Choosing a good domain name isn't always so simple.

So you need a domain name for your brand new internet business. You may even have some cool ideas for a new domain name combination that will really impress your friends. Question is, is your new domain name going to help your business or hurt it?

What could be simpler than choosing a domain name right? Wrong. There are a number of things you need to consider and research before you register your favorite domain name.

First off, what is a domain name and why would I want one?

A domain name makes our lives much easier when surfing the internet. You see, all computers on the internet are actually referenced with what is called IP addresses. On the internet, IP addresses are four sets of numbers that serve like street addresses allowing two computers to talk over a network. An example of an IP address is the one for Google.com. It is 216.239.39.99. If you enter this IP address into the address bar of your browser it will bring you to Google's home page in that very same way that typing http://www.google.com would get you there. Unfortunately, we humans have difficulty remembering our phone numbers let alone so many digits for all kinds of sites. That's one of the main reasons domain names were invented.

Domain names make it easy for us humans to remember how to find a site. Most people know Google.com and anyone familiar with the internet knows that to reach Google, you simply type http://www.google.com in your address bar and you are transported to their website. The same goes for Disney.com, Microsoft.com, CNN.com, etc...

Now you would think that choosing a domain name would simply be a matter of choosing something that is unique and that people would remember. The problem with that approach is that most of us don't have the money needed to turn our name into a brand name on the mass market. Most of us need to rely on our prospects reaching our website through other means. The best of these are search engines.

Choosing a good domain name for your site starts with the main keywords you have chosen to focus on for your website. Before you launch your business, you should conduct some preliminary research online to determine which keywords have the most traffic and the least number of other websites competing for that particular keyword. Some tools that help in this are the Overture keyword suggestion tool and Wordtracker.com. Both of these tools will give you a rough idea of how much traffic each of your chosen keywords will likely get each month. This helps to determine which keywords to focus on.

Should you choose a domain name that includes your main keywords?

In most cases, the answer is yes. Google and to some degree Yahoo both give you a small boost for your domain name. If your domain name happens to contain your targeted keywords, your domain name will help you in your quest for higher search engine rankings. Now if you do everything else wrong, having your main keywords in your domain name will not magically catapult you to the top of the listings. Many other parts of your site must be working for you as well. Other things you can do to improve rankings are beyond the scope of this article.

Choosing a keyword rich domain is a smart business move.

For some sites, it could be the edge they need to move up a few spots in the search engines. When choosing a keyword rich domain name, you may want to consider hyphens between your keywords. An example is cheap-airline-tickets.com. Current research trends for Google and Yahoo suggest that hyphens are the only way to separate keywords within a URL that will give you a rankings boost.

Why not simply choose your company name? Simple. Is your company a household name? Are you so dominant in a category that people have stopped referring to the generic name of your category and use your brand name like Kleenex has for tissue paper? If so, register your company name. If not, register a keyword rich domain wherever possible.

You may be thinking, "But I already own a domain name that is my company name. Should I go and register a new domain and point it to the same site? The short answer is no. Years ago, you could improve your rankings on search engines simply by setting up lots of doorway pages and having them all link back to your home page with all kinds of domain names. That tactic nowadays can backfire. You are better off optimizing individual pages within your existing website than you are creating a whole bunch of "fluff" sites just to increase rankings.

The technique I suggest above is really best suited for brand new business ventures. If you still have not registered your domain name for that special online business you are about to start, then make it keyword rich wherever possible. If you have already launched your business, you'll just have to take advantage of this information next time you start another online venture.

This article was written by Joe Duchesne, president of http://www.yowling.com/ , a budget web hosting company that specializes in helping online business owners increase their website traffic. Copyright 2004 Yowling. Reprint Freely.

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5 Tips to Register the Perfect Domain Name For Your Website Success!

The number of websites on the internet is growing exponentially each day and the top level domain extensions like .net, .com, .org and others are being stretched to their limits to accommodate the number of domain names registered every day. In the midst of all this, choosing a name for your business website which hasn't been already taken can be quite a challenge. Fortunately, registering a domain name is a fairly straightforward procedure. So, here are a few tips that will prove useful:

- Tip 1: Keep it short and sweet.

- Tip 2: Do away with the numbers and hyphens.

- Tip 3: A good domain registrar.

- Tip 4: The Cost.

- Tip 5: Look for Bonuses.

Choosing the Name:

Tip 1: Keep it short and sweet.

Ideally, you should not go for domain names that are longer than three words because your visitors will have a hard time remembering them. For instance, websites like hotmail, yahoo, Youtube, Google are all short and easy to remember.

If you are at your wits end trying to find an unclaimed name, you may want to visit domain registrar sites which offer suggestions of alternate names if the domain name you'd like is already registered.

Or you could rely on your brain to do the job; simply start by writing down all the words which can be associated with your website, niche, product, business or service. For instance, if you site is about car repair, go for relevant and pertinent phrases like 'Boston car repair'. People tend to relate your site with the work that is being offered and not the company. Once you have a few dozen words and a couple of phrases ready simply, pick the one phrase that seems most appealing and which can be easily remembered.

Tip 2: Do away with the numbers and hyphens

People often forget domain names with hyphens in them for instance, good-life-coaches.com. If you are using the hyphens because the unhyphenated name already exists, you are risking sending your visitors to the other site. Even though this is not the biggest mistake that you can make as far as domain names go, it's best to avoid it because you spoil the effectiveness of the name by including hyphens.

The same holds true for numbers, people will not remember the contact number of your business just because the name of your website is 411-222-5555.com. Au contraire, you would actually make the name of your website extremely forgettable by using so many numbers.

Registration:

Tip 3: A good domain registrar

Once you have chosen the name, the next step is to purchase the name from a domain registrar. Ideally, you should opt for an establishment that offers 24/7 customer support through phone and email, an FAQ section and a help center so that your questions can be answered promptly.

Tip 4: The Cost

The cost of the domain name will depend on the domain register and the domain extension. For instance .com names are typically more expensive that .net or .org names. The cheapest domain names are those with a .info extension with a price tag of just $1.99 while the .asia extension can go up to $19.99. The .com extension will normally cost you $9.99 and .mobi domains can go to $14.99.

Tip 5: Look for Bonuses

Almost all domain registers offer bonuses when you purchase from them and of course, you should go for the company that offers the most. You can get free hosting and site building, photo album, 100 pack email forwarding, personalized email, quick blogcast, a starter web page and much more.

Hey friend, My name is Sara, I searched all over and found a great place where I get my cheap domain names as low as $1.99 with bonuses too at The Cheap Domain Name Registrar

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What is a Domain Name and Where to Register?

A domain name is an alias for an IP address. Now what is an IP address? An IP address is a numeric code that signifies where to look through the Internet for content. An example of an IP address would be 22.226.141.25. Rather than typing in a long and easily forgotten IP address, a domain name helps you by typing an easily remembered name to access the same site.

For example, http://www.domainsatretail.com is a domain name that points to a specific IP address. People can remember a domain name such as http://www.domainsatretail.com much easier than they can a long numeric code.

Domain names are everywhere as many use it everyday. Think of search sites. Google and Yahoo both have corresponding domain names http://www.google.com and http://www.yahoo.com. If you have ever sent an email you have used a domain name. For example when sending an email to user@sympatico.ca, sympatico.ca is the domain name.

Now that we have a better understanding of domain names, we need to know which domain name to pick and where can we register it. The domain name chosen for a web site can be a very important decision of marketing your company on the Internet. Its quite easy to just say pick a catchy domain that everyone will remember to use and you are set. In most cases it is that simple and you are set on your way to register the domain. However, at times the domain name you want has already been taken. And then you must think of a secondary name that you wish to use that will be just as catchy as the first.

OK, now you have picked your domain name you want. What is next? You need to choose a registrar for you domain name registration. There are many registrars who sign up and are available for the year, but you get no service from them whatsoever. Here are two domain name registrars that I would recommend for completing your domain name registration.

1) Domains at Retail - registrar that registers domain names. We provide great service and have 24/7 customer support. .com domain names are normally on sale for $8.75 US / year, however they are currently being run on promotion for $7.95 US / year. Visit Domains at Retail at http://www.domainsatretail.com for Cheap domain registration and excellent customer service.

2) Domains at Cost - excellent registrar with very competitive prices. I use this registrar for my .ca domain name registrations and renewals. They offer an excellent price ($14.41 CDN per domain name registration) and I am always able to get someone on the phone and my questions answered. Please Visit Domains at Cost at http://www.domainsatcost.ca for .ca Domain Name Registrations!

Good Luck with your domain name registration process and your start to your online marketing!

Michael Kralj is owner of Emenki Web Solutions and Domains at Retail. Emenki Web Solutions are web site designers and programmers based in Hamilton, Ontario, providing businesses with an informative and strategic approach to establishing an online presence on the web.

