Changing your domain name once your site is well-established can turn out to be a very costly venture, so the solution is to select the correct domain name right from the get-go.

DOMAIN NAME REGISTRATION

Not too long ago I used to preach and practice that you should “Never register your domain name through your web hosting company however attractive the deal might appear” Why? Because in the past it was not uncommon for web hosts to react somewhat angrily to the idea of you transferring those ooooh so delicious annual registration fees to a competitor.

But times have changed, the web has matured, web hosting services have matured. Most recognize the fact that the big bucks come with providing quality service.

And what’s more some very reputable web hosting companies provide some very attractive domain registration packages coupled with hosting.

So go ahead and take advantage of those cheap domain registration/web hosting packages just as long as the hosting company is well known and reputable.
If you ever do find yourself in a domain transfer battle you can contact the International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).

Another thing to consider when registering your domain name is not to rely solely on your domain name register to ensure that the domain name you have in mind is available and does not infringe on someone else’s trademark rights (unless you enjoy being sued). To be doubly sure your domain name has no trademark infringement issues, after conducting a search for its availability on your domain name register’s website, you can also check at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) http://www.uspto.gov.

When registering your domain name it’s a good idea to register it for more than one year. The reason being that, other than the usual discounts you get for multi-year registrations from most domain name registers, Google (and perhaps the other search engines) consider multi-year registered domains as less likely to be spam sites. Consequently, right off the bat your site will have a search engine advantage (at least with Google), such as a shorter evaluation period in the Google Sandbox.

A final note about domain name registration; there are plenty of domain name registration companies out there, all eager and equally willing to register your new name. Domain name registration prices range from as little as $10 a year up to $35 per year and beyond. Generally there is little point in opting for the more expensive registers because you more or less get the same service. In fact some of the cheaper domain name registration companies provide better quality service.

However whatever service you use, make sure that your domain name is registered in your name. Some less scrupulous domain registration services have been known to register new domains with their own information. You can verify that your domain is registered with your particulars at: http://www.internic.net/whois.html.

THE DOMAIN NAME GAME

So what kind of domain name do you want? Do you want to pick a domain name incorporated with a targeted keyword, or do you want to take the memorable-brand route that the likes of Google, Yahoo and Amazon (to name but a few) have done with astounding success. Well, if your website is going to be business related or involved in some form of commerce it makes sense to have a well-searched-for-keyword incorporated within the domain name. The majority of online businesses are still found through search engine queries. By and large though, a good rule of thumb is to incorporate the most searched for term (for your market) in your domain name.

The shorter your domain name the more memorable it’s going to be. However you’ll discover that most one-word/two-word domain names have been snatched up already. One alternative you’ve got is to hyphenate your targeted keyword with another word. The jury is still out about hyphens though, but most seo experts concur that hyphenating a string of words makes a long domain name more search engine friendly. The downside is that when it comes to word-of-mouth dissemination most folks won’t bother including those pesky hyphens, with the resulting consequence that intended referrals to your domain could end up on your competitor’s doorstep. So as you can see, the whole process of naming your domain is a fine balancing act.

CUTESY ARTSY DOMAIN NAMES

There’s a budding artist in all of us waiting for just the right moment and place to show the world we are the new Leonardo da Vinci. Be that as it may, but naming your domain is not the place to express that inner artist. Avoid cutesy names interspersed with numbers in place of words (e.g., 4 instead of for), they’ll only confuse potential customers and torment you with heaps of regret somewhere down the road. In fact the best rule of thumb is to avoid numbers in your domain name altogether. However, if on the other hand your domain functions merely as a cyber-platform to let an uncaring world know you exist, then by all means let loose!

Bottom line, your domain name is your online identity, so try to choose something that is memorable, fares well with the search engines, and also inspires confidence and respect.

TO DOT.COM OR NOT TO DOT.COM

These days there’re more and more choices for domain name extensions. This is great news because it is getting increasingly difficult to find a good domain name ending in .com that runs under twenty letters (okay that might be a wee bit of an exaggeration but you get the point). However the drawback with using anything other than a .com extension is human nature. You see people are creatures of conditioning and habit, and given a choice of precisely similar domain names, (other than the extension) you can bet most of us will instinctively beeline for the domain name with the .com extension—Without question the .com extension is the most recognizable.

