What in the World is a Domain?

Before you can get started, your business needs a name. Yah, your business already has a “name”, but you need to get your identity online with what we call a “domain name”.

The domain name is simply a unique name that identifies your website. It usually contains two parts: the first part being your “desired or company name” with that being separated by the general name or extension such as .com, .net, .org, .info, .biz or even .tv. Actually, there are quite a few you can choose from now, but my advice is to always try to get your desired name followed by a .com and I’ll explain why in a little bit.

The Domain Registrar

In order to get your own domain name, you must use a Domain Registrar to register it. Domain registrars are companies that have the authority to lease domain names to individuals or companies. The annual fees can range usually starting around $6.95 and up depending on the registrar themselves, your chosen extension and any additional features you may choose to include such as private registrations.

You can also choose to register your domain name for more than 1 year at a time. By doing this you’ll get discount or bulk pricing.

GoDaddy.com
Godaddy is the one I typically use. They offer great customer service and support as well as an easy backend account center.

Choosing Your Name

The key to choosing a domain name is to make it simple and as short as possible. You want it to be something that is easily remembered. Example, if your company name is XYZ Bottles Inc. You could try xyzbottlesinc.com or xyzbottles.com.

Your company name is your “Brand”, but sometimes it’s not an available domain name (someone else has already registered it) so you have a few options.

• You could hyphenate your name (xyz-bottles.com)
• You could try a different extension (xyzbottles.net, .org, etc)
• Or you could check the Whois database to see who owns the name currently and when it expires, then contact the owner to see if they are willing to sell that domain name. This can be a costly option as in-demand names can range into the thousands.

Remember, this is important to get right from the start because once you get your website up and start marketing, you don’t want to be worried about moving it to a new domain down the road.

Which Extension Should You Chose

As I said earlier, you want to try to get the .com extension if you can. The reason? Well, .com is the most popular and widely recognized extension there is. People searching for your site directly will tend to automatically add the .com mainly out of habit and could end up on someone else’s website (your competition perhaps!). So try every combination with the .com before moving on to another extension.

If you can afford to purchase more than one domain name, why not safeguard your domain by purchasing it in more than one such as xyzbottles.net, .org, .ca, etc then re-direct the other domains back to your primary website. This will mean that no matter what extension your customers type in, they will always end up on your website rather than someone else’s.

I’ll explain “How” to do this further on when we get into the hosting section, but it’s something to keep in mind when purchasing your domain name now.

Private Registrations

Private registrations will shield your personal information from prying eyes and cut down some of the spam you tend to receive. I personally will spend the extra to have this protection and have noticed a huge difference in my inbox since doing so.

When you purchase your domain name, you’ll be offered this service before the final payment is required.

What About Free Servers?

Many free servers or hosting services will offer you a domain name included with your hosting account. The name is usually a desired name under their own domain name such as desiredname.their_server.com or www.their_server.com/desiredname/. Not only will this hurt your credibility and professionalism in the eyes of potential customers, free hosting services also often impose a ton of pop-ups and advertisements which as you probably already know is an extreme annoyance.

Now-a-days you can find reliable hosting for a nominal monthly fee that will allow you not only the freedom to use your own domain name, but also the flexibility to add anything you like to your own server space. We’ll discuss hosting options shortly, but for now, you really should avoid these services if you can.

What Should You Do Now?

Head on over to GoDaddy.com and click on “Domains”.

You’ll see a box where you can enter your desired name and chose the extension, then click ok and it will tell you whether or not your domain name is available as well as offer other suggestions that may work for you.

Have fun and play around with the different names. But spend some serious time on this to make sure you get the domain name that best represents your company now and in the future.

Hopefully I’ve covered everything here, but if you still have questions, please ask away by replying to this post and I’ll do my best to help you out.

Toresa:)

Getting Your Small Business Online is Essential

As I’ve stated before, getting your business online is a MUST for any business these days. It doesn’t matter how small or localized your business is, you will benefit from having at least an identity online.

I’ve talked to a few small business owners recently, and it surprises me that they are still very much in the dark when it comes to anything online. Believe it or not, many are still just using the web to search for information and hesitate to even shop online, let alone consider bringing their own business onto the web.

The fear of internet security is a huge hurdle many have to get over, as well the uncertainty of what’s involved, how much it costs and even where to begin can turn some strong minded business owners into mush.

If this is you, I’d like to help you overcome these fears and uncertainties by starting from the beginning.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be posting about everything from getting a domain name to utilizing online payment systems. We’ll dive deep into how you can get started and explore the various types of website platforms you have to choose from. We’ll look at the do-it-yourself options as well as whether or not hiring a professional is a better option for you. We’ll even discuss marketing and introduce you to networking sites that will help you meet others in your profession. Plus a ton of other related topics that will surely ease your mind and help you realize the true potential the internet can offer your business.

In the meantime, what can you do to help? We’ll the best thing you can do is start searching out your competition. Do a search and look for other similar businesses to see what they are doing, how they are presenting themselves and what they are including on their sites. Write down the things you like, don’t understand and any questions that come to mind.

Then bring it here! Ask me your questions by leaving a reply to this post (or any post) and I’ll answer them.

So, let’s get started…

Toresa:)