So
now you’ve found the domain name you want, but
someone else owns it. Can you still get it? The
answer is a qualified yes. You can still
possibly register that coveted name even if
someone has beaten you to the punch. In the next
article we will discuss how to go about
registering a domain name that is already taken.
But for now, lets look at some alternatives to
that:
Hyphenated Names Sometimes it is a good strategy
to just take the same domain name and hyphenate
it as in turning bobsautoparts.com into
bobs-auto-parts.com. Is it always the best
strategy? Yes and no.
If you are dealing with an already well known
name, generally the answer would be no, as most
web surfers would usually just enter the
non-hyphenated version in, and end up at your
competitors’ website instead. Not a good
strategy. Also, the longer the name you have
chosen, the more tedious and error prone it
becomes for the surfer to type in the name
correctly, again foiling the chances that they
will end up at your website. Definitely shorter
is better. But if the name you have chosen is
already taken and there is no chance of getting
it from it’s owner, and the owner either has no
website or a poorly designed one with little
traffic, this can be a good strategy in
purchasing a name.
Longer or Shorter Domain names can be up to 67
characters long. At 63 characters,
thelongestdomainnameintheworldandthensomeandthensomemoreandmore.com
claims to be the longest domain name in the
world, and it may very well be. But who would
want to type it into a browser? Our website,
www.StartMyWebsiteToday.com features a name that
in a few words encapsulates the purpose of the
site. It is helpful also with search engines. In
as few characters as possible the name of the
site, the purpose of the site, and the keywords
of the site have all been neatly put together in
a domain name. Shorter is better here, enough
said.
Brand Name or Generic The answer here is it
depends. If your business is your brand, of
course it is the best possible strategy to try
to register that domain name. For instance,
Nike.com is a well known brand name site,
although there is nothing in the domain name to
suggest that it is a site about shoes. Still,
Nike is such a well known brand name to the
public that people automatically know what they
will be shopping for when they get there. If
your brand name is well known, definitely try to
obtain your brand name as a domain name. But if
you are Nike or Coca Cola don’t discount the
idea of buying shoes.com or soda.com if they are
available as well. People often search the web
using generic terms, more so even than brand
names. A person is more likely to search the
internet for shoes or footwear or sneakers than
to search by a single brand name, even one as
big as Nike.
So if possible cover all the bases, but a
generic name if your business is new or not yet
well known can get better results, if you can
find a good one.
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