Also think twice before settling for a top level country code domain such as co.uk. Unless you are located in that region and ship primarily within the area, such a domain name could have a negative impact on your business. Think about it…a potential customer based in the U.S. or another part of the world is not going to relish the prospect of forking out a mini fortune for shipping and handling fees when they can easily find a more local competitor. In the same vein try not to regionalize your domain name (unless your business caters to a market found only within that region) because you’ll probably lose potential customers who reside elsewhere.

On a final note, if you anticipate a lot of your traffic is going to come via word-of-mouth referral, you might consider registering similar domain names and redirecting to your main url (e.g. www.africasafarizone.com and www.africansafarizone.com) before cyber-squatters (people who register domain names in hopes of selling them for a profit) get wind of your growing success and beat you to it.

Let’s say that you’re creating a website for Barb’s Specialty Pet Products. Should the domain name be barbsspecialtypetproducts.com?
Perhaps — but don’t stop there. Having the right domain name, or domain names, can bring more traffic to your site.
Why more than one domain name?
One domain is all you need to set up a website. But with more domains directing to your site, you can have these additional benefits:
- Bring site visitors who type variations of your domain name
- Acquire traffic that might otherwise go to your competition
- Harness the marketing power of keyword domains
Your primary domain name
If it’s feasible, use your business or brand name in your primary domain. People will remember it and associate it with your business. Also consider the following factors when choosing your primary domain.
Domain name extensions
Should your primary domain end with .com, .net, or .biz, or with a country-specific extension such as .ca or .co.uk?
If your website is aimed at people in a specific country, having a country-specific domain can help:
- Site visitors will recognize right away that the business has a presence in the country of the extension. They may therefore be more comfortable buying from you.
- Some country-specific search results include sites with the relevant country-specific domain extension even if the site isn’t hosted in that country.
On the other hand, if you’re targeting an international audience, a country-specific domain could work against you. People from outside the country of the extension may be less inclined to buy if the business looks foreign to them.
If you want to attract both people within your country and those in other countries, have both. Each domain could direct to the same site, with each audience seeing the domain intended for them. For country-specific search results, the primary domain should be the country-specific one.
Chances are that the .com domain you want is already taken. If you use the .net or .biz version, you risk having potential site visitors go to your .com competition instead. Be sure to use the full domain name on all promotional material to reduce this risk.
Domain name length
A short domain is easier to remember, it has less risk of being mistyped, and it’ll fit easily on your business cards and correspondence.
Conversely, if a short name doesn’t represent your business, it’s more difficult for people to remember. The short names you like may already be taken anyway.
If your business name is up to three easy-to-spell words, it’ll probably work as a domain name. For a longer business name, the initials or just one or two words may be easier than remembering a combination of words.
Secondary domain names
Secondary domains directing to your site are for online use:
- For people who type your primary domain name incorrectly
- For people who search for your products or services online
Typing and spelling variations
How many ways can people spell and type your business name?
barbsspecialtypetproducts.com
barbs-specialty-pet-products.com
barbspecialtypetproducts.com
barbsspecialitypetproducts.com
barbsspecialitypetproducts.com
barbspecialtyproducts.com
barbspecialtyproduct.com
Hyphens aren’t recommended for your primary domain. When people tell others about your site, they’re likely to omit the hyphens. They may also forget to type them.
For secondary domains, hyphens make long domains easier to read. Each word stands out when people see your domain. However, domains such as buy-keyword-product-now.com make some people view hyphenated domains, especially those with more than one hyphen, as spam-like.
Having the words in domains separated may help some search engines recognize keywords. With Google, though, hyphens don’t make any difference.
Consider all of these variations for secondary domain names:
- With and without hyphens
- Different ways of spelling some words
- Singular and plural versions of nouns
- Extensions with .com and .net as well as a country-specific extension if relevant
What people search for
If you want to find the website for Time magazine, you might do a search for it, or you might try typing in time.com. If you do the latter, you’ll find yourself at the Time site.
This type of search behavior extends to generic words too. Searching for dog collars? Try dogcollar.com, for example, and you’ll be redirected to dogidcollar.com. Do you want life insurance? Lifeinsurance.com redirects to nmfn.com (and so does northwesternmutualfinancialnetwork.com).
While having keyword domain names may not draw a lot of site visitors, using them is a technique to consider.
How to use more than one domain
Set up your website with your primary domain, and use that domain on your correspondence and with your customers.
Point secondary domains to your site using URL forwarding (also called domain forwarding, domain redirect, or URL redirect). To have the secondary domain appear in the browser, use domain masking. You can set up these features when you log in to your account with your domain registrar (if your registrar offers these services).
With domains that are simply variations of your primary domain, you can expect additional traffic just from having set up these domains. With domains that contain keywords, you can get more from them by using them to list your site in online directories. When these domains appear in search results, searchers will see the keywords.
The next step
Once you decide on the available domains that you want, register them immediately. They might not be available tomorrow.
If you don’t already have a business name, you’ll find it easier to market your business online if you choose a primary domain and a business name together. If your first choice for a business name doesn’t work well with any available domains, consider a business name that you can easily market with an available domain. Once you’ve registered that domain name and your business name, register secondary domains and put them to use.
Is it worth registering multiple domains for one site? That depends on your site, but any variations that you don’t register will be available for competitors to register and use. If a domain is valuable to a competitor, it’s valuable to you.

