Domain Name Registration - does the name matter?

Domain name registration is the first step to your acquiring a presence on the world wide web (WWW). Simple as it may be, I suggest you give a lot of thought to choosing a name, much as your parents probably did when they chose your name.

First of all, before you begin the domain name registration process, you need to decide what TLD (top level domain) you want to fall under. If you're in business and want your site to earn income, I suggest that .com is the best way to proceed, even though you can probably have a better selection of names if you go for .biz, .net, or some of the other lesser known TLD's. The reason I recommend a .com name is that when someone asks for your web site name, they'll automatically assume it's .com, and they'll automatically assume the www. part, and only remember what's in the middle. It's just human nature.

Before you choose a domain name to be registered, if you will want to earn income, you need to be aware that many of the naming decisions you make while building your site will affect your ranking on the search engines. One of the most important things (as I write this, things change in search engine algorithms, of course) is to include the major keywords your site will be about in the domain name itself.

If your site is about growing bonsai trees, for example, you might want to see if you can register the domain name of www.grow-bonsai-trees.com. I haven't checked to see if it's available, but if not, you can try a variation that will still include your main words (grow, bonsai, and trees), like how-to-, or aaa-, or like I did with this site (a1-). Of course, maybe those words aren't what's best for you. I would suggest using some of the tools available to see what the most searched words and phrases for your topic happen to be before choosing your name. Perhaps buy-bonsai-trees would be more popular than grow-bonsai-trees, assuming that they will actually be able to buy them at your site.

It's felt among experts that putting a dash between each main word helps the search engine know what your site is about better than if you run them together. In other words, www.grow-bonsai-trees.com will likely achieve better rankings than www.growbonsaitrees.com.

Domain name registration services are provided by hundreds of companies that you can find by searching with your favorite search engine, but most likely the web site host you choose will offer the service also, at a competitive price (most of the recommended ones below do so). I recommend getting your domain name registered through your hosting provider if at all possible, so if there is a delay in its activation, you have a single source of support.

Domain name registration is typically available for between $7.95 to $12.95 per year, if you're being asked to pay more than that, look around first.

iPowerWeb Hosting / $7.95/Mo / 800 Megs of Space, 40 Gigs of Transfer, 400 Emails + Free Setup & Free Domain - CLICK HERE!

Quick specs (but check out the site yourself, competition forces frequent changes): $7.95/month (lower with a 24-month prepay), 800 MB storage, 40 GB bandwidth, FTP, CGI, SSL, 400 email accounts, PHP, MySQL, PERL.

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1000MB of storage and 40GB of transfer for only $7.95 LunarPages

Quick specs (but check out the site yourself, competition forces frequent changes): $7.95/month, 1000 MB storage, 40 GB bandwidth, FTP, CGI, unlimited email accounts, PHP, MySQL, PERL.

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#1 Web Hosting Pick!- 2,000 MB, Free Setup, $7.77/month! - PowWeb Hosting

Quick specs (but check out the site yourself, competition forces frequent changes): $7.77/month ($6.66/month if you prepay for 12 months), 2,000 MB storage, 5 GB bandwidth (per day, not per month like the others), FTP, CGI, SSL, 650 email accounts, PHP, MySQL, PERL. Also includes free Easy Website Builder software with lots of free templates so that you can get your new site up and running quickly and looking good!