Choosing a Business Domain Name

Most small business owners recognise they need a company website to display marketing messages to new and existing clients. Potential customers expect to be able to check up on any business before making that all important initial telephone call. Some of these clients, wont know your company exists, until they use a search engine to search for a business like yours, in your local area. Yet many small businesses do not have a website at all! Others business owners who want to get an online presence, struggle to understand the most effective way of choosing, buying and hosting their own business domain name.

Failure to buy the right domain name could give your competitors the opportunity to buy a domain name, that matches your company name or brand identity. So where should you start? and What are the pitfalls of buying a domain name for your business?...

A domain name is a unique Internet web address, made up of alphanumeric characters and dashes. This 'website address' represents an easy to remember friendly name for Internet users to enter the URL (Universal Resource Locator), into any web browser to visit the website. The officially recognised Domain Name System (DNS), maps all domain names to their unique Internet protocol (IP) numbers. These IP numbers are a bit like unique phone numbers, that identify the location of its owner. All domain names end with an extension code (such as .co.uk for UK websites) etc. There are many commercial and technical extensions, as well as geographic extensions to choose from. These assist users in understanding the nature of the domain name, as well as help search engines classify websites according to their contextual elements.

When searching for a domain name, visit a reputable domain name registration company such as Networks Solutions. The first task is to check the availability of the domain you want and see if it has already been bought by someone else. Although domains can be bought and sold over time, they can only have one owner at a time. So if somebody has already purchased the domain name that matches up to your company name, there is not much you can do about it. The online domain name checkers, provide useful similar sounding variations of the name you originally typed in, to create alternative possibilities. Most domain name verification tools, will allow you to narrow down the results by country or top-level domain extension, some by price, number of characters and similar names (based on synonyms).

Ideally, you should buy a domain name which matches your company business name. So if you are a UK based incorporated company, you would probably go for something like yourcompanyname.uk.ltd. or with a .co.uk extension. This provides continuity and avoids confusion for customers who prefer to search by company name and by geography. If that is not available, pick a name that matches you business ethos. Keep it short, straightforward and obvious, while avoiding confusing jargon.

Unless you are an experienced Internet marketer, we would advise against purchasing a domain that matches a extraordinarily long industry phrase or generic search term. However, if you do go down this route, you may find it harder than you think to get the name you really want. Virtually all popular two and three-word phrases, used in the English language, have already been purchased. Some purchases have been by individuals or businesses for valid reasons. Most other names have been bought up en mass by alleged 'cyber squatters'. Most are now either being actively re-sold in the secondary markets. Lastly, avoid costly, stressful and time-consuming legal disputes, by not cheekily purchasing web addresses that are obviously nothing to do with your company or brand, trademark or other intellectual property - you are asking trouble.

When you have chosen the domain name, you can go online and order that domain name in minutes. Discounts are usually offered for longer registration durations (standard options being 1 year, 3 years, 5 years and so on). Be extremely careful which domain name provider you request it from. Avoid going through 'cheap and cheerful' domain name resellers. Many resellers have 'transfer fees' buried in their small print, and their overall customer services capabilities are equally sub-standard. Try Network Solutions as one of the largest and most reputable domain name registration companies in the world.

During the purchasing process, you will have to decide which contact details you are going to expose to public scrutiny. These will appear on the 'Whois' database services in the 24 hours following registration. Using any of the free whois database services your competitors (and anybody else), will know that you now own the business domain name, when the domain was first registered, where it is hosted now, and the name of the registrant. You may wish to keep your company or personal contact details 'Private'. However, search engines assume that you have something to hide if the company has to hide its own contact details. If you fail to keep your contact details up-to-date, there is a possibility that in years to come, the automated renewal reminder is sent to an old email address. Many domain names expire because their owners forget to renew them and eventually lose their entire company website!

Remember to purchase the URL in the name of the company, using the company credit card. Do not your own name personal credit card otherwise your company will not legally own the domain. This avoids disputes about ownership, and unnecessary transfers which may affect your future search engine rankings.

During the registrant sign up phase, it is likely the registrar will offer you the ability to host your new domain on their servers. We would advise against this. There are other factors to consider when hosting your company website. Read our guide to small business hosting to know more. Your new hosting company should give you with instructions of how to transfer the domain name servers (DNS), from the registrant and point them towards the hosting company's own web servers. They will usually ask you for a primary and secondary DNS or IP numbers. You can usually do this yourself from control panel located within your account at the registrant's website.