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How to choose a good domain name for your web site.
PREFACE
Learn how to come up with a good domain name (short, easy to spell, easy to remember), research its availability, and then secure it.
This article assumes that you're pretty comfortable surfing the web.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Introduction
- Deciding on a Domain Name
A. Restrictions - Researching Your Choice
A. WHOIS Search
B. Name Already Taken? - Securing the Name
- Conclusion
1. INTRODUCTION
You’ve got a spark in your eye that will become your web site. What should you name it? Jacob and Ashley might be great names for all the kids in your neighborhood, but thinking up an effective name for a web site is a little different.
The name of your web site is called its "domain name". For example, the domain name of this site is "crunch42.com". Notice that I didn't say the tongue twisting "www" at the beginning. These days, the www is assumed.
TECH NOTE: Some people call domain names “URLs”. URL stands for "Uniform Resource Locator". URLs are a little more specific than domain names, though they are essentially the same thing. The difference is that with a URL you include the "http://www." prefix (ie http://www.crunch42.com/) and with a domain name you can leave this out and just say crunch42.com.
2. DECIDING ON A DOMAIN NAME
A good domain name is catchy and easy to remember. It's also usually relevant to the topic of your website. For example, if your site is about herb gardens, a name like “superherbs.com” would be great. However, a name like “herbs1978f.com” would not.
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A. RESTRICTIONS
There are a number of restrictions placed on domain names. These include:
- Domain names can be made up of letters, numbers, and dashes. The name can't begin with a dash.
- You can’t include special characters like spaces, apostrophes, periods, commas or ! @ # $ % ^ & or *.
- The name should not infringe on someone else's registered trademark.
Capitalization doesn't matter. It all looks lower-case to the computer even if you type the domain name all upper-case into the browser. To lessen the chance of people making typos when they type your site's domain name into their browser, the name should ideally be less than ten letters long, and definitely less than fifteen. This will also make the name easier to remember.
3. RESEARCHING YOUR CHOICE
Unfortunately most of the good names are already taken, so you may have to settle for second best. And sometimes you can get a good name, but you'll have to settle for .net or .biz instead of .com.
It's always best to go for .com if it's available, however, since most people think .com when they think of websites.
You may also want to consider buying mutiple versions of the name -- .com, .net, .org AND .biz -- especially if your domain name is made of generic words or your company's trademarked name.
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A. WHOIS SEARCH
There’s an online tool called WHOIS that is used to tell if a domain name is already taken, and if it is, by whom. When you register your domain name with a registrar (Crunch42 recommends moniker.com [popup]), you'll use their WHOIS tool when you choose a domain name.
If the name you want is already taken is, try variations on the theme. If “herbgardens.com” is taken, try “herb-gardens.com”, then “herbgardening.com”, then “herb-gardening.com”, then “herbgardens.biz”, etc.
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B. ALREADY TAKEN
What can you do if the name you really absolutely wanted or needed was already taken? The first thing you should do is to type the domain name into your browser and see if there’s an actual web site there, or if it’s just a “coming soon” page.
If there’s already a web site there and it looks current, there’s probably not too much you can do. The exception is if the name is your registered trademark, then you may have some luck in court (assuming the “domain squatter” is under your court’s jurisdiction).
If there’s no web site, or it looks rather outdated, you might have luck contacting the owner of the site and offering to buy the domain name. Prices range from a few hundred to several thousand dollars or more.
When you look up an existing domain name in WHOIS (see previous section) there will usually be enough information provided to track down the owner of the domain. Don’t sound too desperate, however, or you may get gouged.
There’s a whole minor industry that revolves around domain name speculation. People will buy up domain names that they think other people will pay lots of money for. If the domain name you want falls under this category, you may be able to pay lots of money for it. In fact, some web sites consist of only one page that says simple “Buy This Domain Name!”
4. SECURING THE NAME
Once you’ve decided on a name and confirmed that it’s available, it’s time to buy it. Prices for registering your domain name(s) range from free to $35 each per year.
Most hosting services will let you research domain names through their sites, and a lot of them offer free domain name registration when you buy a year’s worth of hosting. Crunch42 Web Services offers hosting but not domain name registration. Why not? Because if you register your domain name yourself, it assures that you, not Crunch42, will own the name.
I recommend moniker.com (popup window) for domain name registration. It costs about $10 a year. Just be sure not to get suckered into buying any of the multitude of services they offer in addition to domain name registration.
5. CONCLUSION
Getting a domain name is a small but very important part of your overall web site plan. Make sure you choose a name that’s catchy, easy to remember, and somewhat relevant to the topic of your website and you won’t go wrong.
If you need high quality professional web design services please consider hiring the author of this article. My specialty is in database-connected sites.
Request a free estimate today, and work can start within a few days.