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With all the power and reach of the World Wide Web, establishing your web presence can often seem overwhelming…daunting even. You have an idea, a business, or service to offer, but you wonder, ‘How do I go about getting it out there?’ You may even find yourself thinking that getting your message out to your community and beyond via the internet is only for the big dogs… major corporations or the independently wealthy who have a small fortune to invest in getting a website up and running. Not even close.

Having your own website is no longer only an option for the Fortune 500 A-list. In fact, it’s so easy and budget friendly, your grandmother could do it. And in some cases, she probably already is.

So, where to begin?

The very first thing you need to consider is what your domain name will be. A domain name is simply the name of your website. Like www.amazingmonkeys.com . Okay, not that one exactly. I just checked …it’s taken. But, you want to choose something that fits you, your business, your message, or style. Anything goes and you can really get creative with it, however, here are 10 things you may want to consider before you go searching:

1. K.I.S.S

Keep it simple sweetheart! One thing you don’t want, is a domain name that is lengthy, complicated, or difficult to remember. You may be starting a business selling the best daggone widgets in the world but www.bestdaggonewidgetsintheworld.com? Well, you see my point. When it comes to domain names, less is more.

2. Spelling and Dual Meanings

Steer clear of domain names which might be hard to spell or include synonyms. I learned this the hard way with the domain name for my personal blog frogforpeace.com It means Fully Rely On God For Peace but, it’s not an easy domain name to communicate verbally. That’s frog….. for….. nope, not 4….. nope, not four ….. for peace. I usually end up spelling it slowly for people and sometimes more than once. Ugh. Avoid synonyms and words like Czechoslovakia. You’ll thank me later.

3. Symbols and Numbers

It’s best to avoid using numbers and symbols in your domain name. If you find the best domain ever but have to spell it www.the-best-domain.com because someone already owns www.thebestdomain.com, your site will be more difficult to find and potential traffic will probably spend a lot of time on the other guy’s site. Numbers are tricky as well, for obvious reasons. You don’t want to choose a name which leaves a user wondering if the number three should be typed in like three or 3. Use words which aren’t numerals and pass on the dashes and hashes.

4. Branding

Always keep in mind any logo, trademark, and branding associated with your business or message. It might be tempting to choose a generic domain which describes your services rather than your business name, but matching your brand with your domain cannot be understated. Consider GEICO for example. They use their brand of car insurance for their domain name, rather than using carinsurance.com. Why? Clients and visitors are most likely to type in “yourbrand.com” rather than “yourservices.com”, and more times than not they will use your brand when searching for you in search engines like Google.

5. Uniqueness

Remember, you and your message are unique. Make sure your domain name reflects that and don’t settle for a variation of a domain which belongs to a competitor. Avoid adding the prefixes like “the” and “my” to a domain name in an attempt to make it unique. This can backfire when a user fails to remember the prefix and instead ends up landing on your competitor’s site. The exception to this, in my opinion, would be if you plan to market yourself as the expert in something. You can make thefashionexpert.com work well compared to fashionexpert.com if you are careful to emphasize the in all your advertising.

6. Domain Extensions (.com, .net, .org)

You may be tempted to purchase a domain name ending in .net or .org if .com is taken. Bad idea. Again you want to traffic to end up on your site and not someone else’s because of a mis-type. I recommend you take the time to find a unique domain which has all three available. Purchasing .com, .net, and .org, and redirecting traffic to your preferred extension, helps insure traffic finds your site no matter which is typed by a visitor. If you’re a non-profit organization and want to use .org, great … but buy all three so someone typing in .com instead will come to your .org site. Country specific extensions like .uk (for the United Kingdom) are also an option. Make sure your extension fits your circumstances and locale.

7. Hosting

Purchasing your domain name and hosting provider from separate entities is a good idea for a variety of reasons, too many to enumerate in this post. Suffice it to say, keeping your domain name registrar and hosting provider separate is highly recommended. This could save you some hassles down the road. If your domain name is purchased separately from hosting, you won’t find yourself in a domain name war over ownership with your hosting provider should you ever decide to change hosting providers.

8. Privacy Registration

Protect yourself from spam, scams, and prying eyes by adding a privacy registration to your domain purchase. This keeps your personal registration information hidden from public view if anyone runs a WhoIs check on your website. Basically, it’s safer and Google has publicly announced that Private Domain Registrations will not hurt rankings or website traffic coming from google (Matt Cutts, Orlando PubCon).

9. Time of Contract

The number of months for which you purchase your domain is completely a personal decision. If you are new to blogging and not sure if you’re in it for the long haul, purchasing a domain for one year might be a good idea. On the other hand, if you are launching a business and don’t want to have to worry about renewing your agreement on a yearly basis, purchasing your domain for 3-5 years at a time might be best. Most domain registrars are set up to email you a reminder notice a few months prior to your renewal date. Whatever term you choose, make sure to keep accurate records of your purchase. You want to limit the risk of forfeiture of your domain name for failure to renew.

10. Purchasing

I personally have my domain names registered with GoDaddy and recommend them to all my clients. There are other domain registrars out there, like Namecheap for example, but GoDaddy has a long history of reasonable prices and great service. According to RegistrarSTATS.com, GoDaddy is the world’s premier domain name registrar , so you can rest assured, they aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. Beware of rock bottom prices from registrars no one has ever heard of before. Better to be safe now than sorry later.

Choosing a domain name is just the first step in establishing your presence on the web, but it can be one of the most exciting. You are deciding what you or your business will be known as online. Have fun with it, get creative, and as a final step, run it by your family and trusted friends. Ask them what they think of when they first hear it and how they would spell it. If it’s confusing to them, it will probably always be difficult to communicate verbally and cost more in advertising to make sure the public knows how to find you.

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