You may be asking what a domain name is. A domain name is a "www" address that you use to visit websites on the Internet. A good example would be if you wanted to visit Google, you would type in www.google.com in your web browser. Google.com is Google's domain name. A domain name tells the world who you are on the Internet. Nobody else can use your domain name.
There are many vendors where you can register a domain name. The prices are fairly consistent and can cost anywhere from $5 - $15 for year. They need to be registered each year, but you can usually pay for several years at a time and get a discount.
In order to get a good idea for a domain name for your business or just for personal reasons, open up a word processing program on your computer and list 10 key words that would be related to the content of your website or blog. For example, if you want to site to be health oriented, list health, herbal, healthy, remedy, cure ... Or let's say you have a house cleaning service, list cleaning, home, vacuum, maid service, ...
One you have your list, get a domain name with at least one of the keywords in the title. You need to do this so that the search engines will find your site. Try to keep the domain name as short as possible. Short and easy to remember is better than long and forgetful. Also, go with the '".com" extension. Most people online expect the website they are visiting to be ".com" so go with the most popular extension.
Take your keyword list and visit "000domains.com". You may not want to register your domain here as there are cheaper alternatives. However, they have a great search domain feature anyone can use. It's on the first page on the site so you can't miss it. Type in one of your keywords and make sure the ".com" extension is checked and hit the search button. You will be given several possibilities for what's available. If you don't see one you like, add short words like "the" or "a" to the keyword. If you still have no luck, click the "more" link to find alternate domain names with your basic keyword included. If you still cannot find one you like, type in your second keyword and continue as before.
If you have a business, you probably want to brand your business name. Examples of brand names are Google and Yahoo. Both of these names are probably made up and don't really need a keyword list. Therefore, if you want to brand, you may not need the keyword list. Instead, you would use your business name. For example, if your business is Empire Lawn Service, type that in the search box to see if it's available. If not, add your small words like "the" and "a" and search. As a last resort, go with the alternate domain names search.
There is nothing preventing you from registering more than one domain name. You could register your business name and several key word domain names. At about $10 a name, it's a good investment
Promoting Your Business Website on the Internet
Tips for Increasing Customer Traffic in Cyberspace
If you have a new website for your business and want to promote it, or you have a website you think is fantastic but the less-than-ideal traffic flow hardly makes it worth the cost of keeping it on the Internet, here are some tips for getting it into the public eye.
First, consider other websites that could benefit from linking to your own, and vice versa. Ask those websites if they would consider doing a “link exchange”, where each of you will put a link on your website to the other’s website. It’s a good way to generate some additional traffic, and most of the people you approach will be happy to comply with your request. If there’s a large number of websites you want to ask, consider sending out a single email to everyone; it saves you both time and energy, and unlike customer mailing lists it doesn’t behoove you to personalize each and every email. Once you’ve put this link exchange into place, if you’ve chosen your affiliates well you should expect to see a slight increase of traffic onto your site.
Next, if you have time and a thick skin you may want to try finding an online message board or other forum with people interested in what you have to offer and post a link to your website. Many forums have rules about doing this, however, so you need to check with that board’s administrator first to assure them your intentions are good and you aren’t a spammer. Many administrators will appreciate you checking with them first, and some may even start a thread sanctioning your post to let visitors know you’re legitimate. Most of the people who visit your site in this fashion won’t ever return, but the increased exposure your website enjoys for free (and in such a short amount of time) is worth the effort.
One method that guarantees customer traffic is the lure of free information, otherwise called “tutorials”. It requires a substantial amount of time and effort on your side, but once the tutorial is created, the positive response you generate will give you all that effort back tenfold. Create a free tutorial based on the subject of your business (i.e. “How To Make Your Company’s Network More Effective” if you run a computer consulting company) and place it on your website or a website that hosts tutorials. The more places you submit your tutorial to—or paste a link to the tutorial hosted on your website—the more you increase your chances of getting seen. You could easily generate leads for months after your tutorial goes live, even if you don’t do anything to your website during that time.
The last method to try is via writing articles on the Internet regarding your type of business. Submitting articles to companies like Associated Content or Digg.com with your name on them establishes you as an authority on your subject and sparks interest in others about the website you’re promoting. The more thought-provoking or informative, the higher hits you achieve and the better your prospects for frequent/returning visitors to your website. Search engines such as Google especially love articles like these, and tailoring your articles for such engines (called SEO, or “search engine optimization”) may increase your visibility in cyberspace; you want to keep keywords in mind, and sprinkle them throughout your article to generate more interest from the search engines.
