How to Choose,
Register or Transfer a Domain Name
Copyright
2002 Herman Drost
Every professional business should be keeping up with the demands and needs of
its customers, if it is to survive. One of
the essential tools of any business these days is to have a professional web
site. This begins with choosing and registering
a domain name that will clearly identify and brand your business online for many
years to come, so you need to choose wisely.
How to choose a domain name
1. If you want your web site to have an added advantage in the search engines,
think of a domain name that includes keywords
visitors would search for in the main search engines.
2. Make a list of all the possible names that would suit your business (i.e.
isitebuild.com
contains resources for building
your own web site or getting one built). Use
www.nameboy.com for
researching domain names. NameBoy will generate domain names based on the
keywords you enter. If the dotcom name you want is not available, create a
longer name that describes your business or use names that include hyphens (i.e.
ihost-websites.com)
3. If possible, keep your domain name short so it is easy to spell and easy to
remember. Take into account someone may
remember the name but forget there is a hyphen in it – you then miss out on
those potential customers.
4. If the dotcom name is not available, try the other new abbreviations such as
.BIZ .US,.INFO, .TV. These are not as
popular as .COM, however you may get closer to the name you want.
How to register a domain name
1. Any company that sells domain names must be registered and accredited with
iCann - The Internet Corporation for
Assigned Names and Numbers (http://www.icann.org).
You can get a domain name for under $10 from Godaddy.com.
Read carefully what’s on their site as you go through the registration process.
It’s easy to inadvertently sign up
for other services you don’t need.
For a current list of companies that are accredited as registrars by iCann,
visit Internic (www.internic.com).
Herman
Drost is a Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW) owner and author of
iSiteBuild.com
Low Cost Hosting and Site Design
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