and it requires someone who knows what they are doing to maintain the server and the web-site.

A web host can do this for you. They provide equipment and other technical programs that are required to build a customer a web-site. These web hosting companies charge a monthly fee for the service of storing your web site and allowing your web site to be seen on the internet. Within that fee, it allows website visitor traffic to flow through their servers so people can view your site on the internet.

The physical web server does not reside at the consumers home or business which means that the web host services are designated as outsourced services. This means that the web hosting organization that you choose has the responsibility to maintain your site structure, files and web pages.

Many web hosts provide excellent services that really assist individuals and business owners. All the weight of maintaining the host servers and application fall on the hosting company and not the individual and as a business owner, this is great because there are so many technical routines that you have to do daily to maintain a server.

When you pick a web host to handle your internet server needs, you achieve the following:

You streamline your internet costs getting the maximum from your hosting provider;

Work with knowledgeable technicians;

and pass IT services control functions to the host so you won’t have to worry about maintaining servers and other equipment.

You can self publish your site and use the web host to handle the technical aspects of server management. The host that you choose will give you the capability to load your own site to the server for updates and revisions to your web page. Web hosting doesn’t include developing your site (unless they have a special development program) or the development of certain customized programs. You can develop the programs (web-site or server side code) or have someone do it for you.

Web hosting is offered in multiple formats based on cost and infrastructure.

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Posted under Emails

When building your website and connecting it online, you wish for your site to be live and bridging over the web twenty-four / seven with no interference. This way it is building money for you at every point and all you want to concentrate on is tempting visitors and maintaining the level of hits that your Internet site obtains. Except for this, you’ll need to target search engine optimization and earning a return.  The last thing that you want to be worried about is your web hosting provider and your uptime.
So, when opting for a web hosting provider to supply hosting for your site, you want to research and be able to choose the best possible firm to provide for your site. You want to do whatever it takes to ensure that your site is online as much as possible.

So what constitutes a beneficial Web Hosting Provider?
There are countless things that comprise a profitable web-hosting supplier A few of these are effective back up, proper uptime, the right substitute schemes, fine hardware and they must provides lot of web hosting features like e-mail, scripting characteristics and more.

So where can secure Web Hosting Providers be obtained?
There are some suppliers over the web where you may be ready to get plenty of these expert web-hosting suppliers. The most effective way to start is to implement a web-hosting directory.   This way you’ll be ready to compare different suppliers with one another and read reviews and see rankings of all the likely suppliers. You can simply get all kinds of figures and info about most authentic web-hosting suppliers. You’ll be ready to investigate every one immediately compared to another and therefore work out precisely which each company will charge for what services.

When selecting a web host it is likewise most beneficial to select one that provides costless set-up besides a money back assurance. This is in case they don’t precisely provide what you need for your website, and then you’ll be ready to simply get your money back and pick out another website hosting provider.

If you stumble upon a few web hosting providers through a web hosting directory that have what you need for your site, yet you’d wish additional info about the their service, then you could also check out some web hosting forums.  You might also ask other people what they think about the website hosting provider that you have selected.

After you have finished all this, you must then hold a full theme or improved thought of which website hosting supplier you are most possible to like to host your web site.

For all your SEO and web hosting services

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Posted under Site building.