There are many vendors where you can register a domain name. The prices are fairly consistent and can cost anywhere from $5 - $15 for year. They need to be registered each year, but you can usually pay for several years at a time and get a discount.
In order to get a good idea for a domain name for your business or just for personal reasons, open up a word processing program on your computer and list 10 key words that would be related to the content of your website or blog. For example, if you want to site to be health oriented, list health, herbal, healthy, remedy, cure ... Or let's say you have a house cleaning service, list cleaning, home, vacuum, maid service, ...
One you have your list, get a domain name with at least one of the keywords in the title. You need to do this so that the search engines will find your site. Try to keep the domain name as short as possible. Short and easy to remember is better than long and forgetful. Also, go with the '".com" extension. Most people online expect the website they are visiting to be ".com" so go with the most popular extension.
Take your keyword list and visit "000domains.com". You may not want to register your domain here as there are cheaper alternatives. However, they have a great search domain feature anyone can use. It's on the first page on the site so you can't miss it. Type in one of your keywords and make sure the ".com" extension is checked and hit the search button. You will be given several possibilities for what's available. If you don't see one you like, add short words like "the" or "a" to the keyword. If you still have no luck, click the "more" link to find alternate domain names with your basic keyword included. If you still cannot find one you like, type in your second keyword and continue as before.
If you have a business, you probably want to brand your business name. Examples of brand names are Google and Yahoo. Both of these names are probably made up and don't really need a keyword list. Therefore, if you want to brand, you may not need the keyword list. Instead, you would use your business name. For example, if your business is Empire Lawn Service, type that in the search box to see if it's available. If not, add your small words like "the" and "a" and search. As a last resort, go with the alternate domain names search.
There is nothing preventing you from registering more than one domain name. You could register your business name and several key word domain names. At about $10 a name, it's a good investment
Promoting Your Business Website on the Internet
Tips for Increasing Customer Traffic in Cyberspace
If you have a new website for your business and want to promote it, or you have a website you think is fantastic but the less-than-ideal traffic flow hardly makes it worth the cost of keeping it on the Internet, here are some tips for getting it into the public eye.
First, consider other websites that could benefit from linking to your own, and vice versa. Ask those websites if they would consider doing a “link exchange”, where each of you will put a link on your website to the other’s website. It’s a good way to generate some additional traffic, and most of the people you approach will be happy to comply with your request. If there’s a large number of websites you want to ask, consider sending out a single email to everyone; it saves you both time and energy, and unlike customer mailing lists it doesn’t behoove you to personalize each and every email. Once you’ve put this link exchange into place, if you’ve chosen your affiliates well you should expect to see a slight increase of traffic onto your site.
Next, if you have time and a thick skin you may want to try finding an online message board or other forum with people interested in what you have to offer and post a link to your website. Many forums have rules about doing this, however, so you need to check with that board’s administrator first to assure them your intentions are good and you aren’t a spammer. Many administrators will appreciate you checking with them first, and some may even start a thread sanctioning your post to let visitors know you’re legitimate. Most of the people who visit your site in this fashion won’t ever return, but the increased exposure your website enjoys for free (and in such a short amount of time) is worth the effort.
One method that guarantees customer traffic is the lure of free information, otherwise called “tutorials”. It requires a substantial amount of time and effort on your side, but once the tutorial is created, the positive response you generate will give you all that effort back tenfold. Create a free tutorial based on the subject of your business (i.e. “How To Make Your Company’s Network More Effective” if you run a computer consulting company) and place it on your website or a website that hosts tutorials. The more places you submit your tutorial to—or paste a link to the tutorial hosted on your website—the more you increase your chances of getting seen. You could easily generate leads for months after your tutorial goes live, even if you don’t do anything to your website during that time.
The last method to try is via writing articles on the Internet regarding your type of business. Submitting articles to companies like Associated Content or Digg.com with your name on them establishes you as an authority on your subject and sparks interest in others about the website you’re promoting. The more thought-provoking or informative, the higher hits you achieve and the better your prospects for frequent/returning visitors to your website. Search engines such as Google especially love articles like these, and tailoring your articles for such engines (called SEO, or “search engine optimization”) may increase your visibility in cyberspace; you want to keep keywords in mind, and sprinkle them throughout your article to generate more interest from the search engines.
