Before I point you to where to register a domain name to
start an online business successfully as soon as possible, it’s important you
understand domain name registration basics so that you don’t make the mistakes which
majority of aspiring internet entrepreneurs fall into.
The truth is that a good domain is the most valuable digital
asset you can have and it’s easy to lose it too if you don’t know how to manage
it successfully.
Are you in a hurry to read further but to ahead and register
a domain name for your internet business? No problems!
Click here to go to NameCheap registrar where to register a domain name
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What is a Domain Name?
A domain name is a website URL (universal resource locator) which
represents an IP address on the World Wide Web. It could be a word, phrase,
alphanumeric or numbers only that takes you to a specific website when you type
it on your browser’s address bar or by following a hyperlink text where the URL
is embedded.
For example, HustleVim.com is a domain name with the .com extension or TLD (top level
domain). When you type it on your browser, it may take you to a landing page,
content website or parked page depending on who the incumbent owner is as at
the time you’re reading this blog post.
As a beginner or newbie, you should know that registering a
domain which has a high value is really building a solid and strong foundation
for your web business. This is why domain flipping business will continue to be a viable
and booming business in the near and remote future.
You’ll discover that domain flippers or investors are
constantly buying and selling domain names on the internet because a premium
domain name can be used for branding and promotion with ease by startups or
existing business that wants to upgrade.
Characteristics of a Good Domain Name
Before you can classify a name as poor, good or best domain,
you’ve to look at a lot of qualities it possesses. The qualities of a good
domain name are many and I’ll outline it here for your perusal. But you’ve to
understand that no one domain name can possess all of these characteristics of
a good domain name.
In any case, a good domain should have most of these
qualities:
- Short
- Memorable
- Passes the radio test
- Brandable
- Not prone to misspelling
- No trademark infringement
- Commercially viable
- Rich in target keyword
- No numbers, symbols, hyphen or dash
- Easy to remember, type and pronounce
- Marketable
A good domain name should be able to say something about the
topic of your web business without necessarily explaining it to someone. Again,
if you own https://hustlevim.com, any visitor
to the website should favorably expect to read about side hustle business
ideas, all things being equal.
The only exception to not register keyword domain is when
you want to invest in a brandable domain name. In this case, the business goal
of this type of domain is essentially for branding and to simplify online user
experience in some way. But huge advertising budget has to be made available in
order to be able to create brand awareness as quickly as possible.
Domain Name Registration Tips
It’s quite simple and easy to register a domain name. All you’ve
to do is to visit your preferred domain registrar and use their domain name
availability checker to confirm if your desired name is taken or not. I can
tell you most of the time that the name you want to register will not be
available for registration especially if you’re hunting for the .com extension.
NameCheap.com always makes it easy to buy a domain name from
their web site. Also, it will make possible suggestions as well for other
domain name ideas you can run with. You can quickly evaluate it and decide if
you’ve to buy a domain name suggested to you on the spot.
Click here to go to NameCheap official site and
type your domain name idea into the search box. You’ve to wait for few seconds
after clicking the search button to get the results. If it’s available, you’ll
be given the opportunity to add it to your cart before checking out.
I’ll advise you to sign up with NameCheap now before you
start checking for available domains so that you can quickly register your
domain on the spot if it is available. At every point in time, one or two
aspiring online entrepreneurs and domain investors are thinking and generating
the same domain ideas as you and me are doing. And domain name registration is
on first come, first served basis. So, don’t allow another smart online
business owner or domain flipper to beat you to the game.
Even if you’re not building a website or creating a blog on
your domain, you can reserve it for later use. Sometime ago, while I was planning
to start web hosting reseller business, I went online to check for a domain
name I have in mind. As luck would have it, it was available for hand
registration.
But guess what happened? I vacillated to register it on the
spot and the next time I checked it has been registered by someone else! You
should not let this happen to you. I can actually inhibit your motivation to
start an online business if you cannot find a choice name to brand with.
Types of Domain Names
These types of domain names depend on the way you want to
classify them. Broadly, you’ve:
- EMD (exact match domain)
- Keyword domain with action word or phrase attached
- Brandable domain name
- Product or service domain name
Exact Match Domain (EMD)
EMD is a domain name that is registered with a target
keyword in it “as is.” Registering “side hustle business” (i.e. SideHustleBusiness.com)
in that order as a domain name is an example of EMD because it’s a searchable
keyword phrase if you look it up with keyword research tool.
If you get a domain as EMD and you’re able to build a
website or create a blog on it with high quality content, you’ll be miles ahead
of the competition. And if you optimize your blog or website and target
low-competitive keyword phrases, you can rank higher on the SERP (search engine
results pages) over time.
Keyword Domain
This is a domain with the target search query plus a
descriptive word or phrase attached to it. For instance, HustleVim.com has
“hustle” as the target word with “vim” attached to it to get a domain in this
niche market.
