Selecting and Registering a Domain Name

Domain names are disappearing rapidly which is making it increasingly difficult to register that one "perfect" domain for your company. But don't be disheartened, there are many names still available. Although there are several selection principles to keep in mind, none of them is a sure bet. Your best choice may violate some of the guidelines below. Remember, these are guidelines, not hard and fast rules.

Guidelines for Selecting a Domain Name:

• Emphasize Content - Consider selecting a name that reflects the content on your site instead of your company name. People are more likely to visit a site called scentedcandles.com before they visit connorswaxshop.com.
• Contains Keywords - Using keywords will not only allow visitors to instantly identify the content on your site, but will increase your ranking with the search engines. Try to use two or three primary keywords. Make them specific and descriptive. For example, designercoffeemugs.com would be a better choice than wesellmugs.com.
• Shorter Is Better - Although a domain name can be up to 63 characters long (not including the extension), strive for 20 characters or less. The less your customers have to type and remember, the better. Would you remember moyerscustomuphostryrodsanddraperies.com?
• Avoid Hyphens (-) & Numbers - People may forget to type in the hyphen and numbers are confusing. Is that a 4, FOUR or FOR?
• Easy To Spell & Pronounce - Consider all the ways people will be finding your site: advertisements, search engines, printed marketing materials and word-of-mouth. Imagine telling someone your domain name over the phone. Would they have any doubts on how to spell it correctly?

Selecting A Domain Extension

• .com - Best choice for business / commercial sites.
• .net - Originally designated for Internet service providers, this is a good second choice to .com.
• .org - For non-profits.
• .info / .biz / .cc / .tv / .us - No standard use has developed.

Brainstorming Ideas

Write down all the domain names you can think of that might be good for your web site. This is a brainstorming exercise so don't dismiss any possibility. Just write them down as they pop into your head. (If you need inspiration, you might try these name generating sites: nameboy.com and domainfellow.com). When you feel you've exhausted all the possibilities, narrow your list down to 2-3 good choices. Then ask family, friends and business associates which one they're most attracted to.

Something to consider

If you're really battling over two or three great names, you can register all of them. Your website address is actually a bunch of numbers called an IP address (This is Big Blue's actual web address: http://65.108.103.61). Since numbers are difficult for people to remember, the Internet gurus decided to link the numbered IP address to words (domain name). Consequently, you can have an unlimited number of names all pointing to the same IP address. Of course you'll have to pick only one of those domain names to put on your marketing materials but the added benefit of having multiple avenues of traffic can make it worth while.

Register Your Domain

Big Blue will work with you on selecting a good domain name. We'll also handle the registration or transfer, management of organizational, administrative, billing, and technical contacts and your primary and secondary name server information.