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“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.” - Lao Tzu When starting an online presence, the first and most important step you will have to take is to register your own domain name. In the online world, your domain name serves two purposes - name and address. Your domain name can serve as your site name. It will also direct your visitors to the contents of your site or someone else’s. Hence, it is very important that you choose one properly. If you are planning to launch a personal web site or one for your business, choosing a domain name like yourname.com or yourbusiness.com would be the logical step. However, there will be instances when the domain of your choice isn’t available and you will have to pick another one. In doing so, please take note of the simple guidelines below. If you already have a theme for your site, it would help if the domain name contains words that are related to the site’s content. This makes it easier for you to market your site. Potential visitors will know what they’re getting into when clicking a link to your site. You may also choose domain names that are short and easy to remember. A domain that is short and can be told in a few syllables will be easy to remember. It also helps if the name has a twist or if it sounds rather funny. Good examples of short domain names include one-word internet giants like Google, Amazon and Ebay. You may also choose simple, ordinary words like business, computers or laptops. Although a number of these domains have already been registered, be on the lookout as they could easily bring in instant traffic for any site. This will be very useful if you are going to use any of those PPC programs for parked pages or even selling the domain name in the future. As an example, business.com was sold a few years ago for millions of dollars! Remember that these days getting your own domain name no longer costs an arm and a leg. Gone are the days when companies would charge you 30 dollars or more. You now have a choice of sites that can register your domain names for less than ten dollars and still provide you with lots of free stuff. Some companies are even offering domain names at peanut prices if coupled by other purchases like web hosting. Of course, this is great news for anyone considering building a web site or purchasing a domain name as an investment. Darwin Catalan is an entrepreneur and the founder of BlueRegistrar. Learn more about domain names, web hosting and other site management tools. http://www.blueregistrar.com Tags: buy domains, domain names, domain names registration, domain registrar, domains, register domains
Cologne, 12.10. 2004. ICANN accredited registrar Secura announces today,that the company is accepting the registration of za-domains. The co.za-domains are the domains of South Africa. The co.za-domains belong to the popular domains in Africa. You cannot register at .za. If your name is not available at co.za, you can also register at org.za. The com-domain is best for websites that target international markets, while .co.za-domains are best for South African webpages or those with a strong South African reference. This is so because surfer are used to, and you may lose a part of your target group if you deviate from the expected Top Level Domain. Even if you should own a .com domain, it is advisable to register also a .co.za-domain as well. The za-domains are available on a first-come-first-serve basis. There are no specific requirements for registering za-domains. A local presence or registered company in South Africa is not a requirement for a co.za name. ICANN accredited registrar Secura can register a za-domain at once, if the domain name is free. About The Author Hans-Peter Oswald, CEO http://www.com-domains.com; secura@domainregistry.de Tags: domain, domain registrar, domain registry, icann, south africa, za domain
Choosing a domain name can be daunting. Research the subject (after all, you’re the type of marketer who researches, right?) and you’ll be hit with a landslide of opinions, most contradictory. There is, however, two points that everyone agrees on: Pick your domain before you launch your business. This is especially true if your market niche has lots of competition. Research your domain before you commit to a business plan. Don’t wait too long if you like a domain. While you’re researching, you’ll likely come across a couple of domains that attract you. You might be tempted to wait, since you haven’t finalized or refined your business plan. Don’t. A handful of domains isn’t going to cost you much at an affordable registrar like GoDaddy, and once they’re gone, they’re gone. Chances are you can even resell the rejects at cost, if not a profit. Or “develop” them with unique content and point them to your main site for extra traffic. Now that we have the easy part of the way, let’s wade into murkier waters. Q. Which TLD (top-level domain) is best? A. If you’re a juggernaut in the business world with a giant ad budget, the answer is dot-com (.com). If you’re a smalltime business struggling for search engine positioning, the answer is still dot-com. People do disagree on the value of a dot-com TLD. Some assert that dot-coms have no particular value in the search engines, which may be true. However, the fact is, if you haven’t yet seared your brand on the collective brow of the planet, dot-com makes you easier to remember. If you eschew dot-coms, then in some deep dark place inside, people will remember you as “that hard-to-remember URL with the ending that isn’t dot-com.” What’s worse, if you pick an otherwise memorable