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10 Reasons You Should Have A Website
Buy Domain Names and Web Hosting
Choose An Effective Domain Name
copyright © by Tricia Morgan, The Digital DivaChoosing a good domain name or website address (URL or Universal Resource Locator) is important. It's like selecting a name for your business. You want a name that's easy to remember and tells customers who you are and what you offer.
Your first choice may be your business name, if it is not too long, such as www.greatantiques.com. If your business name has already been registered by someone else, you can elect to use a different extension. For example, if you want the name www.greatantiques.com but somebody already has that name, you may simply change the .com to .biz, .net, or some other available extension.
Another option is to select a domain name which describes what you do or offer. For example, www.yachtscottage.com was used by a client whose primary business name was not available.
If your business name is long, you might want to use an abbreviation. Example: "Oregon Coast Home and Garden Show" uses www.orchgs.com.
Extensions
All domain names end with .com, .org, or one of many other extensions. The .com name is the most common and most desired, although others are being used more often. The .org extension is primarily used for organizations. The .net extension, while used in the past for Internet businesses, is now used by many others. Newer extensions include .us (United States), .tv and .biz, which are becoming popular. The extension .edu is for educational organizations like colleges. However, your domain name extension doesn't have to indicate the type of business you have.Registering Your Domain
It is best to have your website developer or ISP (Internet Service Provider) register your domain name. Why? some registars may be inexpensive, but limit your ability to make changes to your contact information. This can be a nightmare if you just want to change your contact email address.Some people register a number of domain names and then forget with whom they registered them or cannot remember the user name and password they used to set up their domain account. This can cause problems later.
It is important, however, to have an ISP who doesn't register domain names in bulk. Those who do this often register the domain name but list themselves as the Registrant, which means you'll be paying someone else to own your domain. If that person leaves the company, you may lose your domain name when you want to renew or make any changes. So ensure that the person registering your domain name registers it in YOUR name.
Your best bet is to work with a reliable website developer who can arrange to have your domain name registered.
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