A Domain Name is simply an easy way to remember
an online address. Every website has an IP (internet protocol) address,
such as 69.144.211.197. Your IP address is like a long distance
telephone number, and your Domain Name is like the speed dial you
have set for that number. RobynStoner.com is much easier to remember
than 69.144.211.197.
I handle all the details of getting you online,
beginning with the purchase of your Domain Name. With an established
brand for your company, we will go over the many options for your
Domain Name(s), research which names are available and make your
purchase. I generally suggest purchasing your BusinessName.com plus
one additional domain name that denotes what your business does,
such as: WebsiteBuilder.com. I then set you up with a Hosting
Package and begin work on your website.
What's in a name?
It pays to have a domain name that reflects your
company or line of business. When clients think of your website,
they will think of your company name and that is the first thing
they will try in their browser. It is the easiest thing to remember,
and whatever is easily remembered, will be more likely to be tried
out first.
Should your company name be taken, prefixes and
suffixes take over. If Websites.com is taken, then good options
might be WebsitesOnline.com or HotWebsites.com. A look into the
current ownership of the domain could prove useful as well if the
present owner agrees to sell the domain name.
Domain names can be of any length up to 67 characters.
It is better to spell your entire name out than to abbreviate in
an effort to keep the URL short. Easy to type is great, but if no
one can remember WHICH initials you chose, it serves no purpose.
Multiple Domain Names
Purchasing multiple Domain Names does not mean
you will have multiple websites, just several domain names that
are directed to the same website. Multiple domain names can help
you in several ways.
Let's say your name is Alex Schoere and your
row boat business is named Schoere To Shore. Schoere is not a common
spelling. You would want to purchase the domain name SchoereToShore.com,
but you would also want to consider using a secondary domain name
like Shore2Shore.com to stick in the minds of your clients.
Hyphens can help with unavailable business names
allowing you to obtain your company name as your URL, such as Best-Websites.com.
On the down side, hyphens are easily forgotten when typing in a
URL and they are not easily verbalized when your website is being
promoted by word of mouth. I generally don't suggest the use of
hyphens in your main domain name, but it depends on your circumstances.
Hyphens do, however, serve a purpose in your
domain name from a marketing aspect. Domain names that contain your
website keywords have an advantage when submitted to search engines
using hyphens (-) between each keyword. Certain search engines will
read Best-Websites.com as 2 words and classify it as such in a search,
where BestWebsites.com will not be recognized as a word at all.
Website-Development-and-Design.com, when hyphenated, contains 3
keywords in the domain name for search engines to pick up on and
a 4-word key phrase. The major search engines love that! It is not
generally designed to be remembered by clients, but used for search
engine submission purposes.
The way multiple Domain Names work within one
website is to select one name as your "dedicated" domain,
RobynStoner.com. Then, we add Best-Websites.com and make that a
"parked" domain. The parked domain will share the dedicated
IP address and would send you to the same website, all the while
still appearing as Best-Websites.com in the address bar. Parked
domains are unlimited in number, cost just $1/month to host
and $15 to set up.
Domain Name Cost
Domain names can be purchased for anywhere between
one and five years. There is no administration fee for my website
development clients' when we purchase your domain name!
Domain |
1 Year |
2 Years |
3 Years |
4 Years
|
5 Years |
.com .net .org
.biz .info .us |
$19 |
$36
$18/year |
$51
$17/year |
$56
$14/year
|
$65
$13/year |
.ws |
$30
No Transfers |
$58
$29/year |
$81
$27/year |
$88
$22/year |
$100
$20/year |
All Others |
Please call me with a quote
for another domain name! |
To register domain names with country-code extensions
such as .US (United States of America) and .CN (China), you may
be required to have a residence, or at least a presence, in that
particular country. Other country-code extensions such as .WS (Western
Samoa) can be registered by anyone.
Never Give Up
As time goes on, you may change your company
name or develop new ideas and options for domain names. Consider
that you have years of marketing efforts, intentional or not, in
your domain name, you do not want to give that away! There is no
limit to how many domain names you can purchase, so keep the old
ones and set them up as parked domains on your hosting server. They
may be well worth it!
Transferring Your Domain Name
Domain name transfers are simple! When your Domain
Name is transferred, you must purchase at least 1 year on your name,
which will be added to whatever is left on your current registration
period. The month and day of your expiration date is preserved.
 OK
Robyn! Let's Talk DOMAIN NAMES!
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