domain ending in dot-net, -us, or (God forbid) -tv, some of your traffic will end up at that competitor who snagged the dot-com version of your domain. Okay, that’s settled. Now for the controversial stuff. Which is best: the “keyword” domain, or the “creative-genius, snappy and brandable” domain? Keyword Name vs. Creative-Genius Brandable Name A Keyword Name is the boring, workhorse kind of domain. You seem them everywhere. They bristle with hyphens: “best-anchovy-pizza-in-siberia.com.” Or “super-labrador-accessories-and-golfballs.biz.” On the face of it, they’re hard to brand. They’re hard to fit on business cards. They’re really hard to explain over the phone to Aunt Martha. On the other hand, a Creative-Genius Brandable Name is the sexy kind of domain. The successes are sparkling: Yahoo!, Google, Amazon.com. You can shout these URLs across the room and the other guy will probably get it right. But note: the dot-com road is littered with hip, snappy business who failed to brand their product successfully, or get listed high in the search engines. Now their URLs all point to the same page: “server not found “ The debate rages on, but the first question you must ask yourself is: How will people find YOU? It was recently reported that “direct navigation” web traffic has started to outnumber search engine traffic. In other words, more people visit sites by typing in the URL directly than they do by combing search engines for results. So more gurus are recommending ‘brandable’ domains. But think about this. As a small business owner, how will people find you? Word of mouth? Billboards on I-95? “Corporate sponsorships” on hockey arenas? Probably not: they’ll find you through search engines. They’ll type in “cheap purple widgets,” and as a smart marketer, you will offer them a website optimized for the keywords “cheap purple widgets.” Still, this doesn’t imply you should automatically pick a keyword domain. There are pros and cons to both types. BRANDABLE: ADVANTAGES The brandable domain is great for business cards. In fact, it’s nearly compulsory if you’re planning on offline marketing. In other words, if you’re printing up stationary at Kinkos, you want a brandable domain name. If you’re also a marketing genius, this is a fit challenge for your talents. Finding a memorable, apt domain to brand your business is something no software-driven suggestion tool can do. Most “hybrid” domains — ones that are really crosses between keywords and brandable names — are long gone. But if you create a unique idea for your brand, you can probably snag the dot-com name for yourself. Now all you have to do is burn that brand onto the world’s collective forehead. If you do, you’ll benefit from type-in traffic. That means that if someone hears about you, they can probably find you just buy typing in your domain. BRANDABLE: DISADVANTAGES The brandable name requires solid marketing skill, research and luck. Your name should be so catchy, it’s almost viral. It should also convey your actual business - or you’ll have to work hard (often meaning, spend money) to associate the two. Your name should be “tested” on coworkers, cousins and dishwasher repairmen to ensure it has no undesirable connotations. Finally, your name should be available as a domain, and not suffer from competitors with similar domains. Sometimes, pulling all this off is difficult. KEYWORD: ADVANTAGES By keyword names, we’re not talking about the glorious generic keywords - the one-keyword kings such as drugs.com or business.com. No, we’re talking keyword names you can afford. This is where you buy the domain name www.cheap-purple-widgets.com in hopes of getting a top search ranking for cheap purple widgets. Advantages are many. First, more keyword names are available. (They’re ugly, and many people feel an aversion to hyphens.) Also, they do help you place higher in the search engines. It’s true that search engines only give you a little credit for having a keyword in your domain, but “a little credit” counts. Second, keyword domains leave no doubt in the searcher’s mind about what you’re selling. If you decided to call your widget business “Ableeza,” a searcher might not get at a glance what it is you’re selling, even if your rank is high. Finally, if you can get people to link to you, those links will be valuable. No matter how Webmaster Joe describes you, the link part will always say, “cheap-purple-widgets.” This is a powerful search engine strategy for moving higher. KEYWORD: DISADVANTAGES You won’t get type-in traffic for a keyword name. You can’t really explain it across a phone. It won’t look pretty on a business card, and it’s almost impossible to pair up with a cute logo. But if search engine traffic is going to drive your business, the keyword name is worth a long, hard look. WRAP-UP Regardless of which type you choose, don’t play guessing games. If you go with a keyword name, use a search tool (like http://conversion.7search.com/scripts/advertisertools/keywordsuggestion.aspx to determine what keyword phrases people are searching on. If you choose a brandable name instead, test it out on a variety of real people first. Pay attention to their reactions. Reserve your domain early, since brandable domains go fast unless they’re very unique. In the long run, both types of domains can work for you, especially if offline marketing is an option and you have a knack for branding. Overall, though, the keyword domain is probably the easiest path to success for the small-business owner. Blake Kritzberg is editor of FavorIdeas. Stop by for continually-updated celebrity
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