When you are starting a business or when you are expanding your business, it is very important to do so with the Internet in mind, even if your business is not web-based. The Web can serve as the excellent advertising medium for your products/services and has the potential to reach more consumers than any other medium. If your business is entirely web-based, its presence, and therefore its name, on the Internet are of the highest importance. These guidelines can help you to choose a domain/business name with an Internet presence in mind.
Domain Name Technicalities
In short a Domain name is the name which identifies a computer/s on the Internet. On the Internet, the Domain Name System a.k.a DNS acts as a phone book for the Internet by forwarding a Human readable name like BizFive.com to an computer readable number.
To be more technical you may say that domain name identifies one or more of the Internet Protocol Addresses (IP address). An IP Address is used to identify the location of the computer on the Internet. For instance the IP address will look like:-128.44.1.42. This number is very difficult to remember, that is why the domain name are assigned to the websites.
Check List for Selecting a Domain Name.
» Internet provides you with huge potential to reach potential clients all over the globe, so make sure to compare business names in a much greater geographic area to avoid the potential for confusion and trademark infringement.
» After selecting your business names, consider what your domain name could be. The closer it is to the actual name of your business, products, or services, the more likely your customers will find you.
» Although selecting your actual business name or it's variation will attract existing customers or potential customers who have already heard about your business, using a product or service descriptor, like car-detailing.com, may more effectively attract new or potential customers.
» Unlike a business name, Domain names cannot be issued to more than one person or business, so if someone else has already registered your idea, you will have to come up with a new one. (Different people/businesses can own .net and .com versions)
» If possible, consider registering both your business name and a product type designation to attract as many people as possible to the site and redirect visitors from one domain to other.
» While selecting a domain You should think about possible mistakes that potential customers may make when typing in your website address. If mistakes are possible, consider simplifying the name, or possibly registering multiple names so that even if a common mistake is made, the user will get to your site.
» Although domain names are available with a variety of suffixes – the letters that follow the period after your chosen name – the one that most people are used to using is “.com,” so it may be best to use those letters, rather than an alternative like “.net,” to attract as many visitors as possible.
» Domain Suffixes - .com suffix can be used for commercial and personal sites; .net is recommended for companies involved in Internet infrastructure; and .org is recommended for non-profit companies.
For all the above mentioned suffixes, only letters, numbers, and hyphens can be part of the domain name, but the name cannot begin or end with a hyphen.
For those three suffixes, the domain name is limited to 63 characters but not including the suffix, but some e-mail programs or applications may not support anything over 26 characters in length, so it may be prudent to keep the name as short as possible.
» Domain names should follow the same general rules as business names in general.
» After selecting a Domain names youu must be registered using an on-line accredited registration service like GoDaddy.com.
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