In this digital age, your company's web site is your electronic
business card. A strong domain name is the key to your Internet
presence. It should be recognizable and relate to your business
name, brand, product, and/or activities. Make sure it fits on a
business card and is easy to remember whether seen in print or
mentioned over the phone.
Laptop Battery Use the name people know you by. Don't abbreviate, unless the
abbreviation is your company's trademark. Ask your co-workers, your
customers, your friends, and your family what domain name they'd
expect your company to have.
Choosing a domain name for your web site is a major step for any individual or organization. You need domain names that are sticky, short, meaningful, easy to remember and at the roll of your tongue! It is very easy to choose a domain name but difficult to find a good name, simply because of the fact that most of the good domain names are taken up by organisations. These domain name organisations take up hundreds of thousands of domain names and treat them as investments. It is not as easy to choose a good domain name. Sometimes, even web professionals spend hours at their computers to find good domain names!
Thinkpad Don't forget to include your domain name in your site's logo.
And put your domain name on all company promotional materials such
as business cards and stationary.
When you fire up your favorite web browser and type in the domain name of a website you want to view, the first thing that happens is that a request is sent to the server that is hosting that website. This server is found via the Domain Name Server (DNS) system, which associates the domain name (which we humans understand) and the address of the server that is hosting that website (which the computers understand). Once that request is received by the server, it looks at the files of the website to determine what happens next.
Microsoft Length Matters
Conventional wisdom states that a good domain name is easy for
customers to remember, easy to spell, and short. That said, it's
increasingly difficult to secure short domain names among top level
domain names such as .com, .net and ,org. In these cases (and you
have 67 characters to choose from), it's preferable to choose a
meaningful statement such as Lawreferralservice.com" or
Hotelreservationservice.com," rather than lrs.com or hrs.com
IP, you must specify the IP address that the FastLynx server is listening on. You can also specify the computer name or domain name of the server computer if the client computer knows that name. If the name is not known, you will see a Ìost not found error message, which means that the actual IP address must be supplied. If the server has changed the default port number (2689),
Laptop Computers Give a Good Impression
We all know that first impressions can be crucial, so choose your
domain name carefully. Domain names often come without spaces, so
pay careful attention to the total package. For example,
PatternsExchange can look like patternsexchange.
(800) 2165 (435) 3433 DNS (Domain Name Servers) DNS (Domain Name Servers) A Domain Name ServerM (DNS) keeps a database of domain names and their associated IP addresses. When a user searches for a domain name, the request must go through a Domain Name Server (DNS) to translate the domain name and obtain the corresponding IP address. This way the request can be routed to the correct server where the website resides.
Laptop Computer Select Alternate Names
If your first domain name choice is not available, you can check
the "whois" information box for the domain name, contact the person
listed, and see if they're willing to sell it. If they want to
sell, they will likely charge more than the $24.95 registration
fee. An easier alternative is to register a variation of your first
choice.
12. What are name servers A name server is a server that returns an IP address when given a domain name. This IP address is basically the domain's location on the Internet. Sometimes name servers are referred as DNS servers (and vice versa) because they essentially perform the same function; when given a domain name, they return the IP address for that domain.
Desktop Computer For example, if your company name is Mrs Smith's Cookies, but
mrssmithscookies.com and the more obvious cookies.com are
registered, try adding a small letter such as "e" to indicate that
it's an online business. Or add the word online. Or add your
location to attract local customers:
Notebooks Ecookies.com
Cookiesonline.com
CookiesNewYork.com
Lenovo Alternatively, try registering a local domain name:
Hard Drive Mrsmithscookies.ca
mrsmithscookies.us
Travelstar Use a little creativity, and you may find your alternative beats
your original choice. Once you've got a list of alternatives for
your online business, test them with your friends and colleagues to
see which ones they like best. Make sure these names can be easily
pronounced and spelled by your test audience. Then, rank them in
order of popularity.
Gateway Consider Spelling Mistakes
Consider mistakes people will make when typing your web site
address and how your domain name sounds when you have to read it
over the phone to a customer. Explaining special characters,
abbreviations, and spelling is awkward and doesn't make good
business sense. Will customers accidentally make spelling mistakes?
Will they use the plural form of a word instead of the singular
form, or visa versa? Make a list of possible mistakes, and register
additional domain names that incorporate these mistakes.
Laptop Parts Register Multiple Versions of Your Name
Register all possible domain name variations related to your
company name. If your company's name is hard to spell, register
common misspellings. Register every domain people might use to find
your company. It only costs $24.95 a year to register each domain
name, and that's a small expense to keep a customer.
Software Take this example: Before America Online acquired Time Warner
for $178 billion, it registered at least 21 domain names that might
be useful to the new company, named AOL Time Warner, from AOLTW.com
to AmericaOnlineTimeWarner.com. Alternatively, web sites exist that
capitalize on misspellings using them as advertising vehicles and
diverting customers from your site.
Hard Drives Register Product Names
When users search the Internet for a particular product or service
they often search by product or service, rather than business name.
To increase the chances of having your site found, register extra
domain names that relate to your core business or products. If you
owned the hypothetical company name of Widgets & Widgets co.
but you sold an array of household products, you could register
generic domain names relating to all aspects of household goods.
You may be too late to snap up obvious domain names such as
detergent.com or vacuum.com, but a little creative thinking into
alternatives can be lucrative. These alternative domains can be
easily linked to your main web site.
Electronics Avoid Trademarked Names
Ensure someone else has not trademarked the name you register. You
cannot register names already registered as copyright (for example,
McDonalds). Like company names, domain names are unique and cannot
be duplicated. Avoid registering domain names that are similar to
your competition or to famous trademarks. Businesses have lost
their rights to registered domain names due to conflicts with
existing trademarks for off-line companies.
Canon Register Locally
If your company is located in Canada, you can register a .ca domain
name even if your business activity includes export trade. If you
have an international presence, a top-level domain such as .com,
.net , or .org is more suitable. Many businesses choose to register
all three, and we suggest doing so. All three addresses can "point"
to the same e-mail account and web site.
Desktop Pc Conversely, you might open a virtual office in another country.
For example, bread.com could also register bread.ca, which may
"point" towards the same site, attracting a larger audience. Don't
forget to check to see if a local presence is required in the
country you wish to register.
Desktop Computers Use a metaphor
If your .dot com businesses does not have a name, the world is your
oyster. One Internet incubation company decided on the metaphor
campsix, referring to the final basecamp on the Everest climb
rather than a straight description of services. The name reflected
the difficulty and challenges of building an Internet company to
the scaling of Everest. Bear in mind that if your web site is the
primary tool for business, the company name must be the company
URL.
Think Pad Shaun Cronrath is the President & CEO of DomainPurpose.com
(http://www.domainpurpose.com), a
domain name
registration company offering all the major domain extensions
-- .com, .net, .org, .info, .biz, .name, .ca, .us, .cn, .eu, .de,
.pro and more.
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