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by: MattHedges
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The Web address of your site, which generally follows with a 'www.', is known as domain name and as an instance we can mention www.amazon.com, which is a domain name of well repute.

What makes a good domain name?

The web address of your site should, by no means, be a difficult one to write or remember. It is supposed to be an aid, not a barrier. Well, for a domain name, you can definitely consider your company's name but at the same time, you can have a bias towards a phrase that promotes your own identity and your offerings.

It is expected that you consider the opinion of others about your choices of domain name to familiarize yourself with the kind of domain names that your users might prefer.

Well, here I denote certain things that you need to fight shy of while registering a domain name to be used for your main company web site:

1. There is a possibility of forgetting your domain name while typing the name into the browser or e-mailing you if you use a hyphen. So, avoid hyphen to reduce future problems.

2. Keep digits away from your domain name. For example, if your website is www.86.com, then you would have to tell everyone that it's '86' and not 'eighty six' or 'eighty-six'. This is troublesome.

Now, it's my turn to point out some positive things with regard to your domain name:

1. Well, though not necessary, it is better to use '.com' as a part of your domain name. You will get to see that people often forget addresses that end in '.net' or '.org' and on a more serious note, wrong address often becomes the destination of confidential e-mails.

2. To just make it better than others, try keeping simple spellings.

3. 3 words or 20 characters should be its maximum length. So, make it as short as possible.

The above mentioned aspects have to be thought out with due consideration for your main company domain name. Only for your secondary sites, can numbers, hyphens and non-.com domain extensions be. Follow the above ones for your company's main domain. Does my domain name have to end with .com?

A '.com' site: It is known to everyone that '.com' is the most preferred and the most commonly-used extension on the internet. So it would be suggested to stick with '.com' sites rather than the ones ending with '.net' or '.org'. However, you may find it a bit difficult registering a domain with the .com extension since many domains with common words have already been booked.

It is of immense importance to clarify that '.com', '.net', '.org' actually indicated three different things. '.com' stands for commercial purposes, '.net' stands for network purposes and '.org' stands for non-profit purposes. But, this demarcating line has become fuzzy. Now, don't think about these and outs and choose any of the extensions available for domain names.

Use of uppercase or lowercase letters

You can have anything in your domain name except special characters like &, *, #, etc. You can have hyphens as well, and also, it doesn't make any difference whether you use uppercase letters or lowercase letters.

Using dashes in the domain name

Remember that a situation may arise that your desired domain name has already been bought, but, the same name is available with a dash. As sometimes it may remain as the only choice for you, familiarize yourself with the problems of using dash.

1) Using a dash in your domain name can be never ideal for communication. Users are likely to end up at a wrong site unless you tell them the proper place to put the dash and they put it perfectly.

2. Most people forget to put dashes, so it is preferred that you stay away from a domain with a dash.

How much does a domain cost? A domain name gives you the exclusive right to use that domain, and no one else can use it. For this, you will be required to pay an annual fee which may range from $6 to $50, based on the service of the registration. But remember that you haven't 'bought' the domain, but just taken it on rent.

It is your choice whether you wish to use a cheap registrant whose service over a period of time is doubtful. But remember that a saving in the short term might cost you in the long run. You should stress on the access control panel domain when you are registering for your domain. As far as the domain registrars go, many of them permit the webmasters to edit the domain hosting, manage the DNS records, and also widen the domain so that transfer of the domain from one registrar to another becomes easy through the internet, without requiring any support. This gives you a lot of control and freedom as a webmaster. If you have got registered under a particular registrar, you will never want to bear the effect of any mistake incurred by the registrar, if you have settled on the domain for a fair period of time.

So, make sure that your domain name is registered remembering all the things mentioned above to prosper properly on this track. Will it be a Problem if someone else manages My Domain name?

It is expected that you will remain the owner or administrative contact of the account to solve future problems, though you can let others manage. For example, the information needed to shift your files to a new server in the future may be impossible to edit for you. You won't be able to direct browsers to your site's new location if you are not the owner or administrator of the domain name.

As more than 20,000,000 domain names have already been registered, it is indeed surprising if you are satisfied with your domain name. Your choice of your domain name affects your purchasing the domain name. Apart from this, you can be inspired in the future in the future to think about an unregistered name that can be secured. Let me remind you that if you give a suitable mount of money (which you should have in your pocket) to the present owner of the perfect domain name, it is both sensible and wise.

People look at you as a marketer who has done some research which familiarizes you with many opinions. Selecting a domain name may be discouraging at times, but there are 2 common points:

1. Select the domain name as soon as you lay down your business plan.

2. Register the domain name as soon as you select it.

In conclusion, buy the domain names that have fascinated you even if you haven't resolved your business plan. If it is bought at a reasonably priced registrar like GoDaddy, then it is not very expensive. You can resell it in the future or perhaps even improve it with creative content. But, you may not get it in the future if you do not buy it at once.

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Published with permission from WebHostingMadness.com, provider of comprehensive reviews of the best web hosting companies on the Internet.

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