Please visit Emenki Web Solutions & Web Design in Hamilton, Ontario on the web http://www.emenki.com

Please visit Domains at Retail - Cheap Domain Name Registration on the web: http://www.domainsatretail.com

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Choose a Domain Name

Choose your new domain name wisely.

If you are in the process of building your own website, or perhaps employing a professional to build one for you, you will need a domain name.

If your business is called 'Joes Model Shop' you might like to register 'JoesModelShop,com' if it is available. But this will get you no brownie points in the race to the top of the search engines. I suggest you look very carefully at relevant search words for your product or service, and then construct a domain name that reads well, trips off the tongue well and hopefully is also memorable.

Before before you start to construct your web site, the first thing you should do is to put yourself in your potential customers shoes and find out the search terms they would key into Google, Yahoo and Bing to get to your website, where hopefully they would buy the product.

After doing some research by using the Google Keyword Tool, you will find these relevant search terms. The figure to the right is numbers of searches last month on Google. There are many other relevant keywords: radio controlled truck 22,200 14,800 radio controlled models 65.100 44,100 radio controlled vehicles 1,300 27,500 radio controlled buggy 18,100 12,100 radio controlled models 8,100 9,100 radio controlled car petrol 3,600 4,600 radio controlled parts 60,500 135,000 remote controlled cars 45,500 22,200 remote controlled car 18,100 12,100 rc model car 1,300 1,000 electric rc car 6,600 3,600 and many more....

You might decide on the domain name 'RadioControlledModelCars.com'

This domain name encompasses several of the keywords from the above list.

You will see when searches are done on Google, Yahoo and Bing for example 'radio model car' the words in the domain name will be emboldened like this 'RADIOcontrolledMODELCARs.com' (note, the capital letters as shown here will in fact be lower case, but in bold)

You can check to see if your desired domain name is available from the many web hosting companies in the UK and USA. Just do a search on Google for 'web hosting companies'. You can also register your new domain name with these companies and also have your new website hosted by them. Buying a domain name, buying web space and having your your web site hosted is now relatively inexpensive. You would expect to pay about 90 dollars per year in the US for all these services and about 60 pounds in the United Kingdom.

You can get a good idea how a domain name with inbuilt keywords works on this website for model cars, trucks and truggies etc.

Hello, My name is John Casey based in England. I have been making my own websites and selling my own products online successfully since 1999. If you want to know how to make your own website and make money from it the please visit my website http://www.HowToMakeWebsitesThatSell.com.

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Domain Registration is Inexpensive and Protects Your Business

In an ever-changing world it is important to have some stability. To this end you should look into registering your domain name because:

o Your domain name becomes a point of association for you. Clients remember your site and services by the domain name.

o Even if you change your web host the domain name would go with you and clients will be re-directed to your web site.

o Since brand recall is the basis to good marketing a permanent domain name will become the "brand" that represents your company.

Registering a domain is cheap. It only costs between US$ 1 and US$ 3 per month. Many registrars also offer free parking for the domain names. The registration can be done by the web host or you as an individual.

o Make a list of domain names you are using in your business and are likely to use.

o Write down the DNS IP addresses and the names of the primary and secondary servers.

o Choose a method of payment. Using a credit card is highly recommended as the registration is immediate.

o Select a registrar from the many available like, Yahoo, GoDaddy.com, Dotster.com, or Register.com. Read the terms and conditions carefully and do not hesitate to ask any relevant questions.

You must:

o Consider seriously the costs of re-registering the domains owned by you.

o Whether you will be in a position to sell any of the domains.

o If you should purchase other permutations of your domain to prevent cyber squatting. Think about dot.net; dot.biz; dot.co and so on.

o InterNic at http://www.internic.net/ provides information on Internet domain name registration services. It has an accredited registrar directory as well as an FAQ section.

o Network Solutions at http://www.networksolutions.com/whois/index.jhtml has a WHOIS database where one can find out which domains are registered and by whom along with website data. The search spans multiple registrar databases and throws up registration information on millions of domain names with different extensions.

o Yahoo Small Business Directory at http://dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Business_to_Business/Communications_and_Networking/Internet_and_World_Wide_Web/Domain_Name_Registration/ is a comprehensive directory of 334 domain registration sites along with a brief description.

Valuable Insights:

o Make a list of domain names as well as extensions that you want to register. Ask yourself why you need these domains and what you plan doing with them. Of all the extensions dot.com is the most popular.

o It is not advisable to register the domain names with the web host . If you decide to use a new host you will save yourself immense trouble of moving the domain name as well. Always register with reputable and accredited companies.

o Choose the keywords carefully. Search engines favor keyword rich domain names. This will help in the marketing of the site.

o Coin a short domain name. Short names are remembered and are know to have better recall in memories of clients and casual browsers.

o Ensure that the domain name has topical relevance. It must convey a definite meaning and represent your business.

o Keep in mind applicable laws while choosing a domain name. Pay special attention to trademark and copyright laws.

Register your domain and gain peace of mind. It is inexpensive and protects your website and intellectual property.

Paul Wilson is a freelance writer for http://www.1888Discuss.com/domain/, the premier REVENUE SHARING discussion forum for Domain Forum including topics on domain trading, domain registration, domain sale and offers, adult domain and more.He also freelances for the premier Domain site http://www.1866Domains.com

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A Good Domain Name Is Essential to Success

One big mistake that people new to internet business make is the wrong choice of a domain name. It is so tempting when you think you have a great idea to go off and register a name. It's quick, and cheap and probably the easiest part of building an internet empire, but if the domain name is wrong, then it can mean the difference between success and failure.

Of course if you are starting a business and you will be branding your own products, you can choose a snappy name like Yahoo, Google, or Amazon. You can't tell from any of those names what these companies do, but everyone knows these billion-dollar enterprises. Why? Because they had a massive budget for advertising and marketing, and I doubt if you have pockets that deep to promote your little site selling used ball gowns. Sure TwiceAroundtheFloor.com is a great name but when the search engines come across it, they are more likely to get the idea that your site is about floors and not ball gowns.

No, the most effective domain name, dot com name or URL - whatever you like to call it, should be based on some serious keyword research. You will probably know without looking that BallGowns.com was taken a long time ago, but UsedBallGowns could be available. Problem is, the term "used ball gowns" in Google's keyword finder only gets 140 local (US) searches a month, so your niche is the smallest of micro niches and you may want to think your whole niche again, this one is not going to make you any money!

If you are thinking about building niche sites for Amazon products, your search for a good domain name may be a little easier. Let's look at Cuisinart food mixers, these are extremely popular and some models get enormous amounts of positive feedback on Amazon. It will be difficult to keep writing good keyword-rich articles about Cuisinart food mixers, but once established you could add a lot of recipes for use with their mixers. If you include the brand name Cuisinart in your domain name, you should not suddenly decide to add information about other brands of food mixers to your site.

Most companies do not mind you using their brand names in a domain name, you are promoting their products and will hopefully be making them money, but once you start comparing different mixers on your site Cuisinart may get upset that you're saying another mixer is better, and you could be in danger of losing your site altogether. They will write and ask you to take the site down - or else.

If you are building affiliate sites promoting products from, say, Commission Junction, be sure to read the terms and conditions before you apply to a company's program, they may expressly forbid the use of their name in your domain name.

Let's say for sake of argument that UsedBallGowns is a popular search term and you can't find any name available that is appropriate, punch UsedBallGowns.com into the address bar and see what comes up. You may discover that the name is for sale and there will be a place card saying the site is for sale through a company whom you can contact. Some used domain names sell quite cheaply, and if it is the perfect keyword-rich domain name for your business it may be well worth investing a couple of hundred dollars in the name you really want.

There are a number of sites that offer expired domains for sale. These are often an excellent investment and a great way to get your site off to a flying start. If the site has already been around for a number of years, is listed in Dmoz or the Yahoo directory (which costs $299) you may find it has already established backlinks and if you are really lucky has a good page rank. Check the history of the site before you buy though. You can do a quick check of the site's history by using thewaybackmachine.org which will show you snapshots of the site in the past - you do not want a site that has been used for porn or anything nefarious, Google simply won't like it. Only buy the site if it has a good history and has never been "dropped". That means that the name registration has never lapsed before.

Although there are dozens of extensions for sale today, such as.co,.me,.us, you really should aim to get a.com extension with a second choice of.net, Google appears to attach more value to those extensions.

It is going to take a lot of research, and the shorter the name and more memorable and to-the-point the better. Many people say that long domain names are not a good idea, but I don't think the public actually jot domain names down on bits of paper any more, if they like your site they will probably Tweet it or email a link to their friends. I personally like dashes in domain names, it's a great way of getting the name you want, so you could get Used-Ball-Gowns.com easily. There is no mention anywhere in Google's Webmaster help section that dashes are a no-no. The only danger is that someone may forget to add the dashes and go through to a competitor's site.

A good domain name is going to be part of your brand, especially if you are going to build a large website on one particular subject, so spend some time researching and do it right.

