Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Domain Name Registration

Domain name registration

As I have mentioned in my previous post on Tips for choosing a good domain name, I assume you have a business plan or objective to go for a web site. In order to fulfill your desire or dream through internet, that is using your website you need to follow three steps detailed below

Step One - Choose a good name
This was covered in previous post, but I would like to emphasize the fact of having a good brandable name. Best bet as oft heard is to go for a .com extension. I have expressed reservations about it in the past, and I still don't think that this exists as an issue any more. There is a generation that associates everything with .com, but the new generation is just as much aware about .info and .org as for .com's. On the search engine front, it makes no difference as algorithm for search has changed over a period of time and still evolving, based on content and information, name alone doesn't have much role in search engine ranking now days.

Name should reflect what you are into, what kind of information or value would it present to user. That is the core purpose and that is what you should focus on, while chosing a good name (if available :))

Name should also be short - 7 - 9 letter ones stick to memory, so try to be short and precise.
In other words KISS - Keep it short and sweet!!!

Step Two - Is the name available?
So you have spent days brainstorming about a good domain name and just when you think you have found the right name, it is the time to see if that is available for you to own and posses. This is undoubtedly the worst part because chance are that someone has already aquired it 2 years back and has the sole intention to sell it to prospective bidders at a premium.

You may utilize the services of any of following domain registrars to identify if your chosen domain is available for registration


Step Three - Time for Action
I am sure by now you would agree that getting a domain is not as easy as it appears - if you go for generic words for your domain name, however if you have succeeded so far, and your domain was available and you have registered it - accept my Congratulations!!! You have crossed the biggest hurdle, and I salute you for your achievement.

Now that you have a domain name, you would like to go to the next stage. If you had a plan in place before you bought a domain name, its time to execute the plan. If you didn't have a plan, but you still had idea of what you wanted with a particular domain its time to put your thoughts into action.

No matter what your idea is you need to have a website. Domain name by itself is just a placeholder for your website. Website is where the content is available for public consumption. Apart from website, you need an email address for your domain. Though you can manage with your existing gmail, yahoo, msn or usa.net email address, to have a professional look, you must configure an email address with your domain so anyone who writes to you would send it to you@yourdomain.com instead of you@yahoo.com.

Step Four - Web Hosting
A domain name is just an address, but what matters on internet is the stuff kept inside the house to which your address points to. Thus once you have a plan in place for your domain name - ie content for website, you need to host it. Hosting is buying a server / server space which has essential tools and software to churn out pages that make a website. The pages could be made in plain and simple HTML or server side scripts like PHP, ASP or JSP.

To identify a suitable webhost you would look for a web hosting company that is reliable, cost effective, has excellent customer support service, allows you to have control over your content and above all is out there to help you succeed in your venture.

A few web hosts that fit all requirements for a good host are listed below. Feel free to explore the options available with each.
[Links open in a new window]

If you have ever hosted your sites with any of these web hosting companies and would like to share your feedback for the benefit of others, please do leave your comments.

Until next time,
GS

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