The domain name of your business is what makes you unique online! You should choose a domain name that is easy to remember, possesses a brand value, has a trust factor associated with it and, the last but not the least, keyword-rich to score well in the search engines like Google and Yahoo. Your business domain name is also hugely important for your business correspondence, especially via email.

A long name can cause communication problems, particularly if the domain name is too complicated and difficult to memorize. Here we offer you some tips on how to select a well-meaning domain name that highlights the nature of your business or brand name:

1. Keyword-rich or an exclusive domain name? If most of your business activity is going to be online, then it is vitally important to research popularity and competition for keywords built into your brand name. Try to use the most frequently searched and (among those) least competitive terms in your tentative domain name. To find such keywords, it is imperative to do some research using various website tools (like Google Adsense Keyword Tool e.g.) BEFORE launching your online business. Your target keywords should satisfy all the criteria we listed above plus bring the highest volume of traffic over a month.

2. Use your company name only if your brand is FAMOUS. That is right. If your business name is well known and overwhelms the name of products that you sell, then by all means choose the company name as the domain name for your business. For example, if your company name is Xerox, you should definitely go for Xerox as your domain name, because most people often call a photocopier Xerox, rather than the other way round. However, this is not a typical example, as most start-up and developing businesses are not so well known. If you are one of those, then you should better go for a keyword-rich domain name. An alternative, of course, is to go for both keyword-rich and brand-descriptive domain. Yet another option is to buy two domain names, one that reflects your brand name and the other containing keywords or key phrases related to your product.

3. Keep your business domain name as short as possible. Bear in mind that the shorter your domain name, the easier it is to remember. If you choose a domain name that includes a popular lingo, it’s even better! However, these days, as you will find, most popular two-word domain names are already taken. An alternative here is to hyphenate two-word phrases. SEO experts will tell you that with regard to Search Engine rankings having hyphenated multiple-word terms in a domain name is almost as good as having them one after another without hyphens, and that is probably true. However, the downside of using this strategy is that people may remember names, but often forget to type hyphens, and therefore, if you site has the same terms as an unhyphenated one (e.g., cheapholidays.com and cheap-holidays.com), they will likely to go to your competitors website. So you should undertake a thorough study when choosing your domain name. Eventually, it is one of the most important things that will dictate the success of your business.

4. Always go for Dot.com:  If your website is E-commerce or any kind of online business, it’s always beneficial to go for domains with .com-extension, as when people type a domain name in the URL-filed of their browser WITHOUT an extension, it will automatically lead them to the domain with .com-extension! To reserve a good domain name and protect it from competitors, it is also a good idea to buy the same name with other popular extensions like .org, net, .biz. However, if you decide to buy only one extension, by all means go for .com!

5. Register related domain names: If you think that in the future you may have a great number of visitors arriving at your website through word-of-mouth promotion, then you should think about registering similar domain names that will re-direct visitors to your main URL (e.g. travelonholidays.com and traveltoholidays.com). There are domain speculators who register domain names hoping that some day they will be able to sell them for a profit to someone who really needs a particular domain name. So if you think up a few really nice domain names related to your business, you should consider registering them as well.

6. Bide your time: You should not select a domain name in minutes just because you want to get done and over with it. A rushed decision may cost you a great deal. Have patience and invest enough time to research and think up a domain name that you believe will suit your business best. It is also a good idea to discuss the clarity and attractiveness of a domain name with family, friends and close colleagues to see whether you really found a good name for your business. Oftentimes, a layman advice may turn out to be the most valuable!

REMEMBER: There are no hard-and-fast rules in selecting the best domain names and it’s often a subtle balance between the guidelines we give you here and your gut instinct.

The web domain market has become increasingly more profitable in the last several years. Virtually all companies as well as lots of individuals nowadays have websites, and most of them would love their sites to be instantly recognizable.  Well chosen domain names should tell visitors what the websites are about, and this may be a great bonus when Internet users are doing a search and looking for particular piece of information.

