In hindsight, I would have spent more time thinking about the name to call my first website. Then, I was very excited at the prospect of establishing a web presence and was armed with little knowledge about how to go about it. It was more like a trial and error thing. Jumbling codes here and there and visualising the result was enough fun for me then. I didn't have anything to promote or sell then, so probably that approach was fine as I had nothing at stake. But today, for each site I design I recommend that some thought be given to choosing a name the website. Just as parents choose names for their children, you will need to choose a name to call your web site. This is referred to as your domain name. For instance www.yahoo.com is the domain name for the popular email site Yahoo!. It's important you select the name wisely.
Though some parents do not think before giving their children names! The child can decide to change his or her name when they are older, but you cannot change your domain name once it has been registered. If you want a different name, you've got to register a new one. Unlike humans that can have the same names, your domain name must be unique. Just imagine if there were 2 websites with the domain name www.yahoo.com, how confused do you think the web would be?
Arriving at a suitable name would be easy once you have decided the purpose of the site, what your main product or service your want to sell and your keywords, I recommended that your domain name reflect these. It doesn't always have to, but it would certainly have a positive impact in search engines ranking. Search engines maintain a database (collection of information in an ordered manner) of websites using programs / software that are written with the sole purpose of visiting sites and taking note of their content so that when you use websites like google to search for an item, you can easily find it. These programs are often referred to as spiders or robots and are said to crawl a site when they visit that website. By noting the contents of the pages, the search engine is said to index that page.
Below are some of the things your may consider when choosing a name. You don't necessarily have to adhere strictly to them. My approach to laws and rules in life is that they are there as a guide and not hard and fast.
RelevantThe name should in some way reflect the product or service you are offering, if possible the brand of the product.
SimpleIt should be simple so it can be easily remembered. I would suggest you avoid using underscores. Your visitors may not remember to include them and it is much easier to type when you don't have to use the shift key.
ConciseI would suggest the name should not be lengthy, You can have as up to 67 characters though. Something simple, but concise would go a long way. Imagine having to type in www.shokolobangosheoluwaobami.com? I'll prefer www.yahoo.com or www.rhemastudio.com. Domain names are not case sensitive; www.rhemastudio is the same as WwW.RHemaStudio.Com.
Right Suffix What suffix to choose e.g. (.com,.org, .net etc) depends on the purpose and your planned reach. If your business is country specific, it would be more appropriate to register a company do business in the UK as www.yourbiz.co.uk rather than www.yourbiz.com. However, most people would append .com to a web name, so it would not be out of place to use a .com site for that reason. There is however no harm is registering more that one name for the same site.
Suggestions from others Ask around and find out what people think about the name. You may as well find out from others because they would be your potential clients.
Act quickly Once you have settled on a suitable name, register it as soon as possible, someone somewhere may register that name before you and you'll have to start all over again. These are just a few of the things your might consider before choosing that name that would stick in the minds of your clients. So that without even thinking about it, they can remember your website and stop by at anytime. Hope this has been helpful.
Check back for more tips as we embark on this journey to our wealthy place, the place or more than enough and early retirement.
About the Author
Professional web designer. More details at http://www.rhemastudio.com/webdesign.php
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