Good Domain Names
By Clare Lawrence 13th September 2003 Clare is the CEO of Discount Domains Ltd a leading UK domain registrar
No matter what domain name you buy its unlikely to be worth $ millions straight away, but with some careful though and preparation you might
maximise your domain names potential.
Using hyphens
Almost every word in the dictionary has been registered already so its more than likely that you will have to register a combination of words. Should you buy a domain name with a hypen in it?
Generally speaking the answer is no. There are several reasons why not.
Describing a domain name with hyphens could be
awkward. Customers have a habit of forgetting the hyphen and typing in the wrong URL. Its a misconception that hyphens improve search engine rankings, the leading search engines now concentrate on content and pay only limited attention to the URL itself.
Consider a ccTLD
There is no evidence that Country Code Top level domains (ccTLDs) are treated differently by Search Engines, though there could be
advantages and disadavantages if your doing business is
regional Submitting your domain to search engines Once you have configured your domain to point to your Web site, you will absolutely need to ensure that search engines are aware of it. If they arent, your page
will receive very few visitors - even if you have managed to find a memorable, snappy domain title
.
This might
be achieved by either directly submiting your URL to the search engines through using a submission service such as the costless submission accomadation
on our page
.
Free submissions
Please be careful when using automated submission tools as the Search engine are penalising sites submitted in this way. Ours is manual for this very reason.
Or by linking your web page
to others, this is the preferred way for search engine to discover new sites.
Ensuring you own your domain
Just because you buy a domain title
doesnt mean you own it. Some less reputable suppliers register domain names in their own title
. You might
see who owns a domain title
by using a lookup call a WHOIS search e.g WHOIS If you look at the registrant details the name here is the legal owner. For example if you enter discountdomainsuk.com you will see the legal owner is us Discount Domains Ltd
Selling your domain name
Is your domain name near to expiry? Do not
let it lapse without offering it for sale first, there are lots of dazzling sites who only charge if your domain sells. You might be pleasantly surprised, domain names have fetched a $1 million before now!
