Choosing a Domain Name

Before moving onto WordPress to create the site that will help launch your business. You need to select a domain name. This is a minefield if you are not sure what to do! Most mainstream companies that provide web hosting and domain registration such as 1and1(www.1and1.com), Bluehost (www.bluehost.com), GoDaddy (www.godaddy.com), Justhost, (www.justhost.com), Enom (www.enom.com) and Hostgator (www.hostgator.com) all provide web hosting and domain registration services in various packages and prices. After doing a little research and through some experience this is what I have found.

In the US most blogger seem to like Bluehost or GoDaddy. In the UK it seems to be Just Host (please feel free to correct my research). I will be putting my business on Just Host and will register the domain through them. Now from experience I use 1and1 for a couple of organisational websites I look after, uptime is not brilliant. After doing some reading I also found that trying to move away from 1and1 is a nightmare, even as far as them cancelling the domain name. Some say technical support can be awful, though the couple of times I have used this is has been adequate but not great. But now I have started getting sales pitches to my home from US based agents. So just one reason I wont be continuing with them. The other reason is their panel for administration, most other hosting companies fore mentioned use the cPanel, a very popular administration format. 1and1 use their own type of panel and to be honest its been updated over the last few years and not for the better in my opinion.

So choosing the domain name. Once you have thought of your companies name. (See previous blog post). You want to use as much of that as the domain name don’t you. Here is the problem, if you select a simple name such as Jim Smith Consulting, chances are that domain name well the dot com version anyway is taken. So again when choosing a name try to be unique but not to quirky it puts people off.

So you have your name and you want to register it as a domain name. This domain name is your identity on the internet so try to get it right first time (Just for your info I have already messed up on this, so now have a domain name I don’t want).

You need the domain name (and website) up and running before you start advertising your services as people need to have some way of finding out what you are about and doing their own research on you and your brand.

Be wary of free domain name hosting service packages, the package may come with a domain name that sounds like a good overall costs but you may not own the domain name because the hosting company have given it to you free.

Therefore if you switch hosts you may not be able to take the domain name with you. So make sure when you register the domain name that it belongs to you. You are the owner, this means you can go to the WHOIS websites that show your information and your name will be displayed and the Registrant, Administrative, Billing and Technical contact, (if you have not paid for Privacy, see later) you need to be at least the Administrative and technical contact to be in full control. If you don’t appear to be that, question your domain registrar to confirm.

If you do want to break away it may cost you to do so to take full control.

So what domain extension should you get. Without doubt if you can afford it the daddy of them all is .com, but as I point out before if your business name is not original then it likely the .com version will not be available. Then you have the .net, .org. info and other domain for specific countries such as .co.uk. Lots more domain extensions are now being released so realy its up to you where you want to market your business. If its local then .co.uk might be fine, if its an organisation and money is not the aim of the game then .org will suit. If you are going to create a business that will sell a product or service and geographical boundaries are non-existent to you, then I recommend the .com every time.

So what works and what doesn’t work with domain names. Hyphens don’t work, visitors to your website wont remember where the hyphen is and search will not rank your site as highly (my first mistake). Numbers don’t really work either, unless of course if your brand name has a number in it.

Avoid long domain names, I know one of the successful blog sites is called iwillteachyoutoberich.com , you know the one by Ramit Sethi. However he often refers to it now as IWT if you do read or subscribe to his blogs.

When you do decide to register with your provider make sure you enable whois privacy, this will probably be a cost optional extra. What this does is when someone does a whois on your domain they will get your domain registrars rather than your personal details. So really just a security feature. So if checking the legality of ownership make sure you speak to the registrant to confirm who owns the domain as discussed above. If you want your details to be in the whois response then don’t enable this feature.
So in summary:-

1. Choose your domain name as soon as you have decided on your company name.
2. Use a reputable company such as Bluehost or Justhost as your hosting company
3. Register the domain name in your name, avoid freebies.
4. Try and purchase the .com domain extension, you can of course purchase other extensions and redirect them to the .com if you feel like splashing out.
5. Don’t use hyphens in the name, this is bad for search engine results and customer visualisation.
6. Don’t make the name too long.
7. Enable Domain Whois Privacy