Despite that almost everybody these days can get a website for free via their Internet provider, the Internet addresses of those sites will normally include the name of their ISP first, followed by whichever name the customer chooses for his/her website. For instance, if your Internet provider is called MonsterHost.com, and you create a website using the web hosting given to you by the provider, you may wish to name your website “myshop.com”.  However, in reality your website will be called “myshop.monsterHost.com”.

Most businesses, as well as individual people, would like their website names to be short, snappy and to the point. This is when web domains buyers and sellers come into play.  No two individuals are allowed to have precisely the same domain name: domain names are always registered to specific owners – thus, whenever someone wants to give his/her website a specific name, she or he must first find out whether this name  has not been already registered by someone else. If that domain name is occupied, the next thing that user can do is to check if this name is for sale, and, if it is, possibly buy it from the owner.

It then becomes obvious that buying and selling web domains can be quite a profitable business if done thoughtfully.  The more domain names registered and are ready to sell, the higher your chances to make money by selling them to people who want to buy them.  However, if you decide to start buying and selling domains, we recommend you first do a proper research.  If you registered a few domain names, but they are unlikely to interest many people, then you are possessing an inventory that isn’t profitable; besides, it costs you money to keep.

Domain name registrations must be regularly renewed, and this will incur you a fee. To really profit on selling domain names, you have to buy domain names that are popular.  If, e.g., you acquire a web domain named “SomethingInteresting.com”, there is unlikely to be a significant market for it.  If, on the other hand, you acquired a domain name called “CheapPlumbing.com”, you will see that much more people or companies would like to buy it.

One of the most efficient methods that individuals use to do business from selling domain names is to register as domain name reseller via a popular domain name registrar.  Using this technique, you purchase and register domain names from a certified registrar at wholesale prices, and then you can make a profit by simply reselling these domain names to other people.

Licensed registrars generally encourage this kind of business transactions, as it promotes development of their business, since the resellers take on themselves the costs of advertising. It turns out that quite a few big domain name sellers are in fact resellers for even bigger domain name registrars.  This kind of business relationship is quite common.

Having become a domain name reseller, you will have to find means and money to advertise your new business.  If your domain reselling business is rather small, generally you can simply publish ads in websites and special forums where other people advertise selling of domain names. There are lots of this sort of websites, forums and message boards on the Web, and you will easily find them by doing a search on the Internet.

If, on the other hand, you plan on building a large business for buying and reselling domain names, then you’d better create your own website, where visitors can search through available domain names and buy them directly at the website. Your website should contain trustworthy contact information to enable potential buyers to ask any questions they may have.  In addition, spending some money for advertising in the long run can ensure that your domain reselling business turns out a success.

Expired domain name is simply a general status of certain domain names. This particular status of the domain name is acquired when the domain name owner failed to remember renewing the registered domain name, and thus when a domain name is assigned “expired domain name” status, it means that the expired domain name is going to be deleted from the domain name registry.

Therefore when you are notified by the domain name registrar that a domain name you own is an expire domain name and you still want to keep and use it, then you should find out all the stages, which the domain names noted as “expired domain names” go through on their way to removal from the registry.

On the first stage a domain name before becoming an “expired domain name”, you should go through the domain name registration. Usually one may register a domain name for a maximum of ten years. Even when being renewed, the domain name can’t be extended beyond a ten year period, and the domain name registrars have no right to prolong a domain name registration for more than ten years. Nevertheless, we should note that top level domain names, similar to the .com or .net, cannot be registered for over 2 years at a time.

After the above period, when a domain name turns into an “expired domain name” or soon after the domain name passes its expiration date, the process of the expired domain name deactivation takes place. After deactivation, such services as a website or mail associated with the domain name will no longer operate. Nevertheless, you can still renew the expired domain name during a certain period after the expiry date, however, this will usually take from 24 to 72 hours before the services for the domain name may be reactivated.

In case if the expired domain name reached the so-called “domain name grace period”, which is roughly 40 days after it’s labelled as “expired”, the domain name will no longer be active and may be renewed without incurring any extra costs. And after the above mentioned period, there comes the next stage of the domain name expiration which is referred to as the “domain name redemption period”.