There’s a saying in the Real Estate business – they say that the 3 most important things are location, location and location. Well, in regards to a new internet business, it’s domain name, domain name and domain name. Yes, a domain name is that important.

In the early days of the internet, domain names were fairly easy. There were so many good names still available, but as more and more businesses migrated to the internet, the best names were taken. As the time passed, finding a good domain name to register has become increasingly difficult.

Why is a domain name so important? For one thing, a domain name can help you get the traffic to your website. If you don’t get traffic, you might as well not even have a website. There’s no doubt about it, if you want to make money, you need traffic.

A domain name can help you to get traffic in a couple of ways. First of all, if your domain name is catchy and easy to remember, that will help people to find your website and to return for future visits. It’s also a good idea if your domain name gives some indication of the type of business you have. For example, if you want to have a website that helps people consolidate their student loans, it would be a good idea to have a domain name that contained some or all of those words. You might do good with “studentloans.com” or “studentloanconsolidation.com” or something similar. You can even use hyphens in the domain name, like “student-loan-consolidation.com”, etc.

The point here is that your domain name should be descriptive of your business. After all, if you were looking for a new dentist, would you be likely to visit “BigBubbaMotorcycles.com” or “GreatDentists.com”? If Big Bubba is a dentist, he’s probably not going to get many new dental patients thru his website.

Let’s talk about the domain names with hyphens before we move on. Contrary to what many people think, having hyphens in your domain name does not hurt your search engine listings. Most of the search engines treat the hyphens as a space, so the hyphens make it a little easier for them to separate out the individual words.

About the only downside of using hyphens is that when people type in your URL, they may forget to put in the hyphens and go to a competitors website instead. Personally, I don’t think this is too much of a problem, since most people find websites thru search engines, so they’ll be clicking directly on a link to your website instead of typing it in by hand.

Again, it’s really important to embed keywords about your business into your domain name for good search engine ranking. Although some domains, like ebay.com or google.com do get a lot of traffic, it’s not because of any keyword in the domain name. What is an ‘ebay’ anyhow?

You’ll find that most of the high traffic websites with short, unrelated domain names get their huge amount of traffic thru paid promotional campaigns. They use radio & TV ads, high volume email advertising and other such methods that might be too expensive for a small business just getting started.

A good way to find your domain name is to develop a list of keywords that are strongly associated with your business. Write down as many keywords as you can think of, as long as they’re on your subject. Once you have your list, you can use one of the several free online tools to help select just the right domain name for your new website.

The domain name registrar at www.godaddy.com has a search feature where you can check the availability of domain names and the results will even show you other closely related domain names that are available. Another handy suggestion tool is at www.domainfellow.com Either one of these online tools will help you to find a good domain name that’s still available to register.

Here’s a good tip for you when trying to find a domain name that has your keywords in it – If you can’t find a domain name that has your keyword and is still available, you should consider using sub-domain names instead.

What’s a sub-domain name? A sub-domain name is a prefix to a normal domain name. Let’s say that you’re in the retail computer business and you want to sell computers at your website. That’s a fairly competitive business, so you’ll probably have a hard time coming up with a good domain name that’s not already taken.

An alternative would be to choose some sort of generic term for a domain name and then use a sub-domain for your computer business. For example, let’s say that you register the domain name “lowestprice.com” That’s pretty generic, wouldn’t you agree? Now that you have that domain name registered, you can create all the sub-domains you want, limited only by your imagination and the size of your web hosting account.

Remembering that you’re in the computer business, you could now have your website at the sub-domain “computers.lowestprice.com” Using this same approach, you could go into just about any other business and have sub-domains like “insurance.lowestprice.com” and so on. See how it works?

