What are Domain Names and How to Get Your First Domain Name

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There are many services online which allow you to create web pages and blogs at no cost. You can use these services to establish an online presence, as well as to create a money-making venture. However, you cannot own your website, which results in your having very limited control. In addition, you cannot sell your website; and you will lose your sweat equity investment of time and money if your website is shut down for some inexplicable reason. If you are serious about establishing a profitable online business, you should consider creating your own website. The first step in this process is to register a domain name for your site. In this article I will explain all that you need to know about domain names.

What is a Domain Name?

A domain name is a unique identifier for a website which is used by Internet browsers to access a specific site on the web. A domain name consists of words and numbers, or a combination of both, with an extension. A domain name can have up to 63 characters, however no special characters are allowed, except for a hyphen (-). There are several different extensions for a domain name, but the most commonly used ones are ‘.com,’ ‘.net’ and ‘.org.’

Each website on the Internet is stored in a specific web server. A web server is simply an ultra fast computer with a high speed Internet connection that is always on. Every web server has an IP address, which is a dedicated set of numbers peculiar to that server alone, and will look something like 70.230.90.23. When an Internet user enters a domain name in a web browser, it will send a request to the domain name system to determine the IP address of the web server in which the website is hosted. Once the browser knows the IP address, it will send a request to that web server to download the specific page the user wishes to access. Typing in the IP address each time we want to access a website would be rather complicated; therefore, the purpose of domain names is to help us access websites much more easily by typing in words and phrases that are easy to remember.

Choosing the Right Domain Name for Your Project

The domain name is the only part of your website that cannot be changed in the future. You can change your web design, your business model and your content, etc., but you cannot change your domain name. You should make certain that you choose the best possible domain name for your project before investing any time and money on that domain.

The best way to come up with a list of potential domain names for your project is to brainstorm various combinations of words related to your market. You may want to write them down on paper so that you can refer to this list as you check upon the availability of these domain names. A domain name which looks good for you, however, may not have the same impact on others. Therefore, it is a good idea to ask your friends to help you choose the best domain name from a list of potential names, or even ask them to suggest some creative names for your domain to give you even more ideas.

There are many free domain name suggestion tools on the Internet which generate a list of available domain names based upon your selection of categories and keywords. These are simply computer programs, and the names they come up with are not meaningful — and are, therefore, unworthy of use. The best tool I have come across so far for determining an appropriate domain name is that which sits between our ears. Use this tool, along with the following guidelines, and I am sure you would find a good domain name for your project.

1. Descriptive: Your domain name should describe clearly the type of website you are running. For example, if your website is about pets, your domain name should be something along the line of pets.com, onlinepets.com or petsinfo.com. When people see the domain name of your website, they will immediately understand what the website is all about. Even though many of the obvious domain names have been already registered, you should try your best to get a descriptive domain name — instead of naming the website with your name or some word which has no immediately apparent link to the purpose of the website.

2. Keyword Rich: If you are expecting to get traffic from search engines, it is recommended that you include keywords in your domain which are most frequently and regularly searched for on the Internet. For example, if your website is about digital camera reviews, it is a good idea to include the keyword ‘review’ in your domain name. Your website will have more weight in the eyes of search engines if you use these types of keywords in your domain name, as compared to one which does not.

3. Get a ‘.com’: The top three domain name extensions are ‘.com,’ ‘.net’ and ‘.org.’ Out of the three, ‘.com’ is the most used and preferred option. A longer domain name with a ‘.com’ extension is more preferable than a shorter name with some other extension. This is true because when people come to know about your website through different channels, most of them will type the name of your website followed by ‘.com.’ If your domain name is on some other extension, you could end up losing a percentage of visitors to the ‘.com’ version. If your website targets the audience of a particular country, it is recommended that you register your domain name with an extension specific to that country. For example, websites targeting audiences from the U.K. have domain names such as website.co.uk. If the ‘.com’ version of the same domain is available, it would be an excellent option to register it as well and then redirect the visitors to your country-specific domain.

4. Avoid Hyphens and Numbers: When deciding upon the various possibilities for your domain name, it is important that you avoid hyphens and numbers. For example, if you are trying to register a domain name like GardeningTips.com, and that domain name is already taken, you should not be tempted to register Gardening-Tips.com, if it is available. The chief reason for this is that many people will forget the hyphen while typing in the domain name and you will lose your visitors to someone else’s website. Also, you should avoid choosing domain names with numbers, such as GardeningTips4u.com. Most people will simply get confused when trying to access sites with names such as these and will end up typing in things incorrectly.

