Naming Your Online Business Website

Naming Your Online Business Website
by Maggi Hall, E-Commerce Adviser staff (rev022008)

There are two things you need to do to name a website --

Select A Name
Register a Name

Selecting A Name
You have proabably heard that you should select a domain name that's short, memorable and makes a statement about your business. But before you spend hours coming up with the perfect name, it is a good idea to do some name searches on a domain registration site. You will probably discover that most of the domain names that first come to mind for your online business have either been registered by other business owners or by speculators. That is, many names were registered as an investment with the hopes that someone will eventually be willing to pay a lot them — maybe you.

Buying a Registered Domain

. If you find that the names you wanted are already registered, it may be possible for you to buy from the current owner, who is mostly a spectulator. Buying a domain name can be very expensive, so be prepared to pay a lot more than $10 or so for a unregistered domain name. If you don't have a large budget or if the names you wanted are not for sale, you just need to be more creative.

To buy a registered domain name, check out the Related Articles list below.

Spelling Mistakes

. If the domain name you select is easy to misspell, you may want to also register the misspelled version. You can have the domain name with the incorrect spelling point to your website with the correct spelling. To do this, check out the Related Articles list below — "One Website with Multiple Domain Names."

Registering A Name
When registering a domain name, go for the registration service with the lowest total price. Price comparisons should include:

Price for new registration
Optional Cost of keeping registration information private
Annual renewal fees

Registration Information

. When registering a domain name, you need to provide contact information including name, address, phone number, email address. This information is published on the Internet and is often used by companies for mailing lists, which means you may start getting a lot of spam.

Registration Privacy

. To avoid having your information made public, most registration service will offer a "Private" registration option. With "Private" registration the registration service will list their information on the Internet instead of yours. Of course, there is a fee for "Private" registration, which may more than double your annual registration fee.

Account Logon

. When you register a domain name, the registration service will setup an account name and password for you so you can manage your domain name. Be sure to get this information and keep it. It will allow you to control your domain. This also true if you have your web developer register your domain name. Get the information from your developer. Important: Don't forget to also make a note of the Internet address of your registration service, so you know where to access your account.

Domain Transfer Lock

. Stealing domain name is a thriving Internet business, so you need to protect your investment in a domain name. To help protect your domain name disable the transfer feature when registering the domain name. This will prevent someone else from transferring your domain name to another registration service without your permission and taking control of your domain name. You will still have the ability to transfer the name to another registration service, whenever you want it transferred. Domain Settings Sample 1 and Domain Settings Sample 2

Domain Auto Renewal

. If you did your due diligence when selecting a domain registration service, you registered with a company with a low renewal fee. So you probably want to set the renewal to automatic. Some renewal options allow you to select the number of years to renew. Usually one year at a time is fine. If your domain name is not renewed, you can lose control of your domain name — another reason to auto renew. If you no longer want the domain name, you can always logon to your account and turn off auto renewal.

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