Gabriele Cramer-Knebel is the Founder/CEO of Internet Marketing Training and is an experienced internet marketer helping new entrepreneurs to build a successful online business. You can find more out at http://gabrielesinternetmarketingtraining.com

Copyright © Internet Marketing Training 2011. All Rights Reserved.

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Cheapest Domain Name - Which Registrar Has the Cheapest Domain Names?

Who offers the cheapest.com domain name today? With so many registrars to choose from, how do you know if you're really getting the cheapest deals?

We did some comparison shopping with over 20 of the top registrars according to Wikipedia. (Wikipedia's list of top registrars is based on market share data collected from RegistrarStats - eNom's statistic site.)

So, here are five things to know about some of the deals out there.

1. The largest registrar in the world by market share right now is GoDaddy. They've registered over 33 million domain names. (The second place registrar is eNom which controls 9 million domains.)

2. GoDaddy also currently has the cheapest sale price for a.com domain name which is $1.99 for one domain name (for the first year only and with the purchase of another non-domain product.) After that, the.com domain reverts back to $10.69 (per domain name per year.)

3. The best regular price for a new.com domain name goes to Wild West Domains (which is the reseller brand for GoDaddy). Website addresses go for $7.29 per.com domain name per year, but this price is only available if you have a Pro Reseller plan which costs $199.99 per year. (Making money online through reselling domain names isn't for everybody.)

4. So, the best deal on a.com website address for the average person (people who just want their own website address for their site) is $7.99 per website address per year. This regular.com price is currently offered by Cheap-DomainNameRegistration (which is impressive because they're really just a Wild West Domain reseller. You'll see what we mean if you visit their site and then visit GoDaddy and WildWestDomains. Recognize the layout and branding? Their profit margin must be pretty slim on a.com domain.)

5. All of these registrars charge $8.99 per domain name per year if you want to protect your privacy when registering domain names. (Otherwise your personal information, address, phone number, email address is posted in the WHOIS database for spammers and other people to look up.)

(You might also be interested to know that the worst price for a.com domain name is a five-way tie between Network Solutions, eNom Central, PublicDomainRegistry (reseller), Register, and INWW (Melbourne IT) who all charge $35 per domain name per year. Although Yahoo isn't in the top 20 registrars, they're still charging the same regular price. To be fair, Network Solutions, Yahoo, and eNom all charge a few pennies less, but it still rounds up to $35 per domain name per year.)

There are, of course, a few really good deals that offer cheap domain names and free domain privacy, but they are far and few in between.

Lots of domain registrars compare their prices against one or two of the most expensive domain companies out there charging $35 for a.com domain name.

We have a domain name comparison chart with prices from over 20 of the top selling registrars in a sortable table. If you're ready to find cheap domain names, we're here to help at http://www.domain-hosting-comparison.com

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The Cheapest Domain Names - What Do You Get For $1.99?

There are several sites on the internet claiming to offer the cheapest domain names. If you look hard enough, you can find domain names for as low as $1.99 or $2.99 per year. So, what's the catch?

You have to realize that not all domain names are created equally. And, not all domain registrars include the same services in the price of your domain name. A good .com domain name will cost around $10 per year and should include at the very least,

free domain forwarding
free personalized email addresses & alias forwarding
free parking
full DNS access
free domain registration privacy


When you buy a cheap domain name for $1.99 you're cutting out some of those services. Depending on your needs, that might be okay, but if you want to actually use your domain name for your website, make sure to read the fine print...

Here are some of the tricks that registrars use when they offer their "cheapest domain names" promotion. Even the big companies do it.

Bait and switch. GoDaddy offers domain names for as low as $2.99 but they're for the .info domain name. Chances are you want a .com domain name which costs $9.99 per year.

The special discount price only applies to the first year. Yahoo recently sold .com domain names in March for $1.99 but the special price was only for the first year and for new customers. It would switch to $9.95 per year after the first year.

You only get the $1.99 domain name rate if you also buy a non-domain name product (Limit of 1 domain name). A non-domain name product usually means web hosting. Quite frankly, if you're going to pay for web hosting, find a good registrar that will give you that domain name for absolutely free.

Two sites look awfully familiar. It's probably because one of the sites is a domain name reseller. Some entrepreneur buys domain names at wholesale cost from the big companies and then resells them to regular people like you or I.


Make sure you do your homework before registering a domain name because you can't get a refund. As always, buyer beware!

If you're ready to register domain names [http://domainnames.webdiggin.com/register-domain-names/], we're here to help at http://domainnames.webdiggin.com where you'll find this information and everything else you need to know in order to find information about absolutely free domain names [http://domainnames.webdiggin.com/absolutely-free-domain-names/].

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Free eBook: Business Domain Names

Since every website needs a name, Dr. Steve Baba has written a free ebook that will help you obtain a brandable, memorable domain name at a reasonable cost, which will contribute to your brand equity and profits. The ebook, downloadable from Seemly.com, explains how to select and buy an elite domain name. You will be able to obtain a better name than your competitors have.

There are at least 10,000 words in a dictionary that would make great domain names plus at least 10,000 proper names and 10,000 great short coined-words. With a supply of 30,000 great names and millions of good names, obtaining a good name is easy.

There is no need to pay more than a few thousand dollars for a great one-word domain name, and many good domain names are available for free. This book provides you with the information needed to beat domain name speculators at their games.

Both naming methodology to identify great domain names and negotiating/purchasing methods to obtain great domain names at low prices are covered. After a couple of introductory sections, the book starts with domain naming goals or the criteria for choosing a great domain name: image, memorability, trademark-legal, and price. Then quality domain naming strategies are discussed. Inferior domain naming styles, which you want to avoid, are then discussed.

The second half of this book explains how to buy a great domain name. Auctions, expired domains, speculators, and other sources are discussed. Finally, many other topics are expanded on.

Steve Baba has a Ph.D. in Economics and ebusiness experience. The ebook on domain names is available at http://www.seemly.com, for free. No registration is required. The ebook is a PDF file of approximately 250K. The free ebook is advertising supported. The following paragraphs are book excerpts. Generic names, arbitrary dictionary words, coined or made-up words, modified generic names (generic plus) and unrelated two-word names are quality domain naming strategies. But, each quality strategy has strengths and weaknesses. There is no such thing as a perfect name.

Generic names are highly controversial and expensive. Examples of generic names are Hotels.com, Shoes.com and Furniture.com. The generic name strategy was always controversial and peaked during the dotcom bubble.

The generic naming strategy is virtually never used offline, but a very few small stores do business under generic names such as the "Mattress Store" in Annapolis, Maryland. Offline, anyone can use the same generic name and open a store name "Mattress Store." Online, ownership of the domain name MattressStore.com can only prevent competitors from using the same exact domain name.

Since, generic names cannot be trademarked, competitors can use Hotels.NET, Rooms.com, Hotelrooms.com, Motels.com, Hotel.com (singular), Inns.com Hotels.us, and so on. Often, there are a half dozen simple generic names for each industry not to mention generic names with a prefix (e, i) or suffix such as eHotels.com.

Since competitors can use similar generic names, developing a distinct, memorable brand is difficult. Memorability or the need to spend less on advertising is often an argument for high domain name prices - but this argument is only half true. At the same time, with only a few first-rate generic names in each industry, the generic domain names may be unavailable or overpriced, and are rarely bargain-priced. A generic name also hampers brand extension beyond the generic category - Hotels.com selling plane tickets?

Another quality strategy is unrelated, arbitrary dictionary words. Examples of unrelated dictionary word names include Amazon.com Yahoo.com, Google.com, Target and Staples. Both the words yahoo and google are in the Oxford dictionary, but were rarely used prior to becoming famous brands.

Compared to generic names, it was not immediately obvious what business Amazon, Yahoo or Google was in. On the other hand, Yahoo can legally prevent competitors from using similar names such as FreeHoo via trademark laws.

SearchEngine.com would be the generic name for Google. "Fast" and "All The Web" are used as trademarks by another search engine. But "fast" and "all the web" are not unrelated or arbitrary. Other search engines can also claim to be fast, speedy, quick, the entire web, or something similar.

The key to having the most trademark protection is to choose an unrelated, arbitrary word. Descriptive words, such as fast, are unlikely to earn much trademark protection. Instead of fast, it may be possible to use a suggestive name such as jet, rocket, or race.

With 10,000 good, short, easy-to-spell dictionary words, it is always possible to find one for a few thousand dollars. Shorter four or five character dictionary words are more expensive. Three character dictionary words are extremely expensive.

Coined or fanciful words are words such as Exxon or Kodak that had no prior use. In theory, coined words are the best from a trademark-legal point of view, since no one has used the word before. Ideally, a coined word is totally new and unrelated to any other word.

But, memorability requires a short name, which has led to a number of similar coined names such as Duron, Enron, and Micron, which diminishes the legal advantage, since confusion is possible. LexIs sued LexUs.

While the legal protection is not perfect, the legal protection is considered the strongest of any category. But from a marketing point of view since no one has used the word, coined words may be as difficult to remember as nonsense syllables.

