What's the one one thing that your online business needs to make it stand out and become a successful online venture?
The right domain name!
The domain name is what people type in when they want to get to your site - it's the part that comes after the http:// or the www. It's your virtual real estate address. Having something they won't forget without looking it up each time or keeping it in their bookmarks, to be lost among the all the other addresses, is the one thing you can do to get repeat visitors and word-of-mouth free traffic.
People say that all the great domain names are gone, but that's about as as incorrect as you can get. Here are some simple guidelines that will make your domain name -- and your business -- a memorable and popular online destination.
1. Choose a .com
The number one rule is, go for the dot-com ending, which is typed as .com. This is the Main Street of the virtual|online world, and the one that most people will type in regardless of what your domain extension actually is. While .org and .net were popular for a while, and then .us, .biz,.info and .name took the stage, people always revert back to .com -- regardless of how many fancy country code top level domains are launched into the mainstream, like .cc, .ws, .to, .cn and others.
2. Choose something memorable
You want your business name to be your domain name too, if possible. So if your flower shop is called Felicty's Flowers, you want to get felicitysflowers.com, assuming it's available. If that domain name isn't available, try adding a dash, like felicitys-flowers.com or a secondary descriptive word like felicitysflowersonline.com or prettyfelicitysflowers.com. If you're creative, you'll probably be able to come up with a name that matches your business name and is one your customers will find memorable.
Remember that if you use a dash in your domain name, which some Search Engine Optimization experts say attracts more free traffic to your site, you have to mention the dashes if you use your domain name in an audio product or commercial; so it would be "felicitys dash flowers dot com".
Most people typing in your domain name later will not type the dashes.
3. Get Another Name Variation
If you're fortunate enough to grab a great domain name without the dashes, then you might want to get the same name with dashes between the words as well. You can put both domain names up on your server as mirror sites to get the benefits of SEO as well as the ease of typing without the dashes.
You should also consider getting the .net or .org variation or even another extension or two to use as sister sites for your main dot com site... maybe you could put your forum on the .net, or use your .com for your main product and .net for your business background information site.
Even if you're looking for a domain name that you don't really think will be available, using your creativity and trying a variety of word combinations will allow you to come up with an unforgettable domain name that will attract people to your website.
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It can be quite time consuming checking domain name availability as you find each successive name you come up with has already been registered.
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