Choosing and Registering Domain Names

Think carefully when choosing a Domain Name (also called a URL, or "universal resource locator"). Domain name registration has many myths surrounding it. Here are a couple of key points about choosing domain names, and about finding cheap domain name registration.

• A URL can now be as long as sixty characters.
• URLs can contain hyphens and underscores
• If possible, a URL should describe your business.
• Make sure the spelling of your URL is a no brainer.
• Try to be sure the URL you purchase is "Search Term Related*"

Perhaps the most common mistake people make when thinking about domain name registration is to simply register the domain which corresponds to their business name. While this may work for large, well-known companies, it is usually a mistake for the small business owner on the web. Why? Because your domain name can affect how your pages get ranked in the search engine results, and affects the way potential human visitors perceive your site.

While there is some controversy over this, many experts agree that search engine rankings are affected by your domain name in two ways. First, if your URL happens to match the name of some product or service you wish to advertise, there is reason to think you'll show up higher in the search rankings for that term. Second, quite a few experts believe that selecting a hyphenated domain name helps, because it makes it less likely the search bot will get "confused" when trying to parse your URL.

What is meant by "parsing"? Suppose a site was called "myspecialties.com". The search engine bot comes along and finds that, and tries to "parse" or separate the letters and find one or more words in it. It might parse it like a human would, and decide your site is about "my specialties". Or it might parse it differently, and come up with "my special ties". Unless your site was about neckties, you might not want that. If your URL had been "my-specialties.com", there would be less room for confusion. The hyphen tells the search engine how to parse the URL.

Interestingly, research indicates that humans prefer URL names without hyphens, probably because they are easier to type, but search engines show a preference for hyphenated domain names, especially if the name is long. Long domain names are becoming more common, as people find that their domain of choice is already registered, and they have to add some words to it to find one that is descriptive.

Let's look at a couple of domain name examples, before we move on.

Can there be any confusion about the content at emarketingman.com? I was fortunate enough to get that domain name while shorter names were still available. Some of my other sites required a little more creativity in name selection.

Best-Biz-Builders.Com is my online e-book and software store for internet business resources. Can you tell from the domain name? Unfortunately, probably not, but it's the best I could do at the time.

On the other hand, how about Start-Internet-Business-Today.Com. Any confusion about the fact you'll learn about making money online at that site?

Now that you're ready to choose and register a domain name, be aware that prices vary substantially between Registrars. Many Domain Registrars keep prices below $10 per year, and a few still charge $30 or more. Why pay extra, especially if you're going to keep that name for a number of years? Usually, the more expensive registrar provides no more "service" whatsoever than does cheap domain name registration.

Check out my own Domain Name Registration service and see what you think. By the way, their is one other thing to keep in mind. When you register a domain name, you must, by law, give your correct name, physical address, and e-mail address, which then becomes a matter of public record in the "whois" database. That database is often "mined" by potential spammers, who then "harvest" and sell the e-mail addresses. You can however, pay for private domain name registration which keeps your e-mail address out of the "whois" database. It is known only to the domain name registrar.