Creating a website is not just about designing your pages and including all the important information, it is also about creating a domain name that relates to your products and services and that is also easy to remember and spell for your customers. A domain name that is easy to remember will have more return customers and more word of mouth advertising than domain names which are hard to spell, remember, or both.

When it comes to searching for a domain name, all you have to do is go online and search for ones that you are interested in to see if they have been taken or not. There are hundreds of sites that will let you search domain names in hopes to sell you the domain name and then get you to buy their web hosting services as well. To start your domain name search, however, you should follow a couple of basic steps.

* Come up with a variety of domain names you are interested in. When you have a variety of unique domain names, you can start searching to see which of them are available.

* Don’t set your mind on one particular domain name. The reason for this is most common domain names are taken, so you will need to be creative.

* Make a list of general types of domain names you are interested in and start searching.

* Stick with a .com, don’t opt for .tv, .biz, or any other suffix if at all possible especially if that exact domain name is taken as a com. You will end up losing business to that site.

Now that you know some basic steps to follow for searching your domain name and choosing one, you need to understand how important it is to choose a good domain name rather one that has some other meaning that customers will not understand. For example, you might want to make a domain name up of all of your children’s names, while this is very sweet it has nothing to do with your services and will be hard to remember. Instead, choose something that has something to do with your business and services that is short, sweet, and easy to remember. By doing this people will be able to remember your web address and visit it often. If you do not follow these suggestions, obtaining brand recognition will be difficult if not impossible. People will not remember how to get back to your website because your address was either too obscure, too difficult to remember, or just too long.

If you follow these suggestions you will end up with a URL that will lead to long term branding for your website and products and since this is your business, this should be what you are after. Keep this in mind when you are tempted to name your website after your childhood nickname or long lost pet!

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Cologne,10 July 2004. ICANN accredited registar Secura announces today, that the company is accepting applications for the sunrise and real time period of eu-domains (https://www.domainregistry.de/eu.html).

Sunrise Period

You should send now to your applications to secure your rights at the new eu-domains. The eu-domains will be the most important event since the introduction of com-domains.

There will be a Sunrise Period (Phased registration for those holding prior rights to a name) at the eu-domains.

The Sunrise Period of eu-domains will have two phases:

The EU Regulation stipulates that the registry must make a sunrise provision at eu-domains to allow those with ‘prior rights’ to a name to apply for registration of eu-domains in advance of beginning general registrations. The PPR states that the sunrise period (phased registration) of eu-domains will take place in two phases each lasting two months.

During phase one, public bodies and holders of registered Community or national trademarks will be able to register their names.

During phase 2 those who may register in phase 1 may register their eu-domains as well holders of other rights recognised under Community law or the national law of an EU member state. Eu-domains registered during the sunrise period must be an exact match for the prior right claimed and documentary evidence must be supplied to proof the right.

Live Registration: First comes-first serves

Some weeks after the Sunrise Period eu-domains goes live and general registrations of eu-domains will begin and registration of eu-domains will be done on a first come first served basis for any eu-domain not taken during the sunrise period.

About The Author

Hans-Peter Oswald
CEO
ICANN accredited registrar Secura GmbH

You can reprint or republish these articles for free if these three lines are at the end of the articles:

http://www.com-domains.com

https://www.domainregistry.de

secura@domainregistry.de

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Your domain identifies your business in the eyes of the people searching for the product or products you are selling on your website and in the eyes of the search engines. So, is choosing a domain important? The answer is yes. I hope to enlighten you to some important elements to creating and owning a domain name.

What Is A Domain Name

What is a Domain Name? Your website has a unique address called an IP address. The domain name–in essence, is the IP address with a naming convention. It is far easier for people to remember a name instead of a bunch of numbers.

Creating A Domain Name

Many people new to the Internet and to the Internet Business, do not realize the importance of a Domain Name, they just think they can put up any creative name and people will come. If you’re lucky, that may be true, but in truth, your creativity should incorporate the following tips:

When creating a domain name, you should keep in mind the following tips:

1. If it is possible, go with a “.com” extension. This is the most common, and easier for people to remember. In my case, no .com was available, so I opted for the .biz. Since I’m in a business of affiliate marketing — I felt it perfect for my needs.

2. The name itself — Do not use dashes or numbers in your domain name–it is hard for people to remember, unless it is central to the theme of your site.

3. Keep your name as compact as possible — the fewer words in the naming/description of your website will makes it easier for people to remember your site name, and that is definitely what you want.

Protecting Your Domain Name

Once you have your domain name, and your website is flourishing — you must protect your domain.

So how do you protect your domain? At the end of the year, the registrar will send you a notice that your domain name is about to expire. Inadvertantly, you may be thinking, that they just want your money, and they can darn well wait til the date it is due to get your money! Well, I wouldn’t do that. There is a very legitimate process called “drop catching”– that can easily destroy all your hard work in one instance.

Drop Catching

Drop catching is a legal process by which people can quickly grab domain names that have expired and use the link to create a website consisting of advertisements — or worse yet, resell them to make a profit off of your hard earned traffic. So, it is wise that you do not wait til the last minute to pay your registration. You do not want to log-in to your site, to find an error, or find out that suddenly you are no longer in business.

The rules of the ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), gives domain registrars 45 days after the expiration date to notify the website owner that their domain name is going to be dropped from the registry. After the 45 days, you have a 30 day grace period, then your domain is up for grabs. However ..

Some domain services have created an auction process for expired names, such as GoDaddy.com, that begins the auctioning of domain names in as little of 30 days after the expiration date, to prospective buyers. However, GoDaddy.com does state to the prospective buyer in the auction process, that the original owners still have the option of reclaiming their name.

What’s in a name? If it’s a domain name, it can be your future online. So choose wisely, and protect what you worked, or have been working for — a business online.

Vickie J Scanlon — Visit her site at: My Affiliate Place for a repository of tools, articles, ebooks, affiliate opportunities and information, software, webhost providers and computers for the Affiliate/Internet Marketing person online.

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