With a supply of thousands if not tens of thousands of short, coined words, it is always possible to find one for a few thousand dollars or less - often free.

Because of the lack of trademark protection for generic names, the lack of distinctiveness, and the cost of many generic domain names, many businesses have used a "generic plus" or "modified generic" naming strategy.

A prefix, suffix or second word can be added to the generic name. Examples of this are Carmax, CarMart, eCars, CarDepot, CarOne and CarLand.

This works if the generic word, such as car, is short. Longer generic names, such as CarpetCleaningMax.com, can be too long. But many of the longer generic words have common abbreviations. For example, computer is often abbreviated "comp" as in CompUSA. Software is often shortened to "soft" or "ware" in names. Tech is a common abbreviation for technology, overused in names.

These names range from virtually generic, eCars.cars, to nearly coined, QuanCars.com, with descriptive, suggestive and arbitrary second-words in-between. Since the generic word lacks any trademark protection, the trademark strength depends on the trademark strength of the "plus" part of the name.

The generic plus strategy is often an attempt to have the benefits from both a generic and a distinctive name, but may have the problems of both if one is not careful. At worst, it could infringe on someone's trademark based on the second word such as CarsRus or CarBay. The generic part of the word is usually trademark safe.

Another strategy is to use two unrelated words in a name. Examples of two unrelated words are RedEnvelope.com and BlueTooth.com. The two unrelated words strategy differs from the generic-plus strategy in that neither word is related to the generic product. Technically red is related to envelope by being an adjective, but neither word is closely related to the product or service being sold.

The main advantage to this method, two unrelated words, is that it's cheap and often free. With 30,000 single words, there are 900 million combinations of two single words (30,000 x 30,000).

The main disadvantage is that two unrelated words are twice as difficult to remember as one. Two words that are commonly related to each other such as "happy birthday" or "hot wire" are easier to remember, but rare and may be as expensive as single words.

From a trademark viewpoint, it could be twice as risky. It could infringe on someone's trademark based on either the first or second word. If you are RedDog.com selling computers, either Red Computers or Dog Computers could consider trademark action against you.

About The Author

Steve Baba has a Ph.D. in Economics and ebusiness experience. The ebook on domain names is available at www.seemly.com, for free.

eeeni@aol.com

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How to Get an Email Address at Your Own Domain

Whether you're selling products, promoting services, or simply want an online presence for your company, having an email address at your own domain is important. Sure, email services like Yahoo, Hotmail, and Gmail can be used at no cost and are easy for beginners to set up. But free email services have their disadvantages:

Advertisements -- in your inbox and, worse yet, in your outgoing emails.
Unreliable -- there is no assurance that your email address will be supported in the long run.
Unprofessional -- free addresses look cheap on brochures, websites, and business cards.

Acquiring your own domain email address is more dependable over the long term and it gives you more control over your email. And it definitely makes you look more trustworthy, dependable, and professional. If you want to get one, all you have to do is follow these quick steps:

Think of a good domain name

A domain name is the address of your online space. Yahoo.com is an example of a domain name. Brainstorm carefully for a name that's unique, easy to recall, and reflective of your brand, business, or personality. Try to avoid childish or unprofessional names; you should find a name that will last you a long time. Also take note of some second-choice names in case your preferred name has already been registered by another person.

Get your domain and web hosting

Register the domain name and sign up for web hosting. While your domain name is your online address, web hosting provides your online space. Think of it as the distinction between your home address and your actual house. You may opt to acquire your domain name and web hosting separately, but choosing just one company is suggested for beginners -- that way, you wouldn't have to configure them to work together.

If your preferred domain name has already been registered by someone else, you have the option to try another domain name, or to try a similar name with a different extension. Examples of extensions are.com,.net, and.org. If yourbusiness.com is taken, try registering yourbusiness.net.

As for web hosting, it's vital to find a quality web host. Below are some issues to consider when subscribing to email hosting:

Email accounts. If you own a business, you're not the only one who's going to use this domain for your email address. Make sure that your web host provides sufficient email accounts to accommodate your business partners and employees so that they can enjoy the benefits as well.

Email access. Ensure that you can log into your email through your medium of choice, whether it's through a web browser, a desktop application, or your mobile phone.

Spam protection. A good spam protection system will save you a lot of time and frustration.

Email features. You may decide to send a quarterly newsletter or occasional promotion announcements to your customers. Or you may want to have separate email addresses for your different business roles (such as customer feedback, support, and billing) -- all forwarded to one address for easier retrieval. Get email hosting that makes everything you need possible.

The web hosting itself. Even if you simply want an email address now, you may want to use the same domain to set up a website in the future -- so pick a web host that will fulfill all of your potential needs.

Create and test your email address

Use your web host's control panel to set up your new email address. Once it's been created, figure out how you would like to access your mail. If you'd like to read email straight from your computer, use a desktop application like Outlook or Thunderbird. If you'd like to check your email on a web browser, ensure that your web host offers webmail access.

If you encounter any problems while setting up your account or configuring your email access, just be patient. Read your web host's instructions thoroughly and follow them to the letter. It really helps if your web host offers good technical support so you can have your email up and running quickly.

Once you've set up your email, test it thoroughly to see that it's working. Send some test emails to your new address. Use it to send outgoing emails as well.

Congratulations. You now have a unique and professional email address at your own domain name.

If you'd like to learn more about how to buy web space, check out my website for a comprehensive guide, essential information, and useful tips.

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Review Of GDI - Global Domains International Hosting And Income Opportunity

Just about anybody that has been on the Internet and involved with affiliate marketing, network marketing or making money online has probably at one time or another ran across somebody promoting GDI or Global Domains International. Maybe you are looking for a business to start online and want to know exactly what this company is all about and how you make money with it. We will take a look at the Global Domains opportunity and product and show you how people earn a living from home with it.

A Brief History

It all started back in the mid 1990's .com boom when CEO's Michael Reed and Alan Ezeir where trying to come up with alternative domain extensions that businesses could use to brand themselves with. That researched many country codes and finally agreed that the best extension with that could be branded was from the tiny island of Western Samoa.

Out of all the country codes, the island had not yet developed this domain extension and they believed that it could be developed and branded worldwide as the "WebSite" or .ws top-level domain extension.

Fast forwarding to the year 2000 after much negotiating with the government and officials of Western Samoa and GDI opened its doors for business as the official registrar for the .ws domain extension along with providing services like web hosting, email and website builder software that allows people with no programming knowledge to easily build web pages from scratch for the affordable price of ten dollars a month.

After nine months in business Global Domains International announced that it had sold more then 100,000 .ws domains with customers in over 180 countries in addition to big fortune 500 customers like Yahoo!, Intel, Cisco, Ebay and Dell Computers.

Is GDI A Scam?

There has been much talk going around the Internet as to weather or not the opportunity that GDI presents to customers is a scam or not. The company offers a multi-level compensation to affiliates for referring new customers. The reason why it has been thought of as a scam is because of the pyramid structure of the plan that is five levels deep.

Pyramid schemes and what is a legitimate business is a highly debated topic among people in the network marketing and MLM world and opposition to them, but basically what it comes down to is that if a company offers no real product or service then it is a pyramid or ponzi scheme. Global Domains Inc. offers a domain registration package that includes hosting, email and web building software. That is there product and that is what they charge ten dollars a month for.

A Breakdown Of The Service

1. The .ws Domain Extension

Everyday thousands of domains are being snatched up. With all the great .com's taken, people are looking to alternative extensions to get the name they are looking for. The .ws name has great names still available for people to register such as your own name. It is projected that the domain industry is going to be the next real estate boom with many names selling for hundreds of times there purchase price with some investors making up to 400-500% returns on a single domain. Virtual real estate or VRE is going to make many millionaires in the next ten years and now is your chance to become a part of it.

You also get the option of URL forwarding that lets you take your .ws domain extension and send it to an already existing website that your might have. Lots of companies do this when they register every extension available to protect their brand and have it forwarded to the .com name.

2. The Hosting Plan

Global Domains International also comes with a premium shared web hosting plan which lets you upload your own business or personal site. The feature ultra fast dual 3.6 GHz CPU Pentium 4 servers with fully managed 24/7 site monitoring and 1 GIGAbit, multi-homed tier-1 carriers. Customers get over 100 megabytes of storage per account and 10 gigs of bandwidth for website traffic.

Although you can get web hosting for free these days, it does come with the burden of having to carry banners and advertisements on your website. Having your own web host provides you with security and control and GDI has an affordable plan that most Internet users can afford. It is also a good idea to have your own server because even free blogs and social network accounts can be closed at anytime with all your information and hard work lost forever.

3. Email Service

With each domain name customers get 10 email addresses that they can use. The email service features POP/IMAP access which allows you to check your email in applications like Outlook or Thunderbird and WebMail which you can access email from anywhere in the world with an Internet connection, or you can also forward your email to another email address that you already use.

