Choose The Right Domain Extension
When picking the extension or TLD for your domain name, .com is still the best choice unless you have a reason to choose something else. Roughly 43% of all domains have a .com extension, making it what people expect to see the most.
While Google confirms that your choice of TLD will not impact rankings, it does affect consumer perception. Many people view other TLDs as less trustworthy.
That said, .net or .org extensions are not uncommon, so they can be good secondary options if you find the perfect name and the coveted .com isnt available.
But if you do decide to go with an extension other than a .com, make sure you take a look at what type of website is currently on the .com extension. Someone is bound to go there accidentally while looking for your brand. If the site holds fishy or offensive content, you might want to steer clear of that name altogether.
Finally, avoid those niche domain name extensions like .space, .club, .pizza, unless you really think theyll enhance your brand.
Reasons To Get A Domain Name
Practically, there are 3 reasons as to why you should be getting a domain:
- Own a Domain: To bring your blog or your business to the internet, you always have to register a domain. Although several website creation platforms offer free domain names like yourname.blogger.com they wouldnt give the required credibility. This is why it is crucial to get a professional domain registered.
- To Reserve a Web Address: Obviously, you wouldnt want anyone to use your businesss name. To avoid any conflict in the future, its better to reserve a web address so that no one can claim it afterwards.
- One of the worthwhile reasons to get a domain name is to increase the chances of grabbing the attention of a huge population. Whether you use social media platforms or marketing and ad campaigns to drive traffic, rest assured that you are reaching out to many more people than you used to do before a web address.
Stay Away From Long Domain Names
Ive seen long domain names that basically spell out a sentence or a phrase. There may be a time or place for these like if youre running a promotion and the phrase is a perfect fit and its easier to communicate than saying something like find more info at mydomain.com/our-promotions/latest-promotion.html.
But otherwise, long domains can be a serious pain. They arent easy or clear to communicate and its easy to forget a simple preposition in the phrase which could send your potential visitor somewhere else entirely.
Theyre also a problem in instances where you have character limitations, like social media.
Avoid long domains in favor of something thats short.
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Domain Privacy And Protection
When a domain name is registered personal details of the domain holder like name, address, contact number and email address are reported on the WHOIS database.
Keeping your domain contact information private helps prevent unwanted spam calls and emails, and makes sure youre in control of what information is publicly available.
All of our domain names include free basic privacy and protection which automatically hides your name, street address, phone number and email address on the WHOIS database.
Do Make Your Domain Name Brandable
It follows very naturally that if your domain is memorable that you will also want it to be brandable. When someone hears your domain you want it to instantly call to mind who you are and what you stand for.
Think about some of the big domains you know and what comes to mind when you think of them:
- Amazon.com everything you need from A to Z
- Google.com the worlds biggest and best search engine
- Yahoo.com search and news site
- Facebook.com the greatest of the social media giants
- Reddit.com social news, discussions, and community
Whatever you choose, think of this domain as the place where youre going to build your brand.
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Set Up Your Hosting And Website
If you do not have a web host, you can let the registrar park your domain name at a temporary website specially set up for you. This lets you secure your domain name before it’s too late and take your time setting up other aspects of your website.
After registering your domain name, learn about building your website from a number of sources. The most popular option for building a website is using a self-hosted WordPress blog. Most web hosting companies support WordPress.
Your registrar, web hosting company and the World Wide Web should offer ample documentation and ideas for you. Now that you’ve read through the domain name registration process, get started as soon as possible to get the domain name you deserve!
Getting your website up and running is just the start. Once you’re live you’ll want to focus on the important things like getting website traffic, building your email subscriber list, and converting visitors into sales.
Register Your Domain Name
Register your domain name. Use the list of auDA-accredited registrars to find an accredited registrar and follow their registration instructions. Services, charges, terms and conditions may vary from registrar to registrar, so check differences carefully.
Remember to note when your domain name will need renewing so it doesn’t expire. Letting your domain name expire could leave your business vulnerable to cybercriminals. Read more about the risks of abandoned domain names from the Australian Cyber Security Centre.
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Got Any Tips On Finding A Good Domain Name
You bet. While it’s really easy to register a domain, having a good domain strategy helps you register the best domain name possible. Here are some hints:Make it easy to remember. This is why many businesses get domains with their business names in them. Some people even choose their business name only after they have a domain they like.Don’t register one that’s trademarked, copyrighted, or being used by another company. This can lead to losing the domain and legal problems.Shorter is usually better because they’re easier for customers to remember. It’s also easier to get matching usernames for Facebook, Twitter and any other social media accounts you have.Got a local business? Include your neighborhood, city or country in your domain so local customers can quickly see where you are. Check the list of geographic domain extensions .berlin .nyc to see if there’s one for your area.Avoid numbers or hyphens. Anyone who hears your web address won’t know if you’re using a numeral 5 or “five”. If your business name has a number in it, register both versions with the number and with the number spelled out .Get more than one. As traffic to your website increases, you may attract then attention of copycats who’ll snatch up similar domain names in hopes of drawing traffic away from you. Register similar or misspelled domains early so this won’t be an issue later.
Clear The Legal Field Before Registering
Youve registered your domain namebut lo and behold, a few weeks later you receive a cease and desist letter from the law offices of someone who makes five times as much money as you every thirty seconds.
Its not a pretty picture, but its not an uncommon one, either. Making sure your potential domain name isnt trademarked is an absolute must if you want to avoid getting caught in unwanted litigation.
Fortunately, its pretty easy to check. For websites that will operate in the US, you can check for trademark status by searching the United States Patent and Trademark Offices website.
