Designs By Deb

What's in a domain name?

Domains are your piece of real estate on the internet. Just like that computer you own, or the racks your clothing hangs on, it’s a piece of property. It’s just a bit intangible until it’s put to use.

Addtionally, your domain name is an extension of your business, it’s a part of your branding, it’s your internet identifier.

So, you worked hard to put your business together, you’ve opened your doors and your website is on your “to do” list. Keep in mind that it would behoove you to purchase your domain name now rather than later. This aspect is a really small segment of getting your website up and could save you in the long run. Chances are though, that if you don’t snag that name, it could be gone when you’ve reached that part of your “to do” list.

What to do? Purchase your domain name now! Ensure your future website has your business domain name. You can purchase your domain name for as little as $8.95/year. Yea, $8.95 and park it (think of that as a place holder for your website) until you are ready to get your website up and running. Most all website registrars will park your domain for free.

Not sure how to do it? Which registrar to go with? There are a ton of registrars on the internet and you can easily google “domain name registrar” and get hundreds of thousands results. I know, I had to learn all this myself years ago. I personally recommend godaddy.com. I’ve used their services for years and have purchased for myself and others more domain names than you care to know.

Is your name available? go to godaddy and type in your business name and do a search. If the exact name is not available in the .com suffix try .net or .biz or .us – these are all common domain names.

Another way to get a domain name which is close to your business name is to add the word “shop” or “consignment” or “resale” to the end of your business name.

As an example a recent client of mine, Smarty Pants – a resale store in Roselawn, IN was unable to purchase smartypants.com, so instead she chose smartypantsresaleshop.com But she could have chosen shopsmartypants.com or smartypantsresale.com All of these names are acceptable and do not diminish the brand but rather enhance because the website is right inline with her business name and further defines the fact that it’s a resale shop.

Don’t become discouraged if your domain is not available – become creative.

And, if you would like assistance with this, I’ll be happy to guide you through the process.

Tags: domain, internet, website