Choosing A Domain Name
By: Sumantra Roy

The importance of having your own domain name cannot be over-emphasized. If you are running an online business, and don't yet have a domain name, you are probably losing thousands of dollars worth of business because of this. Why? Simply because, unless you have a domain name, your customers will simply not feel comfortable buying from you. In order to sell on the web, you need to build up your credibility. Having your own domain name is the first step in that process.

So, now that you are convinced that you need your own domain, how should you name your domain?

Debunking the Dashed Domain Discussion
By: Aaron Wall

Article Background

For years there have been arguements between branding vs search engine visibility. Recently Google decided to end this arguement for once and for all! In the past it was easy to get good search engine rankings by having a dashed domain. It no longer is.

I bought this domain name (search marketing info) before I had a good concept of what branding is, I wanted search engine visibilitiy. My home page was ranked in Google at # 7 for "search engine marketing," it now rests somewhere in the thousands. I am currently forced to undue the effects of my dashed domain.

Domain registries from around the world.
By: Clare Lawrence

Do you sometimes come across exotic looking TLD's?

Ever wondered which domain name is from where?

I created the following table out of interest.
Watch out for the new .eu TLD.
[ The European Union is working on the its own TLD. ]

Commercial TLD'

.aero Aviation
.biz Business Organizations
.com Commercial
.coop Co-Operative Organisations
.edu Educational
.gov Government
.info info TLD
.int International Organisations
.mil US Dept of Defense
.museum Museums
.name Personal
.net Networks
.org Organisations

Domains of the world

Good domain names
By: Clare Lawrence

No matter what domain name you buy its unlikely to be worth $ millions straight away, but with some careful though and preparation you can maximise your domain names potential.

Using hyphens

Almost every word in the dictionary has been registered already so its more than likely that you will have to register a combination of words. Should you buy a domain name with a hypen in it? Generally speaking the answer is no. There are several reasons why not.

Describing a domain name with hyphens can be awkward. Customers have a habit of forgetting the hyphen and typing in the wrong URL. It’s a misconception that hyphens improve search engine rankings, the leading search engines now concentrate on content and pay only limited attention to the URL itself.

Consider a ccTLD

There is no evidence that Country Code Top level domains (ccTLD’s) are treated differently by Search Engines, though there can be advantages and disadavantages if your business is regional Submitting your domain to search engines Once you have configured your domain to point to your Web site, you will need to ensure that search engines are aware of it. If they aren't, your site will receive very few visitors - even if you have managed to find a memorable, snappy domain name.

Hosting VS Domain Registration
By: Aaron Wall

Many people have the misconception that domain registration and hosting are the same thing. This is completely untrue, and could prove rather costly error to your business..

Domain Registration

When you go to register a domain you are registering the rights to use that specific domain name. To keep things organized it is not actually just the domain that gets registered. ICANN associates a number with the domain name, thus keeping your data in an organized record.

There are some sketchy businesses who claim to be registrars and just in fact rip people off. If I am going to register a domain I make sure I the site is on the ICANN Accredited Registrars list.

Importance of having your own domain name
By Sumantra Roy

A question that I frequently hear is "Do I really need to have my own domain name?" The one word answer is "YES.". If you put up your site with some of the free web hosting services, the only company who benefits is the web hosting company. The last person who benefits is you. There are a number of reasons why having your own domain name is a must:

The Domain Name Game
By: HostingChecker.com

The Widgets Corporation decides to start a Web site and naturally wants to name it Widgets.Com. But much to the consternation of its management, it discovers there already is a Widgets.com. Someone else has registered the “domain name” and Widgets is stuck.

It happens every day as the battle for the best domain names grows. But what in fact is a domain name and what are the issues surrounding their use? Domain names are simply the addresses of the Internet. Without the domain name, a computer would have no idea where to look for a Web page, and e-mail routers would not be able to send e-mail. Domain names are divided into hierarchies.

The top-level of the hierarchy appears after the last dot in the domain name. In “microsoft.com”, the top level domain name is .com.

Tips on Domain Name Choice
By Clare Lawrence

Before you buy your domain name, give some thought to the following:

1) If possible use your sites name as the basis of your domain name e.g www.discountdomainsuk.com for Discount Domains UK. This might seem common sense but not every site follows the convention. If you use your name in your URL it will be much easier for your customers to find you.
Tips on Choice