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Domain Names
When starting an online business, one of the most important steps you will take to build your business is to choose a domain name. This is not as easy as it sounds. It is a crucial step to advertising and selling your business to potential customers. You want to sound professional without looking ridiculous. Not only that, you need to choose a domain name that people will actually remember. Many people's domain names are far too long and hard to remember. If you are trying to spread the word about your website, the last thing you want to have to do is make people write down your site in order to remember it. Try and find a name that rolls off the tongue and is easy to remember without writing down the exact spelling. This will greatly increase your chances of getting traffic to your site. Plus, if your domain is too long, some search engines won't even index it.
Another good tip to remember is to not insert dashes or other punctuation marks within your domain name. They are harder to remember, and also search engines don't like them. Google, Yahoo, and others see these kinds of domain names as being a lesser authority than those that don't have any punctuation marks. Also try not to use popular trademark names in your domain name. These companies are usually very protective about their products and services, and are likely to take legal action against you if you do. Instead, pick something that is uniquely relevant to your company and the services it provides. Make it niche worthy, but general enough to gather some attention. Also, try and get domain names that end in a .com, .net, or .org. Other URL's are not nearly as effective, and can hurt you in the long run.
Once you have decided on a name for your website, it is now time to purchase it. When looking for your domain name, be aware that if it is a popular name it will likely cost more. Usually, longer names have a lesser chance of being bought but are harder to remember. You can also auction for domain names, or just buy them directly from other owners. If you buy a previously owned domain name you can expect to pay a bit more for it. Sometimes these sites have already done some search engine marketing which is a plus. The other way to buy domain names is to get them from registrars. There are many of these companies on the web and they allow you to purchase and own the domain names. They are fairly inexpensive to purchase, running around ten bucks.