4. WebSite Builder 2.0

WebSite Builder 2.0 is a simple point and click website building solution for people with no HTML skills or technical knowledge of computers. It features professionally designed website templates designed by graphic artists that allow you to fill in a couple of fields of information, click a couple of buttons and have a brand new website published online instantly.

For the price you are getting a good deal. Most people would have to register a domain through other companies that cost anywhere from $10-30 a year. GDI gets you a .ws domain extension for life and affordable web hosting that is reliable compared to other cheap hosting companies that provide slow service and lots of downtime for your website.

The Income Opportunity

GDI has an amazing uni-level compensation plan that pays affiliates five levels deep with the ability to build an unlimited team on your first level and 100% commissions on all levels underneath your first. Affiliates also get rewarded with a generous bonus for referring five or more active members in one week with $100 deposited directly into your bank account or Paypal account instantly. You also get an additional $100 for every five affiliates you bring in to the program.

The opportunity literally sells itself with the movie presentation people are presented with after they visit the corporate site and request the information. The website is filled with thousands of testimonials from all around the world of people who have found success with the GDI income opportunity.

What makes Global Domains International so lucrative is the fact that they have no competition in the industry. They are the only network marketing company that is in the business of selling domains. Sure you can affiliate with another domain company and make money off reselling, but that don't give you the advantage of residual and leveraged income.

GDI shows no signs of slowing down. Every year millions of people sign on to the Internet for the very first time and will soon need a web hosting solution if they want to have there own website and domain name. Not only do Global Domains provide a cheap, reliable and affordable plan, but they also give all customers the chance to earn a possible living online for selling the plan to others.

From 1997 to GDI achieved a 3479% growth and ranked number 37 on the list of 500 fastest growing companies in the United States with sales increasing from $261,000 to $9,341,000 in 2001.

Final Thoughts

Global Domains International, Inc. is something that I would recommend to a complete newbie to web hosting and web design due to the user friendly interface and affordable plan that is appealing to the masses. For the more experienced webmaster, it might not have all the perks that one might need running a website, but can still be a lucrative opportunity by adding it to your arsenal of income streams online.

One of the things that GDI is lacking right now is a MySQL database on there servers which might turn off webmasters looking to expand there sites with blogging platforms and third party software, but for the average web user, it is a total bargain and full of basic features needed to run and maintain a personal or business website.

As far a the income opportunity is concerned, the compensation plan has the potential to make a lot of money, but the action is up to you. You will not get rich overnight, but if you make the decision to become a full time affiliate and teach others to do the same, you can definitely build a decent sized downline in a short period of time.

Those looking to make money online with GDI are given a variety of marketing materials and suggestions in the members area, but some marketers have come up with their own marketing systems to promote GDI to opportunity seekers and have been responsible for a recent surge of new customers to the company.

After almost ten years of business online, it is safe to assume that Global Domains International, Inc. has passed the credibility test and recent earnings growth have proven that there is money to be made with a simple product that appeals to all.

Discover the shockingly simple methods that big time MLM distributors are using daily to put an average of 33 signups a day into their primary business ==> Click Here For The Residual Wealth Factor If you are interested in signing up for GDI check out this GDI Special Offer and receive over $1000 in free bonuses for signing up today!

Related articles: What Is A .WS Domain Extension

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Starting an Online Business - Choosing the Right Domain Name

Choosing A Domain Name

In the business of building a large number of Niche sites, domain names are going to likely be your single largest cost, or at least near the top if you are outsourcing most of your work. Domain names are important for many reasons, not the least of which is that you don't want to be wasting money on poor choice domain names. In this tutorial, I'm going to provide you with the information you need to ensure you are choosing the most appropriate domain name for your sites.

First, for those who don't know what a domain name is, it's simply the web address of your site - espn.com is a domain name, for example. A domain name is an key step in getting set up and online. It's the first thing your customers will see. You need to make a great first impression. Your potential customers will see your name in many different places:

1. Natural Search results such as on Google, Yahoo and Microsoft search

2. Video Marketing

3. Pay Per Click Advertisements that you run

4. Ezines / Newsletters that you publish or run ads in

5. Email and Forum Signatures

6. Off line advertising such as newspapers, direct mail, business cards or magazines.

There are a number of things to consider when purchasing a domain name(s). Here are the key considerations you'll want to run through prior to making your purchase:

Top Domain Name Don'ts:

1. Don't use excessive dashes in the domain name.

2. Don't use unrelated phrases in the domain name.

3. Don't use too many keywords in the domain name.

4. Don't repeat the primary keyword in the domain name.

Top Domain Dos:

1. Do use the primary keyword phrase in your domain name.

2. Be as specific as possible for your keyword phrase (long tail keyword phrases)

3. Place the primary keyword phrase at the beginning of the domain name.

4. Include commonly used related phrases in the name like "news", "tips", etc

5. Use action keywords like "cheap", "discount", "buy", "deals", "get", etc.

6. Use top level domains like.com,.net,.info,, or.org,

Some additional tips:

1. Use a specific keyword - or better yet, a long tail keyword phrase - in your domain name. I don't recommend using multiple keywords and definitely DO NOT repeat the same keyword in the domain name.

2. Put your primary keyword at the beginning of the domain name. Let's use an example to illustrate: Suppose you are selling garden tools. Not just any garden tools; you sell low-cost, high-quality garden tools. The name of your company is Garden Tool World. Using the tips above, you will purchase the domain names for your company. But what about your product?

The key here is to look for names for your product domain that people will be searching for. When a potential customer goes to a search engine, will he or she look for "low-cost high-quality garden tools"? Or the customer look for "Cheap Garden Tools"? From our earlier research, you can find out what people are looking for. So if people are looking for "Cheap Garden Tools," then your domain name might be cheapgardentools dot com.

Choosing a domain name is an important part of the overall marketing process and should not be taken lightly. Make sure your domain name represents your company, product, and image, and you'll be setting a great foundation for future sales.

3. If you run into difficulty in getting the domain name that you want,, try using action words at the end of your domain name. Examples of this would include for sale, discount, on eBay, deals, etc. You could also use tips, blog or info., for example. If you had a site using videos to train roofers, you could go with roofervideos.com. Another idea would be to put a number behind your keyword. For example, cheapgardentools442.com would work just as well as cheapgardentools.com because your keyword phrase is at the beginning of the domain name.

4. Don't be afraid to use keywords that reach out and grab attention. Words like warning, alert, cure and warning are all such terms.

5. By all means, DO NOT use words in your domain name that have nothing to do with what it is your site is about.

6 Use only well known top level domains such as.com,.net,.info,.org &.us. Stay away from domains like.tv and.biz. Credibility is key - sticking with top level domain names will help you in that department. Of course, if you can get.com, that's the way to go, but if the name you want isn't available in.com, one of the other top level names will be just fine.

If you find you are having trouble coming up with a domain name for your venture, you can visit Nameboy.com. That site will generate plenty of domain name suggestions for you based on the keywords you enter. Another site I like to use is Instant Domain Search. This particular site "helps you find a domain name as fast as you can type."

7. Stay away from domain names with hyphens in them. While this used to be a good idea, it no longer is. Using domain names with hyphens in them can have an adverse impact on your ability to rank highly in the search engines.

8. Keep it as short as possible. Although some places allow you to register a name with up to 63 characters, you have to keep in mind that people need to be able to remember it and easily type it into their browser. Try to register the shortest name that your customers and other site visitors will associate with your web site. The general rule of thumb is, keep it under seven characters if possible (not including the suffix). While the vast majority of your potential customers will be clicking on a link, there are those who will type in your domain name.

9. Go with.com when at all possible.

Dot what? There are many suffixes available now. For businesses, we recommend a.com suffix. It is the first extension that most people try when searching for a web site. Also, since it is one of the oldest extensions,.com shows that your business has been around for a while and that you have a well-established presence on the Web.

10. Register your domain now. Domain names are being snatched up faster than candy at the St. Patrick's Day parade. You must register soon unless you want to get stuck with "the-domain-name-that-no-one-wanted.net." You do not have to have a webmaster or an e-commerce department or a web design consultant or.... Heck, you don't even need a web page. Just get out there and register before you lose the opportunity to get the name you really want.

11. Ask around. When you have settled on several available name choices, see what your friends and clients have to say. A name that may make perfect sense to you may be too hard for other people to remember. Is your domain easy to say? Is it hard to spell? Do you have to explain why you chose the name?

12. Don't spend lots of money. At one time, companies were able to get away with charging reservation fees plus a "mandatory" $70 InterNIC fee. A number of years ago, it was decided that other companies should be able to compete to sell domain names. This has lowered prices dramatically. At the time I'm writing this, you can get a private.com domain at 1&1 for as little as $6.99 which is the best price on the market by far. 1&1 is the only top registrar that provides private registrations at no additional cost.

