Domain Names and Domain Registration Tips

Domain registration very important to a website if you are considering getting a presence on the Internet. The website is how your prospects and customers locate you. It's like a store front. Therefore, your domain name should be something that is easy to remember. Here are some tips that you may find useful.

1) Register your company name.

This is not always the best thing to do. If you already have a company name that is well known by your customers, then it makes sense to register your company name as the domain name. Your existing companies will remember your company name, and type it in as the URL to try and locate you online. But if you are starting a new business, perhaps you may wish to consider the next tip.

2) Register a domain name with your target keywords in it.

On the Internet, you need to get traffic to your website in order to capture leads or make sales. The search engines can provide a steady stream of traffic if you rank well. And sites that rank well in the search results are more valuable because of the free traffic that the sites are getting. It is easier to rank well if you own a domain name with the target keyword phrase in the URL. For example, if your are offering gardening tools, then choose a domain name with the words "gardening tools" in it. The domain will instantly become more valuable once it starts to rank in the search engines.

3) Pick something that is easy to remember.

If you want to brand your website, it makes sense to choose something that is easy to remember. Most website visitors don't bother to bookmark URLs. So a short and catchy domain name makes it easy for people to remember your website, and revisit it at a later date.

4) Register several domain names at one go.

If you own a valuable company name, you may wish to grab all top level domain names such as .com, .net, and .org. This is to prevent cyber squatters who register domain names purely with the intention of selling them off and making a profit later. If you register all the top level names, the names belong to you. In addition, your customers won't be easily confused by the various domain names since you own all of them.

5) For greater discounts, register for longer durations.

A domain name registration costs very little nowadays. But to enjoy steeper discounts, you may wish to register for a longer duration. For instance, instead of registering for just one year, register for at least 5 years and above.

6) Remember to activate auto renew.

Finally, remember to let your domain name registrar auto renew your domain. Sometimes, you may be out of the country or you may not have access to your email for some reason. If your domain name expires before you can renew it, someone else may grab the domain name. You may have lost a valuable piece of virtual real estate when that happens.