Since, EMD are hard to find and register these days, people
are getting more creative by appending action word or phrase to search terms to
get a domain. Although there may not be outright SEO benefits accruing to
keyword domain, I believe it can help in conversion because prospects and leads
will have an idea of what the purpose of the website is.
Brandable Domain
Brandable domain name is creative in nature and it can help
in future growth and expansion. It could be invented, blended, playing on a letter/word
in the domain, and the like. A good example of a brandable name is Google.com.
This is not an English word but invented which has become a household name and
synonymous with search engine on the World Wide Web today.
Also, a lot of brandables have become popular in some way. Let’s
take Lyft.com domain name as an example. What the owners did was to replace
letter “i” with letter “y” and you’ll still come up with the same pronunciation
of “lift.” This can be seen as deliberate misspelling in order to come up with
something that is unique and brandable.
Some domains owners do go to the extent of dropping a letter
from English words e.g. Tumblr.com instead of Tumbler.com where the letter “e”
is conspicuously missing. To be frank with you, getting these types of domain
names is like searching for a needle in a haystack in today’s tech world.
Product or Service Domain Name
This type of a domain name refers to specific but generic
product or service name. If you own HairShampoo.com, you’ll fall into this
category. Product domain name should not be confused with EMD or keyword domain
because there is a thin line of difference.
A lot of domain investors scooped up lots of these domains
in the early days of the internet and they use it as type-in traffic.
Domain Name Life Cycle
A domain name life cycle refers to the states a domain is
assigned during its life time. As soon as a domain is registered and paid for,
it enters an active status. This will, however, depends on the number of years
it was paid for up to a maximum of 10 years on a row.
To break down the domain states, we have:
- Active status
- Renewal grace period
- Redemption period
- Pending delete
- Deleted or expired or available status
Active Status
A domain name is in active state when its period of
registration or renewal has not expired. For instance, if I register a domain
name for one year period on January 1, it is going to be active until the
anniversary day of my first registration.
During this period, web services (both free and paid) being
offered by the registrar which are related to this domain name should work
properly without any encumbrance. This
includes URL forwarding, email forwarding, updating or changing domain name
severs (DNS), and so on.
If you’ve a valuable domain name which you don’t want to
lose for any reason, it’s always advisable to set your domain to auto-renew in
your account with the registrar. As long as your checking account is funded,
you’ll have no problem renewing your domain name since it will become automatic.
With your domain name in active status, you’ll be able to
build a website or create a blog on it. Yes, just register a domain name and get web hosting
and you’re good to start a blog and make money blogging online.
Renewal Grace Period
For some reasons best known to an incumbent domain owner, a
domain name can lapse and enter into renewal grace period at some point in time.
This is about 30 days or so (it depends on your registrar anyway) after the
domain active status ceases because the owner eventually failed to renew it in
order to bring it to an active state again.
As it were, the incumbent domain owner can still renew it at
the normal domain renewal price without paying any surcharge. This is the best
time to renew and reclaim your digital asset if it is valuable to you without
paying through the nose.
Redemption Period
Redemption period is a state of a domain name after the
renewal grace period lapses. At this time, the current owner cannot get the
domain back without paying restoration fees because the registrar must have
requested the domain to be deleted from the registry.
For a domain name you should have renewed for only $10, you
may end up paying as much as $120 to get it back via restoration. And most
times, it’s a 50/50 chance of recovery because domain backorder services may
also snap it up before your registrar does.
Pending Delete Status
Pending delete state is usually a 5 day period when the
domain name is finally removed from the registry by deletion. What this means
is that the name will become available for hand registration at the regular
price.
But more often than not, a valuable domain name may have
been backordered which will preclude it from dropping. A lot of these types of
domain names go to auctions and closeout for buyers to pick up and purchase for
a winning bid.
Where to Register a Domain Name
Domain registrars and their resellers are saddled with the
responsibilities of registering and managing domain names in their custody. For
you to be on the safe side, it’s advisable to sign up with ICANN accredited
domain registrar.
Also, web hosting companies carry out the business of domain
name registration as well. If you want to buy a domain name and purchase web
hosting at the same time and place to start your own business online, you can
get that from a reliable web host like HostGator. They will give you a free domain name
of your choice when you sign up for their web hosting services.
Otherwise, you can go with domain registrar like NameCheap.com
to purchase a domain name. This is how to check availability of a domain name.
First, click here to use the domain name search box on
NameCheap’s website.
Then, go ahead and type in your domain name idea into the
search field. This feature also doubles as domain name generator because it
will suggest a lot of other domain name ideas to choose from in case your name
is not available to register.
You can go through the list of domains to see if any of the ideas appeal to you and buy it before someone else does.