13. An important aspect of your domain name: You must check to see if your domain has ever been used by someone else. If your brand new domain name was used for spam or unethical internet practices, it will be extremely difficult to get it indexed in the major search engines. This is not an issue you want to deal with. Check out your potential domain name at http://www.archive.org and see if it has ever been owned. If it has been owned, take a look at the archives to see if someone was breaking any rules with this domain. Trust me; you will thank me if you find out that it has been abused in the past. There is no reason to make search engine optimization harder on us if we can avoid it!

If you think that if you have found the right domain name and have checked out any previous use, but you're not quite sure if it's the one... register it anyway before someone else does!

Warren has been writing articles online since 2005. Not only does he specialize in online business issues, you can also check out his latest website on Wireless IP Phone featuring The VOIP Wireless Phone.

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Got a Small Business? Choose the Right Domain Name

Choosing a domain name can be daunting. Research the subject (after all, you're the type of marketer who researches, right?) and you'll be hit with a landslide of opinions, most contradictory. There is, however, two points that everyone agrees on:

Pick your domain before you launch your business.

This is especially true if your market niche has lots of competition. Research your domain before you commit to a business plan.

Don't wait too long if you like a domain.

While you're researching, you'll likely come across a couple of domains that attract you. You might be tempted to wait, since you haven't finalized or refined your business plan. Don't. A handful of domains isn't going to cost you much at an affordable registrar like GoDaddy, and once they're gone, they're gone. Chances are you can even resell the rejects at cost, if not a profit. Or "develop" them with unique content and point them to your main site for extra traffic.

Now that we have the easy part of the way, let's wade into murkier waters.

Q. Which TLD (top-level domain) is best?

A. If you're a juggernaut in the business world with a giant ad budget, the answer is dot-com (.com). If you're a smalltime business struggling for search engine positioning, the answer is still dot-com.

People do disagree on the value of a dot-com TLD. Some assert that dot-coms have no particular value in the search engines, which may be true.

However, the fact is, if you haven't yet seared your brand on the collective brow of the planet, dot-com makes you easier to remember. If you eschew dot-coms, then in some deep dark place inside, people will remember you as "that hard-to-remember URL with the ending that isn't dot-com." What's worse, if you pick an otherwise memorable domain ending in dot-net, -us, or (God forbid) -tv, some of your traffic will end up at that competitor who snagged the dot-com version of your domain. Okay, that's settled. Now for the controversial stuff. Which is best: the "keyword" domain, or the "creative-genius, snappy and brandable" domain?

Keyword Name vs. Creative-Genius Brandable Name

A Keyword Name is the boring, workhorse kind of domain. You seem them everywhere. They bristle with hyphens: "best-anchovy-pizza-in-siberia.com." Or "super-labrador-accessories-and-golfballs.biz." On the face of it, they're hard to brand. They're hard to fit on business cards. They're really hard to explain over the phone to Aunt Martha.

On the other hand, a Creative-Genius Brandable Name is the sexy kind of domain. The successes are sparkling: Yahoo!, Google, Amazon.com. You can shout these URLs across the room and the other guy will probably get it right. But note: the dot-com road is littered with hip, snappy business who failed to brand their product successfully, or get listed high in the search engines. Now their URLs all point to the same page: "server not found …"

The debate rages on, but the first question you must ask yourself is:

How will people find YOU?

It was recently reported that "direct navigation" web traffic has started to outnumber search engine traffic. In other words, more people visit sites by typing in the URL directly than they do by combing search engines for results. So more gurus are recommending ‘brandable' domains.

But think about this. As a small business owner, how will people find you? Word of mouth? Billboards on I-95? "Corporate sponsorships" on hockey arenas? Probably not: they'll find you through search engines. They'll type in "cheap purple widgets," and as a smart marketer, you will offer them a website optimized for the keywords "cheap purple widgets."

Still, this doesn't imply you should automatically pick a keyword domain. There are pros and cons to both types.

BRANDABLE: ADVANTAGES

The brandable domain is great for business cards. In fact, it's nearly compulsory if you're planning on offline marketing. In other words, if you're printing up stationary at Kinkos, you want a brandable domain name.

If you're also a marketing genius, this is a fit challenge for your talents. Finding a memorable, apt domain to brand your business is something no software-driven suggestion tool can do.

Most "hybrid" domains -- ones that are really crosses between keywords and brandable names -- are long gone. But if you create a unique idea for your brand, you can probably snag the dot-com name for yourself. Now all you have to do is burn that brand onto the world's collective forehead. If you do, you'll benefit from type-in traffic. That means that if someone hears about you, they can probably find you just buy typing in your domain.

BRANDABLE: DISADVANTAGES

The brandable name requires solid marketing skill, research and luck. Your name should be so catchy, it's almost viral. It should also convey your actual business – or you'll have to work hard (often meaning, spend money) to associate the two. Your name should be "tested" on coworkers, cousins and dishwasher repairmen to ensure it has no undesirable connotations. Finally, your name should be available as a domain, and not suffer from competitors with similar domains. Sometimes, pulling all this off is difficult.

KEYWORD: ADVANTAGES

By keyword names, we're not talking about the glorious generic keywords – the one-keyword kings such as drugs.com or business.com. No, we're talking keyword names you can afford.

This is where you buy the domain name [http://www.cheap-purple-widgets.com] in hopes of getting a top search ranking for cheap purple widgets.

Advantages are many. First, more keyword names are available. (They're ugly, and many people feel an aversion to hyphens.) Also, they do help you place higher in the search engines. It's true that search engines only give you a little credit for having a keyword in your domain, but "a little credit" counts.

Second, keyword domains leave no doubt in the searcher's mind about what you're selling. If you decided to call your widget business "Ableeza," a searcher might not get at a glance what it is you're selling, even if your rank is high.

Finally, if you can get people to link to you, those links will be valuable. No matter how Webmaster Joe describes you, the link part will always say, "cheap-purple-widgets." This is a powerful search engine strategy for moving higher.

KEYWORD: DISADVANTAGES

You won't get type-in traffic for a keyword name. You can't really explain it across a phone. It won't look pretty on a business card, and it's almost impossible to pair up with a cute logo. But if search engine traffic is going to drive your business, the keyword name is worth a long, hard look.

WRAP-UP

Regardless of which type you choose, don't play guessing games. If you go with a keyword name, use a search tool (like http://conversion.7search.com/scripts/advertisertools/keywordsuggestion.aspx to determine what keyword phrases people are searching on.

If you choose a brandable name instead, test it out on a variety of real people first. Pay attention to their reactions. Reserve your domain early, since brandable domains go fast unless they're very unique.

In the long run, both types of domains can work for you, especially if offline marketing is an option and you have a knack for branding. Overall, though, the keyword domain is probably the easiest path to success for the small-business owner.

Blake Kritzberg is editor of FavorIdeas. Stop by for continually-updated celebrity wedding news, remarkable beach wedding favors, exclusive hairstyling articles and gorgeous and unique wedding favors.

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How To Get A Domain

First you must find a place to a get a domain. The process of getting a domain is called "registering a domain," because you can't actually buy one. You can only control it for a period of time; it's a bit like getting a license; you have to renew it every year or so. Go to your favorite search engine like Google, Bing, or Yahoo and type the word "domain" into the search box and hit enter. You will get a list of sites that are willing to help you find the domain name you want; they are called registrars. Click on one that interests you.

Second, take a few minutes and look around the site you picked. Remember, there are literally thousands of such sites. Look for a good deal. Like the old Smokey Robinson song says "Try to get yourself a bargain son 'Don't be sold on the very first one!" That "good deal" isn't necessarily the cheapest one; that low, low price they promise is usually only for the first year and as a rule of thumb the lower the first year price the higher the second. See what you can get for free with your domain. Some sites offer free websites and website builders that allow you to open a website for free with only a few small ads.

Third, it's now time to get the domain. Find the domain search box. It looks a lot like the search box at your favorite search engine except that it probably has "COM" displayed on the far right of the box. If you don't want a com domain all you have to do is change it with your cursor to whatever you prefer. Com is still the most popular but it is getting hard to find the name you want.

Fourth, type the name you want into the search box. Don't worry, you won't be charged for doing this. But don't be surprised if the new screen tells you that the name you wanted already belongs to someone else; that's the case with almost everyone's first choice these days, particularly with com domains.

Fifth, don't quit looking because the name you wanted is gone. You still probably need a web address or you wouldn't have come this far. Think of some other names you might consider; try them in the search box. It doesn't matter how many times you use the box, you won't be charged until you find the right one for you! Then follow the instructions your new registrar gives you.

Lastly, keep in mind that domains are cheap. Most that you might want are available for less than ten dollars a year. Also, with most registrars, you have the option of changing your mind within five days and getting your money back.

As you can see it isn't hard to get a domain. Find a registrar; look for a good deal; find the search box and keep on trying. You will find there are few things on the Internet as reasonably priced and as useful as a domain name.

Mike Nardine owns CheapMikesDomains where you benefit from cheap domains and affordable, reliable hosting along with friendly, individualized attention and free advice. Give us a try. You will never be just another number at Cheap Mike's!