5. Brandable Domains: Many of the obvious ‘.com’ domain names, with words from the dictionary and simple descriptions, have been registered already because the Internet has been around for quite some time. If you have tried your best to come up with all the possible domain names for your business and found that all of them have been taken already, it can be quite frustrating. I have been in that situation many times. The next best alternative then, is to register a brandable domain name. A brandable domain name may not mean anything specifically, but will be one that is easy to remember and to pronounce. For example, consider the two biggest and most influential websites on the Internet – Google.com and Yahoo.com. Neither of these domain names describes the purpose of these websites. Neither company named these sites for what they actually are, such as SearchEngine.com; yet each of these sites is highly successful. When you come up with ideas for a brandable domain name, make certain it is easy to pronounce and spell to reduce the chance of people misspelling the domain name while trying to visit your website.

6. Future Scope: When you register your domain name, visualize how your website is going to be 10 years from now, or even longer, and make sure your domain name gives you permission to expand your project to wider markets and audiences. For example, if you plan to start a website about small cars, you may register a domain such as SmallCarReviews.com; but after a few years, you may want to expand your website to include reviews of sport sedans of SUVs and your domain name will not allow you to do so. In this case, you should have registered something similar to MyCarReviews.com or OnlineCarReviews.com.

Checking on Availability and Registering Your Domain Name

Most of the domain registrars have a built-in tool which automatically checks to see whether a domain name is available for registration or not. You can also use the following tools to check the availability of domains:

• Instant Domain Search – Checks the availability of .com, .net and .org domains in real time.
• Who.is – Shows you the availability of any domain name. If the domain name is already registered, it would show you details such as creation date, name servers and contact details of the owner if available.
• Ajax Whois – Real time domain search tool which behaves similarly to Instant Domain Search but has more extensions such as .us, .biz, .info, and .ca

Once you have decided on your domain name, you can register it at anyone of the following registrars which I recommend:

• 1&1 Domains – With over 7 million customer contracts worldwide, 1&1 Internet is the largest web hosting company in the world
• GoDaddy.com – The world’s largest domain name registrar. They have offers on a regular basis and you can register your domain name for the lowest possible price.
• Name.com – A domain name registrar with simple and clean interface with excellent customer support

Register For Long Periods: The default and minimum registration period for a domain is one year. After that period, you should renew your domain name, or else it will no longer be yours. To reduce the risk of losing it to someone else, it is a good idea to register it for a long period, usually 5 years; especially if you have big plans for your project. You will also enjoy good search engine rankings, especially from Google, because the credibility of your website goes up compared to those spam websites, which usually have their domains registered for no more than a year or two.

Register Other Extensions of Same Domain Name: As your website becomes popular over time, other people may try to use your brand name and reputation to their advantage by registering domain names which look very similar to yours. In this case, you might wish to register possible misspellings and other top level extensions as well. For example, when you type in Gooogle.com, Google.net, Google.biz or Google.info, all of them redirect you to the main Google home page.

If you find that most of the domain names that you have short-listed have been already taken, you should repeat the process of coming up with creative names for your domain. Remember that most high quality domain names will not be available for registration. Many of the best names are already taken, and are only for sale in the domain aftermarket. If you are truly serious about your business, you should consider investing in a high quality domain name.

Domain Name Aftermarket

A domain name aftermarket is a place where you can buy and sell domain names. You can use this forum to buy a good domain name for your website or sell your old, unused domain names. You can also invest in a good domain name and sell it for a profit at a later time. Many people are involved in the business of buying and selling domain names; in fact, it is often considered the online version of real estate.

The largest domain name aftermarket is Sedo.com. They have a large number of buyers and sellers. Domain name transactions worth hundreds of thousands of dollars are very common. If you have a domain name which you are willing to sell, you can list it at Sedo.com. There is no fee for listing your domain name; however, if someone decides to buy your domain name, Sedo will charge a 10% commission on the sale price. Sedo provides a reliable escrow service. They collect the payment from the buyer first, and once the buyer has confirmed that they have received the domain, Sedo will release the payment to the seller and hold back their commission.

Domain Parking

If you have a domain name which gets some traffic, but is no longer a part of your project, you can park the domain name to earn some money. Sedo.com and Google AdSense provide the best domain parking services.

When you park your domain name, advertisements relevant to the market of your domain name will appear all over the page. For example, a domain name such as FatLossPoint.com will display ads related to the weight loss industry. You will earn money whenever people click on the ads.  If your domain is newly registered, it will likely not produce significant earnings due to low traffic (though it would probably produce enough to cover at least the yearly registration charges of the domain name).