Another good thing about sub-domains is that they don’t require registration. You only pay to register the main domain name. By using sub-domain names, you can easily embed your keywords and it won’t cost you any more money. And the search engines treat each sub-domain as a totally separate entity, so your search engine ranking for one sub-domain won’t be dependent upon you having a high ranking for your main domain name.

Once you find your new domain name, you’ll need to register it. I recommend godaddy.com for registering. Their prices are reasonable and their service is great. However, there are many, many companies that provide domain name registration services, so pick whichever one you like.

Does the length of your website’s domain name registration affect the search results at Google? This question has come up recently and a lot of website owners have been wondering about it, especially since it was mentioned in a patent awarded to Google in April. According to the patent, “Certain signals may be used to distinguish between illegitimate and legitimate domains. For example, domains can be renewed up to a period of 10 years. Valuable (legitimate) domains are often paid for several years in advance, while doorway (illegitimate) domains rarely are used for more than a year. Therefore, the date when a domain expires in the future can be used as a factor in predicting the legitimacy of a domain and, thus, the documents associated therewith.” According to this statement in the patent, domains that expire in 10 years are more valuable and legitimate than domains that will expire in less than a year.

Google, in general, is always looking for ways to weed out the bad (spammers) from the good (legitimate) websites. I suspect that they looked for a pattern among the good, legitimate websites and found that most good, legitimate websites have a commitment towards their business and their domain name-they register it for a long period of time. In other words, the theory behind all of this is that if you register a domain name for several years it shows Google that you’re committed to that domain name. If you register a domain name for 1 year then you’re not as committed to that domain name. A lot of spammers use “throw away” domain names and register them for only a year. So, Google uses the length of time that a domain is registered to determine whether the owner of that domain name is committed to it or not.

One domain name owner I talked to recently told me that renewing his domain names once each year was a part of his business plan. He made a certain amount of money each year from each domain name/website, and he didn’t want to cut into the profits of each site by renewing each domain name all at once for several years. “Renewing a domain name for 10 years or even 2 years ahead of time means that I have to spend more money. If I have to come up with $50 or $100 more per year for the domain renewal fees it cuts into my profits”, says John, who wished to remain anonymous. John’s website is probably exactly the type of website that Google wishes to identify. Google is looking to identify quality, well-established websites whose owners are committed to their domain names. According to the statements made in Google’s patent, Google thinks that websites that have been renewed for a long period of time meet that standard.

Should you renew your domain name for a long period of time? And if so, how long is long enough? If you want to stay ahead of your competition, then you might consider looking at the length of time your competitors have registered their domain names. If your competitors have generally renewed their domain names for one or two years, you might consider registering your domain name for 5 or 10 years. While putting off your domain name’s expiration date might help your search engine rankings, keep in mind that this may be only a small boost (or a “tie-breaker” among two websites) when it comes to the actual search engine rankings. And, be aware that just because Google has a patent on the idea it doesn’t mean that they’re actually using those criteria now to rank websites. They, too, want to stay ahead of their competition (mainly Yahoo! and MSN).

I’ve registered the domains that I really care about for at least 10 years. Initially, I registered these domains for a long period of time because I didn’t want to lose them-and I didn’t want to go through the somewhat-lengthy annual process of renewing them every year. Since most domain names I own come up for renewal at different times during the year, it seemed as though I was renewing a domain name at least once a month-and renewing them for a few years put it off for a while.

Expired domain name buyers are prevalent nowadays. If your domain name expires, there’s a good chance that someone watching will register your domain name within seconds after it expires. If, for whatever reason, you don’t renew your domain name, someone watching a ‘watch list’ of expiring domain names will try to capitalize on the online business that you’ve built over the years. They know that there is potential website traffic they can have simply by renewing your old domain name. By renewing your domain name for several years, your domain name won’t expire for a while, and it won’t be opened up to expired domain name buyers.

If you really want to stay ahead of the competition, you might consider registering or renewing your domain name for 100 years. Currently, Network Solutions (www.netsol.com) is the only registrar offering the 100 year option, which costs $999.00. GoDaddy (www.godaddy.com), currently offers to renew or register a domain name for 10 years, at a discount of $6.95 per year. Dotster (www.dotster.com), another leading registrar, offers domain name registration and renewals for up to 10 years at a cost of $129.95.

