Once you have decided to develop your website, you must invariably register it with the domain name registrar. It is a company that has the authority to register Internet domain names. This registrar is appointed by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN in short form) or by a national authority. There are some factors to be considered when you choose a registrar.
The domain registrar that you choose must be registered and accredited with the ICANN to register domain names; else you get in to trouble. The domain name registrar must have your name and contact information with it so that the activities of administration, control and billing are well taken care of.
When it comes to the price charged by the registrars, you have to keep in mind that there is a basic charge that is applied to all the registrars. If you happen to come across any domain name registrar that charges you less than this basic amount, then it is better to avoid risking a registration with such an entity. The reason behind this is that registrars that provide you with registration at a discount must in all probability be debilitating or robbing your website of something in some other manner. To remain competitive such entities provide you with a discount, only to make it up for something else. It may be too late by the time you realize it, if at all you ever realize.
You should also be on the guard against any hidden charges or abnormally high charges for normal processes. This comes to the fore especially in such processes as transferring your domain and updating your records. You will be wasting your money if the registrar charges you, even when your website is not going online right away. You should take care to find out any restrictions on the use of your domain. Some registrars charge yearly fees for maintenance.
It must be easy for you to support and manage multiple domains with the registrar considering the future possibility of expansion.
Needless to say, your registrar must provide adequate support and technical assistance in case a need arises. Registrars that provide only a single mode of communication are at best avoidable before the process of getting help turns out to be a big hassle. Ideally, a good domain name registrar should provide you with timely email and telephone customer service, an easy to use website and possibly a description of the commonly occurring problems and their resolution. Some of the other hit-below-the-belt strategies that you must watch out for are domain name gripping and domain forwarding.
Keeping in mind the fact that domain names are a very important factor in building an image and reputation, you should try to choose a registrar that has the domain name of your choice available.
These are some of the important factors that will do you a whole lot of good when you choose to make your digital presence felt to the online community. The bottom line is that not only must you have a good site but also a good registrar, as the two are dependent on each other.
It seems these days that everyone has their own website with their own unique domain. But how do you come up with a good domain name? What if someone already owns it? Here are some tips to keep in mind when registering a domain name.
Decide on several different options- While the name of your company may be a great place to start searching domain names it’s a good idea to have a few alternatives as well. For example, let’s say that the name of your company is ABC Plumbing. Well what are you going to do if ABCplumbing.com is taken? You could try something like abc-plumbing.com or you could then look into the .net extensions or .biz extensions. Though they aren’t as valuable in the long run, they do offer more options for domain names, especially if a .com is taken.
Do a background check on the name- The last thing you want to do is buy a domain that someone once had that has been banned from Google AdSense or has some other negative action attached to it. This is particularly important if you are buying an existing domain name, which we will cover later. Check with sites such as archive.org or dogpile.com to find out what your domain could have possibly been used for in the past and avoid those domains that could be connected to anything morally or ethically questionable.
Know what your domain is worth- There are a number of sites available online that will do a quick appraisal of your new domain for free. While not as accurate as a full business valuation report, it will give you a decent idea of what you can resell that name for later if you choose. After all, domains are nothing more than online real estate, and they can be just as valuable as the brick and mortar variety. Some highly sought after domain names can be worth millions, should you decide to sell and any savvy business person is always looking to the future. Remember that .com names are always worth more than .net or .biz or any other extension. The reason is because the population automatically defaults to .com. So say for instance your name is ABC Plumbing. If your domain is ABCPlumbing.com, chances are that more of your customers will find you. Most companies try to make their domain name the same as their company name and that is a really smart move. But if you end up with ABCPlumbing.net, you could end up with your customers going to your competitor’s website, and that is not good at all.
Once you’ve done all the leg work and you have a clean, unique domain name you can go to any number of sites to purchase it, the prices can vary widely between the sites so do a little research as to who offers the best prices. After you’ve registered your domain, make sure that you get a site up as soon as possible. A domain name doesn’t do you any good if there is nothing there to attract people. Remember that your domain is a powerful resource. It’s up to you how you make it work for you.
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