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This is not as easy an issue as it seems, ok you are going to choose a
name that is also an address, a web address!
Why are we looking for a domain name this early? Well, Although you can
get your domain name later or choose your subdomain at later time, now is
a good time since choosing the domain early helps you stay focused on the
content and the spirit of the layout. and besides, there is no real reason
why this issue should be delayed to later on in the guide.
Your Choices free sub-domain vs. domain
name.
You have the choice of a paid domain verses a free domain, the paid domain
is one that is usually in the form of (www.your_choice.com)
while the free domain would look more like (your_choice.people_giving_you_domain.com),
Examples: This website is an example of a free domain name upgraded to
a domain later, i chose the word
build, i did choose netfirms by going to there website but i didn't
chose the letters (the word netfirms itself), this is called a sub domain,
there is already a domain (www.netfirms.com),
they run a web hosting service and gave me the sub domain
(
http://build.netfirms.com )
I then got the domain name
(buildguide.net)
, An example of a paid domain is (http://www.info2device.com/)
that as well was originally built on free hosting and a sub domain and
(http://info2device1.netfirms.com)
and then upgraded into a full domain
Now that looks pretty simple doesn't it, well it is !
Lets start by giving you the bottom line then we will elaborate, the
bottom line is that you could start by taking free hosting and a free sub
domain and get a domain later (note: free
hosting always has a catch like a banner on top of every page on your
website as you can see here).
Note: When should i get domain right away
(Open in small Popup window)
Here we will assume you are going to go with our plan and get free sub
domain and then get a domain name to point at it, Please note that you can
get a sub domain and then get a .TK Domain free that points to your sub
domain. (
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)
Please note: This page has been
moved (here), This page is part of the old website and is also part of the
new one.
Your Free
Sub domain
If you want to get your own domain name, You can skip
this section and go to Domain or upgrade to a domain.
Choosing the domain you want to be listed under (Ex:
Netfirms.com)
This step is not just about a name that will be part of your web
address (URL), The domain you are under only works with the hosting
that comes with it, this means that if you want the name tripod you
are going to have to settle for the web services offered by tripod,
you can not have a subdomain at tripod and a website hosted at
netfirms for example.
So what are the considerations you should make before registering the
subdomain?
getting a sub-domain does not mean you are out of choices, for example the
domain http://0.4mg.com does not even show
that it is a subdomain, since the . comes
naturally in the number 0.4 ! the domain 4mg.com belongs to
freeservers.com. The deal on the issue is that freeservers although
offer great domains to be listed under, they give you so little tools
and statistics with free hosting.
| Some hosts offer you
a directory above the domain rather than a subdomain, an example
of this is
http://www.angelfire.com/space/yozzy
i personally prefer the subdomain method to this one |
Choosing your sub domain name.
This is basically the same as choosing your domain name, Please
read the domain name section to choose this name, it is the exact same
thing, in fact it is best if you choose this one and then get the same
name as a domain. Choosing the name
Domain/upgrade to a domain, Choosing a domain name
Your domain name consists of
2 parts, The name you want and the extension, The name you want can be
your name, the extension is a .COM, .ORG, .NET, .CO.UK, .JO, .DE, .EG,
.IL, .PH etc...
COM is the most important one for many reasons you will find explained
later on in the text, Other extensions are country specific, for
example .JO is for The Hashemite Kingdome Of Jordan, .CO.UK is for the
united Kingdome, .EG is for Egypt and so on.
Choosing the
name
Allowed Domain Names
letters, numbers, and dashes are the only allowed characters in a
domain name, underscores are not permitted, And they are not case
sensitive, so BuildGuide.NET and buildguide.net and BUILDGUIDE.NET are
the same.
The maximum number of characters in a domain name is sixty seven
characters
Your Domain should be your website's name and
preferably your company name if it is a company website.
It is usually best that your domain name is your
website name, if it is a company website, it is sometimes good
that your website name and domain name is the same as your
company name, but not necessarily and not always. Many company
names are either very long, hard to spell or simply do not make
a good domain name. That's where you should act creative and
find one that works, for example commission junction's website
is located at http://www.cj.com
, This is a company you will be properly introduced to in the
build section, The acronym CJ is a real good choice, that is
short, simple and sounds nice, a similar example is Anderson
consulting at http://www.ac.com
Also try to use
interesting names, for example jordanconnection is better than
holidayinjordan for a company that sells vacations to Jordan.
In short: people will tend to
remember your websites name not the URL, so the URL should be your
websites name, if you didn't start yet, i would advise you to get an
available domain and then name your website after it.
