Choosing and registering a domain name
What's in a name? Quite a bit, as it happens.
While many of the users of this site come via a search engine, enough times I've had to verbally tell people the name of it. It helps if it has a domain name that's memorable, easy to spell, and is unlikely to be confused with another.
When I wanted to launch a site about The Beatles, I wrote a list of all the domain names I wanted. Obviously the best and most obvious ones had gone - such a popular band has thousands of people around the world writing about them, and there are plenty of sites already in existence.
I spent a frustrating couple of weeks checking to see if my preferred name was available. In the end I had about a dozen names I'd have liked but were taken, and four or five that were still available. Some of those were pretty duff - I won't share them with you.
It was important to have a name containing the word 'Beatles'. The Google algorithm ranks sites more highly if the site's domain name relates to its subject. I could have chosen a random song title, but the ranking would have remained less than what it might have been. In the end my choice was www.beatlesbible.com, which reflected the intended scope of the site nicely.
I also registered www.thebeatlesbible.com, as I wanted to stop people mistyping the site into a web browser. This domain name just redirects users to the other.
As a related note, while you can register names of your choosing, you should be wary of infringing someone else's trademark. Cybersquatting has largely become a thing of the past, and many fan sites use variants on tradenames such as Xbox, PS3 and so on.
It really depends on how protective the company is of their brand name. Hopefully Apple Records will see my site as a compliment to The Beatles; I did, however, once read of a site called Beatlelyrics.com, which unsurprisingly contained the words to all the group's songs. Apple not only shut the site down, but they demanded the owner hand over the domain name too. I hope the same doesn't happen to me, and hopefully things have moved on a bit since 2002...
Domain ownership
You only register a name for a year at a time, meaning that you're effectively renting it. When renewal comes up, you must pay for it again or risk losing it. There is a brief re-registering window after your ownership lapses before it comes onto the open market. It's not an ideal system, but it's there.
.com, .org, .net?
The domain name suffix most people go for is .com. It's memorable and has become a standard, and for those reasons is many people's preferred choice.
Of course there are a great many alternatives, and you should go with your personal preference. However, if I was registering a domain name with a non-.com suffix I would always check and see whether there was a .com site with a larger profile. If so, I'd probably avoid it. I used to run a music site with a .net suffix, and many people told me they couldn't understand why they ended up on a site selling carpets after mistakenly typing in the .com variant.
To check availability you can either go with a registration company and see if you can buy it, or just type in the domain name into your browser and see what comes up. If nothing, it's a fair bet that the domain name is available.
(Years ago, there used to be rumours that unscrupulous registration companies would check their logs to see what names people were thinking of buying, and then snap them up if they hesitated. I haven't a clue if that's ever been the case or not, but if it has I wouldn't want to fall victim to it.)
Once you've decided on your name
If your chosen name is free, I'd advise leaving it for a short while to make absolutely sure it's right for you. You don't want to be saddled with an unsuitable site name, and switching to a new one at a later date can cause a massive drop in your search enging ranking.
But if you've found one you're happy with, and want to stick to it, go ahead and grab it. Don't leave it too long if it's available, because someone else out there may be having the same thoughts as you!
Tags: domain names