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A Look at the Top 5 Cheapest Domain Name Registrars

There are a number of domain name registrars out there online. For something as simple and yet necessary as domain name registration, price is the main factor. So where can you find the best deal to get your domain name registered? Here are the top 5 cheapest domain name registrars.

There are a number of domain name registrars out there that can get you your name for under $4.00. What separates one from another is the support and extras you get with your price. With that in mind, the first of the top 5 cheapest domain name registrars out there is active-domain.com. For the $3.95 you pay for one year of domain registration, this company also offers you a number of features. In addition to any suffix you need, you get a web-based services account to keep track of your domains, free email forwarding, catch-all email accounts, free sub-domains, parking page, and many other features that make this a definite top five cheap domain name registration company.

A second member of the top 5 cheapest domain name registrars is domainsarefree.com. Despite the name, you will have to pay for your domain name registration, but at $3.99 per year, it is still a good price that comes in under $4.00. Additionally, they offer you a number of other features with your registration at no extra charge. Email forwarding, anti-spam, domain administration, and even some great web hosting deals are available. They also offer you most any domain suffix you could want and are qualified to receive.

Another of the top 5 cheapest domain name registrars you may want to consider is cheap-domainnames.com. Their strength lies in the rates they give for bulk domain registration. You can receive a discount of more than 10% if you register a large number of domains at the same time. Additionally, if you use their other services, they will offer you domain registration for as little as $2.00. In some cases, you can actually get free registration from them. The key is to explore all of the deals available through the company and find the one that matches your company best. In fact, under the right circumstances, this may actually be the cheapest of the top 5 cheapest domain name registrars.

Though their initial cost may be a bit more, fxdomains.com has a place in the top 5 cheapest domain name registrars for a simple reason: you get so much with your registration. Not only to you get the domain name you want for less than $8.00, but also you get a number of free extras that can really make the price a great value. With registration you will get a quick blog, website holder page, email, starter web page, forwarding, total control of DNS, a for sale page if you want it, and a number of other features that make this company worth a look for domain registration.

Finally, Yahoo definitely deserves a spot in the top 5 cheapest domain name registrars. Still coming in at under $10.00, the company offers a number of extras in addition to very good support. Their size and capital make them a solid choice when it comes to service. In addition to your domain, Yahoo will get you a starter web page, 24 hour customer services, complete domain control, and email forwarding in addition to a number of other standard features and available upgrades.

Stu Pearson has an interest in Finance & Business and Domain Name Registrars, for more FREE information and articles please visit Domain Name Registrars Resources

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3 Things to Remember While Registering Domains

If you own a small business and wish to have a web presence or you are looking to setup an online business from scratch, you need to go through the domain registering process.

But what if you do not have a business and still wish to make money online?

Yes, it's possible. All you need is to register your domain name and have a website and you're ready to step into the world of affiliate marketing by selling someone else's products.

Whether you are setting up a business website or a website to make money online through affiliate marketing, information products or any other internet business model, there are a few crucial steps you should follow. 

Nowadays, registering a domain name has become quite simple. However, there are three things that you should keep in mind.  

1. Choosing a Name for Domain Registering: Choose a relevant domain name. For instance, URLs like petsmart.com, gardenguide.com or etoys.com tell you instantly what the business is about. Opt for short names that are easy to remember. You could go to sites like cheapdomainsfromscratch.com to select a domain name.  If you are getting your domain based on your company name, this will obviously make it easy for you to setup personalised company emails etc.  But, even if you a well established business, chances are not may people will be searching for your company name in Google or Yahoo.  They may be searching for keywords like "outdoor fitness", so register a domain like "outdoorfitness.com" for example, will make it far more recognisable.  This makes it easy for people to see that your website may meet their needs.  Keep in mind, that you can always point a domain like this to a specific page on your company website, if you don't want multiple websites.  

2. Registering a Domain Name: There are many sites, like cheapdomainsfromscratch.com, that offer very cheap domain registering services. This makes it very easy to register domains that are specific to your product or service offering.  Registering a locally based website URL, like .com.au or ,co.ca could work well for you if you are a locally based business, but preferably, having a .com website will be the best option.  If you are selling information products or anything that has a global audience, then certainly a .com domain will be best.  Look out for the specials that are offered as part of domain purchasing, because you could also get a great deal on hosting your website.

3. Make your Domain Registering Search Friendly: Ensure that you register your domain name for at least three years, as this will add credibility to your website. The longer the duration, the more search engine friendly your website is. The longest period for domain registration is ten years. Getting registered with a reputed registrar will add to the trustworthiness of your website. Making sure that you use keywords relating to your business market or your online niche audience will also help with natural search rankings.  From the example above, if you are targeting outdoor fitness training, do some keyword research using Google's keyword tool.  Find the top ranking keywords in your niche and try to build website URL combinations that use these keywords.  Submit these combinations into a domain search, like the one of cheapdomainsfromscratch.com.  For example, outdoorfitness.com, outdoorfitnesstraining.com, outdoorfittraining.com, until you find one that is not already registered. 

Once you have brought your domain name, you want to set it up to point to a set hosting, that you may already have, or you can point it to an affiliate link.  Either way, if you are not sure what to do next, the support staff at the domain registrar will be able to help you point the new domain to the correct location.

Effectively Marketing Your Business Online Requires a Strong Domain Name That is Keyword Focussed. To Get Your Domains And Web Site Hosting Cheaper, Visit: http://www.cheapdomainsfromscratch.com

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Multiple Domains Web Host Tips and Cheap Unlimited Domain Hosting

Multiple domains web host in a simple definition is a hosting plan that can support or let you host more than one domain name. Sometime it also known as unlimited domain hosting because for some hosting plan it give the advantage to users to host as many domains as they want in one hosting. There are so many hosting plan that you can choose between thousands of web hosting provider companies all over the world. Most of them offer similar features to attract the customer and the best part is you can get the best for you at a very low price.

Today there are many internet marketers or even companies preferred the multiple domain web host to publish their websites. This is because one company or individual got a lot of things to promote and it will look professional and easy to manage if they can categories it using the different domain name rather than using sub-domain or add-on domain. Individual that promote products like affiliate products they prefer to have different domains for each product so that they buyers or visitors don't get confuse and at the same time to prevent refund if their customers buy the wrong products and it will consume some more time and maybe money to handle the refund process.

Multiple domain web host always come with other great features that needed by any websites whether it the new site or the old one. Because of the high competitive in providing the best for buyers between the hosting companies it give so much benefit to buyers. There are a lot of great features offered to eat up their competitors like they also give the unlimited bandwidth and unlimited disk space. Sometime it also come with unlimited mail account, and the best part is got FREE marketing coupons from AdWords, Yahoo, Facebook advertising and many more that you might need to promote your website sooner or later after you done publishing it. Need to remember that when using this coupons you not just get cheap advertising but also you can get the traffic or visitors to your site almost instantly.

Let's talk about two great features that you must have when you want to have a multiple domain web host which are unlimited bandwidth and unlimited disk space. These two features is so important if we want to host many domain name. It will be a shame to the web owner if their web got limited bandwidth. You never know when your bandwidth will be reach and for your information if your bandwidth meet it limits there are no visitors can view your site and even if they can it will took a very long time to load the page and this will make your visitors jump to other site.

Picture this, you already have a very nice and very systematic website which is need some huge space to save it. When the time you want to upload it to your hosting you got the message telling you that you reach you disk space usage and you need to upgrade if you want to proceed that for sure will cost you more money.

Don't think that 1GB or 10 GB disk space is enough for you, if you think so you are completely wrong. You need extra disk space to hold all the data for you it not just files that you upload to your hosting but file that gonna grow like customers detail, transaction detail, attachment by customers and many more. All these things you cannot control and the worse part you will never know your hosting plan will reach the disk space limit unless after you reach it. You are not afford to lose all the important details about your business.

What I can say here is if you want to get a Multiple Domain Web Host or Unlimited Domain Hosting plan you must check out other features that come with it. From what you can read above the best is if you could find hosting plan that offer these three features at one plan and it will be great. There are few hosting providers that I know have these three features at a very affordable price but give five stars services. All the best.

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Internet Marketing - The Importance of Choosing a Domain Name

A domain name is an identification label. It is just like an address whereby will direct targeted audience to your shop. An example is name of your shop. It is always needed when you want to create a websites.

There are a lot of newbie venture with no awareness of where and how to get started. Choosing a domain name is never as easy as choosing a theme for your blog. It has to be recognize by search engine and attractive so as to drive more traffic. Therefore it is important to choose your domain name wisely. It has to be easily remembered, short, related to your company, brand or products of your websites. Common extensions used are com, org and net. Do not take this step for granted, because the domain name you choose can make or break your websites success. Finding a good domain name could be the critical factor that determines whether your business succeeds or fails. Take the time to really pick a good one.