United States Patent and Trademark Office
That said, its a good idea to check a secondary source, as well. Navigating the USPTO system isnt as straightforward as alternative sources like Trademarks411 or WIPO.
WIPO
And when it comes to legal bases, it never hurts to cover them twice, right? Especially when faith can be a deciding factor in domain name case law, as Bloomberg discovered.
Other things to keep in mind when considering trademarks is consumer confusion. If your domain name could reasonably be confused with another domain it competes with then you could have a losing arbitration on your hands.
What about a website all about WordPress? Here is what the WordPress team has to say about it:
Simply put, dont take the risk.
This brings us to our last strategy for choosing your domain name: figuring out what ends it.
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Register Your Web Address Before You Need A Website
Consider registering your web address as soon as you know what it will be, even if you’re not planning to build a website for a few months, or even for a few years! This will ensure you own the domain name, and nobody else can register it, so it will be ready when you launch your business.
If you’re already running a business and have staff working for you, you should already have a website policy in place, consider using our Bring Your Own Device policy and I.T. procedures manual to document this.
How To Get A Domain Name From Namecheapcom
Namecheap is another popular website for buying domain names and getting website hosting. As their domain name prompts, they often have a lot of good deals and somewhat lower annular prices than GoDaddy, for example.
So if you love a good bargain, heres how to buy a domain name via Namecheap.
Step 1: Run your desired domain name search first and review available options. Namecheap has a really huge collection of new TLDs such as .art .digital, .luxury among 400+ other options.
Also, if your name isnt available or youd like to get some more ideas, switch to their advanced search view aka the Beast Mode:
As you can see from above, you have a lot more features to play with such as price range, suffix/prefix, and so on. This can help you drill down to that perfect domain name that is short, memorable, available, and yet cheap!
Step 2: After youve chosen the best contenders, proceed to your cart to start the checkout process. At this point, you can also add some extras and customize your order:
With Namecheap, you get a lifetime free WHOIS protection for every domain name, plus they recently added a bonus premium DNS offer . When you enable it, your domain gets yearly protection against DNS/DDoS attacks , plus ultra-fast global DNS response. This gives you some extra leverage in terms of your website speed.
On top of that, you can select some affordable up-sells such as:
Also, you can play around with your renewal. Namecheap provides a small discount for 2+ years.
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Should I Purchase My Domain Name Through A Domain Registrar Or A Web Host/website Builder
Pros and cons.
Pros of buying your domain through your host/builder
- You can usually get a free domain for a year when you sign up for a year of hosting.
- Its usually easier to connect your domain name to your website when you do this .
Cons of buying your domain through your host/builder
- Hosts/builders often charge more than the $8-15 youll pay at dedicated domain name registrars after that first free year.
- If you switch hosts/builders, youll need to transfer your domain to that new host/builder .
Pros of buying your domain through a dedicated domain name registrar
- If you change hosts/builders, you can keep your domain name right where it is and just change 2 lines of text to have the domain point to your new host/builder.
- Renewal fees tend to be a few bucks cheaper at dedicated registrars.
Cons of buying your domain through a dedicated domain name registrar
- Youll have to do a bit more technical setup to get your domain properly connected to your web hosting/builder and website files.
How Much Money Can You Make Domain Flipping
Some people have made hundreds of thousands of dollars flipping just one, yes ONE, domain! Domains such as z.com, toys.com, and slots.com all sold for over $5 million, just for the domain name!
Now, theres a good chance you wont run into any of these domains in 2021, however, the ability to make money still exists. Even if you can purchase a domain name for $10 and sell it for $100, thats a $90 profit. Multiply that by 100 domains and you can easily make an extra $9,000 annually from this side hustle.
Domain flipping can be as profitable as you can make it. Every time you flip a domain name you can then reinvest your profits and buy another domain to flip.
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How To Set Up Your Own Domain Name
24 June 2008 /
When you first start out with your website, you might decide to host it on someone elses domain. For example, you might have a blog on blogspot.com or wordpress.com, or you might host your site on geocities.com, a low-cost Web hosting service provided by Yahoo!.
These hosting services are great if you only want to run your site as a hobby, and dont care about attracting a lot of visitors or making money. However, if you really want your site to grow, it needs its own domain name. Heres why:
- It improves the image of your site. Hosting your site on a common domain name, such as blogspot.com or geocities.com, makes your site look how to put it nicely? low-budget. People are less likely to trust your site, and youll certainly have a hard time selling them anything. A site hosted on its own domain name looks more professional.
- It makes your site more portable. If your sites hosted on someone elses domain, you cant easily move to another hosting company. For example, if you want to move your site off geocities.com, youre going to lose all the inbound links to your site. If you have your own domain, however, then you can move your site between different hosting companies while keeping the same domain name and URLs for the site.
In this article youll learn how to register and set up your own domain name.
Domain Restrictions And House Rules
There are some restrictions and basic rules that you have to follow
- Restricted top-level domains like .aero, .biz, .edu, .mil, .museum, .name, and .pro, require the registrant to represent a certain type of entity or belong to a certain community. For example, the .name TLD is reserved for individuals, and .edu is reserved for educational entities.
- Country-code TLDs represent specific geographic locations. For example .uk represents the United Kingdom and .eu represents the European Union. Some ccTLDs have residency restrictions. For example, .eu requires registrants to live or be located in a country belonging to the European Union.
- No space in-between the domain names rather, you may use a dash to distinguish words in SLDs.
- You can use numbers, dashes and letters in domain names but no special characters i.e. ? ! & .
- SLDs must have at least 2 characters that can go up to the 63 character limit.
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