Internet Marketing: The importance of a Domain Name
- If you have had any involvement with the internet in your life then you are familiar and know what a domain name is, whether you know it or not. A domain name is the name for an IP address that connects to a specific server or computer where files are stored for a web presence. The reason domain names were created in the first place was because it is hard to remember a long set of numbers, such as 264.125.112.26. Let's face it we already have to remember enough numbers in our life just to function on a day-to-day basis. You have your social security number, pin number for your bank and passwords to email accounts, and computers. The list just goes on...
There are only two main factors you should take in consideration when deciding on a domain name for your company. The first factor should be your company name. It is important to have your company name in your domain. The second factor should be the main product or service you offer your customers, for e.g. James Auto. James Auto is the company name and the main service they provide is auto repair. So a good domain name for this company's web presence would be jamesautorepair.com.
Next step would be to check if this domain name is available. Here is a domain availability checker. In this case the domain name is not available. For this example we would go on to the third factor, geographic location. For this example they are located in Gainsville, FL. Since it is an auto repair shop we can get a domain name with the town in it. In the auto repair industry you will not find many people traveling great distances when their car is broken down, or about to break down. We will look up the new domain name for availability, jamesautorepairgainsville.com.
Remember not to make your domain name to lengthy for it will be hard for someone to remember it and find you.
- The domain name is the entry to your site. The address people type in their browsers to get to it. You need to pay attention to it, because your company name will not always be the best domain name you can get for your website. There are certain considerations you should keep in mind when choosing the domain name you will use:
· your domain name should be easy to remember for the intended audience
· your domain name should contain keywords so it helps your site positioning in search engines.
With these in mind, you will soon discover that your-company-name.com is not always the best alternative. It depends on whether you have a well established company, with a known name, or you are starting your business.
The domain name is a tool you can use to help your business grow. So don’t miss the opportunity. Spend the necessary time thinking about possible domain names, and trying to find their good and bad aspects.
A good idea is to get more than one domain name and point them to the same website. So if people type your-company-name.com or they type your-keyword-rich-domain.com they get to the same website. This way you can still use your company name as domain name, and also some other keyword rich name you register.
- Another good idea is to register common variations of your chosen domain name. For example, if you register mydomain.com, you could also register my-domain.com or mydomains.com.
Once you come up with the domain name(s) you want to use, you need to register them. The first step is to check if they are available, because they could have been already registered by someone else. Once you have verified this, you can register them for a period of time, and they will be yours to use for that period. You can always renew them afterwards, before the period expires.