Generic Domain Names
Generic domain names give you a
better chance of a direct hit, Generic domain name like cars.com have a
great chance of being typed into the browser and have the advantage of
being easiest to remember.
Easy names
What is meant by Easy names is a name that is easy to spell, easy to
remember, and preferably easy to type into the browser (somewhat short but
not nessesarily), remember one of the most popular websites on the
internet was welovetheiraqiinformationminister.com
Reasonable length domains.
I advise you to keep your domain name up to three short words as a
maximum, long domain names have a huge disadvantage, even tough it is said
and i do believe that search engines do consider your domain name words as
keywords, this advantage is probably very small and it may even be
emphasized in smaller names more than longer ones.
Spelling
This is a very controversial issue, many words are spelled in different
ways in different places (especially English vs. American English) the
advice here would be give the priority to the spelling commonly used in
your target market, and then consider getting the other. if both are
target markets to you, consider the one more commonly used or used by a
larger audience)
Trademarks
You are advised to get your trademark before someone else does and gets
you into trouble, and more to that you are advised not to take anyone
else's trademark to spare yourself sitting in the court room, trademark
owners will usually reach for there lawyers rather than there pockets
these days when you have there trademark.
Adult Domain names
Don't register a domain name with adult sexually oriented or other words
that may be classified by engines as adult when your website is really
general audience.
Advice
A domain name you thought was a strike of genius may be just too hard or
too lazy sounding or or... take advice from people around you. Remember
the domain name is something you will be saying allot and having on your
business card.
Don't abbreviate if it makes it harder
Sometimes it is easier to remember (jacks-computer-literature-ebooks.com
than JCLEB.com) so i would say have yourself in the visitors shoos and see
which one is easier to remember!
Hyphens
The only non alphanumerical character allowed in your domain name is the
hyphen, but should you use it ?
In general no, i advise you to have the words stuck together, since your
website name is usually used verbally, a hyphen makes it harder to say,
and people tend to forget it, now if your website makes it and becomes
popular, someone will reach for the non hyphen version and take many of
your customers.
On the other hand, you could just get the non hyphenated version, and if
your website makes it, get the hyphen version as well, you would be making
allot of money anyways and it will have a good return on investment. But
don't do it the other way round (at least this is my advise)
Prefixes, Postfixes, Plurals, nouns or verbs !
When it comes to domains, good ones are all gone, not all but most of them
are gone, so you found your domain but with a prefix (the) vacant, should
you take it, or with a postfix (online).
It really depends on the domain, but your website name should become the
full URL with the prefix or postfix, and you should use the name often on
and off the website so that the prefix/postfix will stick to the visitors
memory, you would not want him to come back to the other website without
the prefix / postfix.
As for variants of the word like its plural for example, i really don't
advise you to go for that one unless the plural form is the more commonly
used form of the word.
Choosing
the extension
Dot What?
Well in most cases .COM FIRST, The .COM comes first then you
might want to consider other extensions, .com not only is the standard
domain for commercial websites, it also sounds professional, and is
also one of the oldest along with .net and .org, COM gives a
professional impression to the visitor, .net and .org come next.
Registering the name
It is important to get your domain name at a well established
domain name registrar
Updating your DNS to your host
You get your DNS details from your host and update them at your
registrar's website, that's all there is to it, The process usually
takes about 24 hours, it sometimes takes up to 72 hours.
It is important to know that you can modify this from the company
that registered your domain name, Not from your hosting after that
since you have not changed the person in charge of the domain, you
merrily made it point to your hosting company
More (You can skip
this part)
DNS stands for Domain Name System, DNS is used
mostly to translate domain names to IP addresses, Since every
computer based machine on the internet has an IP address, the
domain name service sends the request for a domain (when you
type it in your browser or click a link) as a request with that
name translated into an IP address (of the server this Domain is
assigned to) So when you change this value to the hosting
company, you inform the system where you want visitors to this
domain to go (your website) |
Getting a free redirector
The best redirector available today is .TK, once you have a website
under a sub-domain you can get a FREE domain name with a .TK
extension, Although owning the domain is not free, getting a domain
redirector is, Choosing the name of the redirector follows the same
rules as getting a domain name, the redirector itself is a domain name
with a .TK extension, all you need is your Email address and the subdomain
you want it to point to. Click this link and it opens in a new window http://www.dot.tk.
NOTE: This free redirector is great for your business card, also great
for telling people about your website, but you should not promote it
online, search engines have problems with redirectors (see
why here)
Please note: This page has
been moved (here), This page is part of the old website and is also
part of the new one. |
