What is a domain name?
• It is a name (web address) for an IP address (Internet Protocol), but more user-friendly. The domain name is more user-friendly than a set of numbers separated by periods.
• User-friendly way to locate websites on the Internet.
Domain name considerations:
• You either have a company name and you want that company name as your domain name.
• If you have the flexibility to create a domain name, make sure to try and get a .com, though it is harder nowadays
• Make it easy to spell out, try and stay away from hyphens and weird combinations of multiple letters
• Try to get a domain name under 10 characters
• Doesn't have to be related to your business but memorable
• Before you choose a name, do keyword research to uncover some options related to your seed keyword
Finding a name:
• coolnameideas.com is a good website to check for domain names
this site drills down or filters by asking you questions about your company or organization
The Best registrars:
• GoDaddy.com (though you have to be careful of all the upsells, transferring is easy to do, DNS management is quite simple)
Things to watch out for:
• Use a real email address as this is the address they will use to remind you of renewals
• Buy the maximum time so you don't have to worry about it
• If someone else purchases your domain on your behalf, make sure you have the domain registered in your name. Check Whois.net to ensure you are the registrant.
• Make sure no one holds a trademark for the domain name you want
What about alternative TLDs?
• .com is the best for commercial website, country origin or country target audience like .ca or .uk can work well
• .biz, .rocks, .co are unique but can easily get mistaken, if people are used to searching for .com