How to Choose and Register
a Domain Name

1) Use relevant keywords. If your business is about gardening, then "gardening" should be in your domain. This is the keyword people are looking for. Or use "garden," "gardener," or other variations.

Suppose your name is Jane and you prepare and deliver meals. "MealsByJane.com" would be ideal. It's relevant, short, easy to spell and pronounce, and looks good in print (at this time, no one has registered it, but someone will probably read this and register it just for kicks -- you'll soon see how simple the registration process is).
Of course there are famous domains which give you no clue as to what they're about, such as Yahoo, Google, and Amazon. They're well-known and highly promoted, so they've become institutions. The names are unique and stand out from the crowd. But if you're just starting out, keywording is usually best.

2) Short is good. Short names easier to remember, faster to type and work well for non-web advertising (billboards, business cards, newspapers). Note: for outdoor advertising, go caps-and-lowercase: "www.MealsByJane.com" is easier to read at 45mph than "www.mealsbyjane.com", even though that's the craze.

3) Make it memorable. People have many concerns on their minds, and your domain is NOT at the top of their list. If there's any way to add catchy zing to your domain without losing the main point, that's great.

4) Make it "speakable". If you were to announce your domain name on the radio or over the phone, what would happen? Close your eyes while reading this out loud: "Visit our site at Two-Good-Ways.com!"

Some listeners wouldn't know whether to type "too," "two" or "2." You'd also have to pause and say, "dash" or "hyphen." Some might wonder if you meant "ways" or "weighs."

Avoid sound-alike homonym words, as well as written or digital numbers. And hyphens are generally bad news. If people forget to type the hyphens, you'll send them straight to a competitor's site which has no hyphens.

5) Make it easy to pronounce and spell. It's a fact: people are less inclined to think about words which are hard to say. And if they have difficulty spelling your domain name, they may never arrive. If your domain must contain something difficult to spell (i.e., your personal name), register the likely misspelled variations as well.

6) Dot-com (.com) is king of extensions. There are others such as ".net," but it's hard to go wrong with ".com". Dot-com has become synonymous with the internet; it's a cultural cliche. "The dot-com industry." "Have you gone dot-com, or are you staying brick-and-mortar?"

If someone already owns the dot-com you want and you choose a different extension (.net, .biz, etc.), some customers will forget and type in ".com" and go straight to the competition. Not only that, but if your name ends with anything other than .com, people will also visit the .com version just to compare the two sites. Consider a different name, still using the ".com" extension. Although there are non-.com sites that do well and make great money, dot-com is tops.

7) Consider an add-on. Let's say you and your competitors are selling gazooples, and "Gazooples.com" is taken. You might try "MyGazoople.com" or "GazoopleWorld.com." Other add-ons include "Best..." and "Get..."

8) Think marketing. Think the way your customers think. Know what appeals to them. Smart choices might be "DiscountGazooples.com" or "EasyGazooples.com".

For commercial purposes, it cannot be overstated how critical the domain name itself can be. A quality name can be worth millions of dollars. To illustrate: "Business.com" sold for $7.5 million. "Autos.com" went for $2.2 million. And "Sex.com" sold at $14 million.

Why are such names so valuable? A growing number of consumers begin their buying searches on the internet -- and many just type into their search bar whatever it is they're looking for, and stick ".com" on the end (Autos.com). Get the picture? A good domain name with a well-developed website can be a 24-hour, worldwide money-making machine. The ultimate sleep-and-earn plan. Certainly, any site will benefit from good marketing and search engine optimization, but a quality domain gives you a head start. Web domains can be so lucrative, there is even an industry called "domaining," which we'll discuss toward the end of the article.

REGISTERING YOUR DOMAIN

It's easy to do:
   1) You go to a registrar (a company which registers a domain on your behalf)
   2) Use their search box to find a name that's not taken
   3) Type in your name, address, and other details, then
   4) Proceed to checkout with your credit card.
   5) Have them "host" your site, if you choose to keep everything under one roof. Hosting is the use of their computer to serve up your website to the whole world. And of course, they offer help on how to transfer your files to them over the web.

Unless it's a package deal, you are usually NOT required to host with the same company that registered your domain. Registrars do offer great deals on hosting, so shop and compare.

After you've registered your domain, you must renew it each year or risk losing it.

If you value privacy (in the age of identity theft, who doesn't?), consider "WhoIsGuard" or "private registration." This yearly service, ranging from $5 to $10, prevents your personal information from showing up on the global "WhoIs" registry for identity thieves and spammers to exploit.

Within a day of registering your domain, you should be able to start putting your website online. Build your site on your computer, then transfer the files via web to the company doing the hosting. They'll show you how.

COSTS

There is no universal domain registration price. It can range from under $10 to over $30, depending on the registrar and the extension (exotic extensions such as ".tv" charge a premium). Shop and compare.

"Domaining"

"Domaining" is proof of how easy it is to register domains (dozens or hundreds). What and who are "domainers"? They're people of all types and ages who invest or speculate in domains, for appreciation, quick resale or numerous other uses. They should not be confused with the squatters of the 1990s who registered brand name domains and demanded huge sums of money from the brand-name companies to buy their own names for use on the internet.

Domaining can mean huge profits. It's been featured in the mainstream financial press beside other investments such as mutual funds and real estate. And yes, these people do have annual conventions.

Domainers register domains and may park them (see "parking," below) while they are idle, develop a few into full-blown money-making sites, or use them as "re-directs" to a pre-existing site (when you type in a web address and another website shows up, that's a re-direct). There are services which list domains for sale and offer escrow services globally.

With registration taking just a couple of minutes, and the profit potential so huge, there is even a syndrome known as "domain addiction." These domainers run through their entire credit line, registering countless domains, and keep searching for anything potentially lucrative (or just intersesting-sounding) that no one else has registered. With every new report of a record-breaking domain sale, they are encouraged to keep registering more domains.

Domain parking. Let's say you've registered some domains, but haven't developed a site - or maybe you plan to sell them later.

Parking services deliver a screen of sponsored, relevant ads when a surfer types in your domain name. If a visitor clicks to visit a sponsor, you get a share of the money. Here is an example of a parked site. Most parking services are free to the domain owner.

You pick a parking service, go to your domain registrar's control panel and direct each domain to the service provider's "nameservers" (your registrar's user control panel should provide this slot; the parking provider will furnish the info to type in), set up your domains at the parking service (setup includes choosing "keywords" or "key phrases" that will interest your visitors [example: "tents" for a camping-related domain]) - then sit back. How much you earn depends on your domain name and the categories you select.

Two of the best services are TrafficZ and NameDrive. At TrafficZ, the landing pages are gorgeous - you have a wide choice of picture graphics, and you can select multiple keywords or key phrases. The statistical reports (so you can see which domains are doing best) are complete and easy to use. Generally, you must submit a minimum of 50 domains for approval to get started.

Don't have 50 domains? Visit NameDrive. Here you can start with just one domain. The pages look great, you have huge selection of graphics, and a choice of one keyword or keyphrase. Here, too, the stats are complete and easy to use.

CONCLUSION

So there's your starter guide to this strange and wonderful corner of the internet. Not only can a good domain help a business make money -- even the domains themselves can make money. Enjoy the ride!

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