This is a 30 days period, within which the domain name can be redeemed. During this stage, the WHOIS personal information such as the owner name, address, telephones and other information will be deleted, while the domain name still remains inactive. During this period the domain can still be renewed by its original owner by paying $105 on top of its regular renewal fee. And because this is now a manual process to add the name, address and all relevant contact information of the holder back to the domain registry, the process will usually take much longer time.

At last, after the “domain name redemption period” there is a final period termed as the “domain name deletion period”. In five days after the redemption period for the expired domain name is finished, the domain name will be permanently removed from the registry and will then be become available for anyone who wants to register it as a new domain name.

If you are familiar with working online, it’s a good idea to purchase a domain name for your website(s). Choosing the right domain name, if you done properly, is one of the main factors of getting your website to rank high in the major search engines. A good domain name is easy to remember, and potentially gives your website better chances to rank higher compared to other less valuable names. On contrary, a poorly chosen domain name will not do you any good whatsoever.

The fundamentals of Domain Name Registration

The first step you have to take is come up with a meaningful domain name to register. Don’t even consider getting a single dictionary word domain name; they’re all registered by now. Instead, find dual-word combinations. If you’re setting up a personal website, try out your name prior to anything else.

Don’t get too fancy in spelling when choosing a domain name for registration, or try using 2s, 4s and 8s to stand for their sounds. You may try the number 1, though; sometimes that works. You can also try the titles of products you are going to sell, or a description of the content your site offers: Findlovetoday, Burgerkingdom, Cutepuppies. Memorable name is always better; memorable and short is best, but extremely difficult to find.

Compose a  few dozen names suitable for your site, and test each of them for availability. Do not purchase a domain for which the .com extension is already taken, but the .info or the .net are vacant. Domain names with those extensions are not at all as valuable as the .com ones. On the other hand, if you choose the .com and you anticipate the website to be profitable or face a strong competition, it’s a good idea to register the other extensions as well. Registering a domain name is not too expensive, and if you buy domains in bulk you can get a substantial discount too.

The .UK TLD Extension

What has been said so far does not imply you should look only for .com. If you have a business based in the United Kingdom, you can greatly benefit with a .uk domain name, which UK visitors are likely to look at prior to anything else for UK-specific products and services.

If you feel that most of your income will come from British consumers who know that your business is in the UK, the .uk extension could be a better option than the .com; and if your customers are quite pro-Britain, the .uk extension is definitely a better choice.

If you are lucky enough to find both extensions for your chosen domain available, and if you run a UK company, it’s definitely worth to get them both!

Buying a .uk domain also gives your online business an instant geographic identity, which in turn may be vital in developing online relationships – where trust is a decisive factor. Having a .UK domain, you are quite likely to attract UK customers.

Finally, we should mention that the .UK domains market is one of the most rapidly growing and profitable registration niches on the internet.

Tips for Registering Domain Name

Get a website ready to operate under your domain name as soon as possible after buying it, and submit it to the search engines without delay. The search engines usually take time to get a new site indexed, and your domain becomes valuable only after the search engines find and index the website.

It’s also possible to have more than one domain pointing at the same website. For examples, if you have purchased a number of extensions for your domain name (as in the aforementioned .uk-.com combination), you can set up a site under one domain name and redirect all traffic from the others domains to the main website. This is known as web traffic forwarding and has been employed for many years. It may be as easy as parking your domain name with a hosting provider and adding a line of code on the relevant page, or as difficult as using another website for their web forwarding services.

After you register a domain name and start bringing traffic to the site, contact your registrar to renew the domain for many years before the renewal is due. It is amazingly easy to forget to prolong your domain registration on time, and if somebody else snatch it up and registers it, you will lose years of hard work on that domain.

By choosing a memorable domain name, you will it easy for people and other webmasters remember it when building their links to your website with the right anchor text – a vital element of SEO.

Final tip: don’t think only about the cost when buying a domain name from a registrar – think also about the quality of their services. While you should not be paying too much, it is indeed better to be on the safe side buy going with the more reputable registrars. Then you can be assured that should any problems come up, they will be taken care of promptly and efficiently.