You can start off by doing a keyword research under Google keyword tools which is relevant to your business. Do ensure the keyword you selected have the most search. Once this is done, you may proceed to check under Name Cheap on the availability of the domain name and register.

You can also purchase a domain from domain name "registrars". Commonly mentioned including name cheap and Yahoo hosting. Price range from $6 to around $10 per year. The Domain Name administration is not an easy task and sometimes involves technical knowledge. However Name cheap is quite straight forward with just a few steps and get it done.

Discover how Eileen manage to achieve my Passive income through Internet Marketing, To find out more, click here to Download Free Report! http://imtowardrich.com

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Cheap Web Hosting Services - Everyone Can Have Their Own Website - Part 1 - Domain Name Selection

Cheap web hosting services are available to anyone wanting the chance to dip their toes in the pool of water that is the internet.

You've browsed around the web for many months if not years and fancy having a go at creating your own little website. Well you can congratulate yourself right now for deciding to take this step as I can promise you that with a little work and minimum investment, it really isn't all that hard to achieve.

So the first thing you need to do is grab what is called a domain name.  A domain name is the main section of the internet address you enter into your browser. An internet address is made up of 3 main parts;



The internet address prefix - In most cases this will be www.


The domain name - This is what you need to decide what to call your website

The internet address suffix - The section of the address after your domain name (more detail below)

Some examples of what a domain name and suffix look like are shown below;



ezinearticles.com

google.com

yahoo.com

As you can see from the bold text above, your own domain name sits between the domain prefix and the domain suffix section of the overall address.

There are also different types of domain you can register. ".com" is only one example as there are many to choose from.  Some examples of the domain type are shown below;


.com (company or business website address)
.info  (informational website address)
.org (organisation website address)

.biz (relatively new domain type, short for business)

The main thing to keep in mind is when choosing your domain name and domain type, try and keep them relevant to the content you intend to put on your webpage.

So if you decide to do a personal blog, a .info would be the best choice.  If you are deciding to put your shop or business on the internet, then a .com or .biz would be a good domain type to go for.  Just remember that it doesn't matter which cheap web hosting services you decide to opt for, they will all support your chosen domain name and type.

Once you have chosen your domain name and domain type then you need to select a reliable and inexpensive host to get you up and running as quickly as possible.

There are various cheap web hosting services [http://www.creditcrunchsurvivors.info/cheapwebhostingservices] available from hosting companies out there ready to take your cash and give you the space you need to create your website, but not all of them offer the same level of stability, speed and customer service which are important things to consider before deciding to take the plunge.

One host has been a favourite of mine for a long time. In all my time online with this company I have never had any issues with any aspect of the setup or service.

They have a hosting package to suit everyone and offer newcomers an unbeatable offer which can be viewed by clicking here [http://www.creditcrunchsurvivors.info/cheapwebhostingservices]

I wish you all the best in your new project and look out for my next article about selecting a reputable hosting company for your website project.

Paul.

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Choose the Best Web Hosting Like a Professional With Ten Parameters of Cheap Web Hosting

Here are the basic TEN parameters of web hosting. Pick the best web hosting and also the cheap web hosting package at the same time with these smart steps.

1. Number of Domains: It is possible to host any number of websites under a single account and many hosts support unlimited domain hosting. If you own only one (or very few) domains, you may choose to go for a hosting package which allows single (or limited domains) hosting. In this case if you wish to start a new website, you will have to buy web hosting again, which demands investment. It is good to go for a host which supports unlimited (or a lot of) domains and unlimited hosting is also cheap. Although, a host may support unlimited domains, it is good not to stack a host with more than 50 domains, citing downtime, maintenance and transfers.

Nutshell: Go for a hosting provider which allows you to host unlimited (or large number of) domains.

2. Disk Space / Storage: Disk space is nothing but the capacity of hard drive on your server. In case of shared hosting, you will have access to only a percentage of the hard drive space. This is the space, which you will use to store all your files, images, scripts, videos etc. The space occupied by a website primarily depends on the software you use on your website. Typically, when a CMS is used, all text would go into a database and all files (scripts, images and videos) would be directly stored in your hard disk. A good percentage of hosts specify the disk space limits like 1GB, 10GB etc, while a few others claim to offer unlimited storage. While unlimited hosting is certainly not possible, you would not be billed for excess storage, when you go beyond the specified limits. Hence, it is better to go for unlimited storage.

Nutshell: Go for unlimited Storage, rather than limited hosting.

Warning: Although hosts mention unlimited hosting, they have a unspecified limit of 50,000 files.

3. Bandwidth / Transfer: Transfer of bandwidth refers to the amount of traffic, which means the size of files your host serves. Transfer depends on the size of your images, scripts used on your web pages. It is typical for a web host to put a cap on this, in order to avoid over utilization of the server, but most hosts offer unlimited bandwidth. If you have very little traffic and only a few domains, a cap is alright, else it is better to go for unlimited transfer.

Nutshell: Go for unlimited transfer or bandwidth, unless you have very less needs.

Warning: Although unlimited transfer is true, CPU cycles is not, Read on!!

4. Uptime: Uptime for a website is very critical than most other parameters and it determines if your site is accessible by your readers or users. A server may go down due to maintenance by your host or due to problems in your server or data center. It is typical for a web hosting provider to claim 99.9% or even 99.99% uptime in a shared hosting scenario. You should choose one which provides you with 99.9% minimum.

Nutshell: Talk to users, believe in tools and gather uptime data, before you make a decision.

5. Emails: A email account on your domain looks more professional than a Gmail or yahoo account. I strongly suggest using your own emails and you may want to take help of either Google apps or a mail client like thunderbird, apple mail, etc for the same. Check the capability of a server to host emails. Typical parameters would involve number of emails, pop and Imap access, web mail, and no file limits.

Nutshell: Use Google apps for emails, Its free and has very good uptime.

6. Language Support : Most bloggers would go for a standard CMS like WordPress, Joomla or drupal. While most server software run on PHP, a few other software may demand additional requirements. Your application may demand ruby or python platforms. Check the features sheet for language support. You may also want to raise a question with the support team about version. I usually do this to ensure that I get the answer and also to get a fair idea of how long it takes to get a response from the support team.

7. Live Chat: If there is no Live Chat, the chances of signing up goes down by 50%, in my case. As a customer or a prospect, you should be able to chat with your web hosting service provider and it has be to super quick. Although phone support is good, It is good to have text chat support.

Nutshell: Check for live chat and phone support. Test it before you sign up!!

7b. Email Support/ Ticket response time: No Matter how much you pay and how much attention is paid on the servers, errors occur. Lets assume for instance, that you need to get a technical issue resolved, which requires a personnel to inspect and troubleshoot. Email support, with capability to attach files, screen shots work great. I have spent an hour, trying to explain a simple error over the phone, which would have been much easier with email.

Nutshell: Check availability of email support, ticket system and average response time. Test it before you sign up.

8: Databases: Almost all software that you will run like WordPress, joomla, drupal, mediawiki, rails require a database for proper functionality and hence you will need a good database like Mysql (preferred) or Postgresql. Make sure that you have the latest versions [This is a good question to ask them before you sign up. I use this question to test response time]. It is not alright to have less than 2 databases, since it is very likely that you will need more. I would probably look at 25 or more as a sufficient number of databases. Cpanel hosting should make your database management much easier.

Nutshell: Look for 25 or more MYSQL databases, Check version with support team.

Warning: Databases have a size limit, which is usually 10GB, which will suffice even if you have 1000 posts.

9. Price: In most cases, "what you get is what you pay for", but there are a few cheap web hosting companies who provide all features [1-8] at low cost. Some features like uptime carry a lot of weight, and hence it is important to do a little research about a company before signing up. If you get a web hosting provider which supports multiple domains and very good uptime, I should probably say $100 is a sweet deal. Also, many companies offer coupons, which you can make use to get a good discount. Also, sign up for only 1 year at maximum, NEVER more!! It is good, if you can look for a money back guarantee and the terms before you sign up.

Nutshell: $100 or less is good. Ask us for Discounts. Never sign up for more than 1 year.

10. Bonuses: A lot of companies have done a good job in partnering with Google/Yahoo and hence provide free $50 or $25 AdWords coupons and YPN coupons, which you can sell for a significant amount. If you are a developer, you may also want to look at shopping carts, Mailing lists and a free domain to start with. We are friends with a lot of web hosting companies and we provide FREE installation of software and support, when you sign up for hosting.

Nutshell: Look for freebies (AdWords coupons). You can find good recommendations from experts using a small form web hosting help.

If you are considering purchasing a good hosting package, I should first congratulate you for deciding so, since I found this as one of the best investments ever. If you have trouble deciding, ask us for help. We have servers with a dozen different companies and we know how good a web hosting company is!! We hope this answers How to choose web hosting with a complete step by step approach.

We came up with this search to help you decide better - http://webhostingangel.com/.

You can reach me for further advice at http://webhostingangel.com/help and also via email at help at webhostingangel.com.
Good Luck!

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