What’s the bottom line? If you’re committed to your online business, your website, and your domain name, then renewing your domain name for a long period of time will not only stop expired domain buyers from registering your domain name when it expires, it will show Google that you’re committed to it-and that may give you a boost in the search engine rankings, as well.

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A main Domain, an alternative domain or an additional domain for your online business must be a generic domain. While branding domain name for your business, Professional generic domain name acts as a representative for your product or service to the entire industry. For example: Loans.com , Books.com , Tv.com , Movies.com and Baby.com E.T.C. These are one word generics.

When you buy a generic domain to build your website, you are aligning your self as business leader of your sector either product or service. Researches from 2004 onwards showed that around 20% of daily global Internet users arrive at websites through “direct navigation” by browsing. Direct navigation means typing the URL [domain name] into a browser address bar / use a bookmark. 20% of the traffic for life long, just for a one time investment i.e Generic Domain Name that also a hand picked domain name.

Direct navigation traffic is possible if you own a Generic domain only. This type of high quality traffic is extremely valuable for the domain owner. Marketers and online businessmen have found out the value of type in traffic from direct navigation, they purchase generic domains at any cost even for millions for their online presence. Direct navigation will ensure that your visitors are actively interested and looking for the product or service related to your domain name, and will find your website without an agent.

More over such domains are hand picked and they are clear dictionary words. Words with numbers , hyphens and typo’s are not at all considered as Generic domains, It must represent a product, service in a clear manner. It is a goldmine if you own a keyword domain, Even if it is a three word domain it is valuable. Such domains are generally normal in length, easily memorable and sexy so once a visitor visits your site, the visitor may revisit with out any distraction i.e repeated high quality traffic is got without any floating expenses.

At present domain market is quite dull means sales prices are quite low and not up to our expectation , But soon it boom up,i feel with in two years and the prices of domains will hike up like a sky rocket it is not easy to find a Creative Generic keyword Domain name. It involves Creative thinking and a lot of worthful brain storming process to pick a Generic Keyword Domain name for your business or service related industry. Software searches wont provide worthy Domain selections, Hand picking is found to be the best from our experience. But it takes several hours to find a good quality Domain name.

Already best easily known keyword generics were registered by domainers, They acquired these domains few years back and renewals paid for more than five years with a knowledge in market trend. This foresight made them millionaires, because the Cost of Generic top level Dot Com Domain names is millions worth.

If you have a glimpse to few of the Leading Domain Seller Market places and Auctions, You may find even non Generics, bids up to hundreds and thousands of Dollars, Then the only way to acquire a high quality Generic Keyword Domain is to buy at after market. Learn the Market Trend and grab a Creative Generic Domain Name, before any one else.

some domainers say you can acquire good names from expired domains, please note it is just a bluff mostly all of them are just waste rags. if a good domain gets expired there is a bidding on that and softwares are available to find them and they are proxy bidded so the prices will hike up.It is almost worthless when it is open for public registeration. This is the situation for normal domains then how can you get a genetic key word domain. It is almost a tough game.

There is one more joke when you register domain names i.e up to 100 domains you will be just registering thats all, and after you acquire some 100’s of domains and if if you look back your domains, You feel that how foolish i am just registered so many worthless names. Even very good domainers feel like this. General concept is 4 out of 5 domains would worth less than the expectation , even if you work hard for 1 1/2 shift per day and collide with tons of key words to get a key domain for your product or service, you can find a real diamond from the junk, even now real gems are available. But most of them is over, As domainers scraped their heads for more than 10 years in this business.

I have collided my head with the four walls of my room, my computer , books ETC to build my small domain portfolio even best webmasters and SEO’s stunned when they visited my domain portfolio and mailed their congrats that ” most of your domains are very valuable and you will end up with potential end users who will be ready to pay up to six figures so you just wait for an end user to contact you, keep your mail up to date and respond properly when you receive a mail” I feel very thankful to those kind hearted friend who have spent their precious time to review my site and respond for my future endeavour. I personally feel that it is purely Gods grace, As almighty has his own power to activate each and every aspect of this mighty world

I place a humble request to all my friends and community members to make a review on my site and post their valuable comments to improve the site statistics. My domain URL is : www.collisiondomains.com if you are interested in the purchase of generic domains just mail me from my website.I also request to recommend my site if your friend, neighbour or cousin is in want of generic domains

I whole heartedly thank the webmasters as they mailed me to edit my article and resubmit to publish