When you choose to establish yourself with a credible website provider such as iPage, you’ll want to secure a domain name that reflects your business and brand. Before we get into a few guidelines to follow when choosing your domains, it’s important to understand the types of domains available. Here’s the basic explanation:

As you may have noticed, domain names (also referred to as a ‘url’) end with different extensions: .com, .net, .org.  The most common web domain name extension is the ‘.com’, followed by ‘.net’.  The ‘.org’ extension is used for non-profit organizations and is not recommended as a business extension. The most popular extensions are grouped together and referred to as TLD’s (or top-level domains).

Here’s a tip: When choosing your first domain name for your business, we recommend going with one of the TLD’s. This will ensure that your domain name seems professional, reputable, and a “force to be reckoned” with on the web. We recommend looking into some of the more unique extensions available when you’re ready to expand upon your arsenal of domain names.

If your ideal domain name is not available in a TLD, consider changing the domain name up a bit in order to secure one of those popular extensions. Then use the perfect domain name you have in mind with a lesser popular, but available extension.

Choose Your Domain Name

Although .com is vastly used, as mentioned above, availability does become an issue — and you’re likely going to run into limited options when it comes to new domain names searches. That said, on Google search engines, the .com extension is the preferred extension. It’s more widely accepted than .net extensions. So like we said, don’t be afraid to get creative with your domain name in order to get that .com or other TLD.

Need help? Make use of a search company such as WhoIs.com to see what domain names are available. You can check your preferred domain names first so you’ll know if you need to get creative. Not sure how to do that? Here’s an example: Robert Smith owns a plumbing business and his top choice for his first domain name is ‘SmithPlumbing.com’. Unfortunately for him, that was taken. So he tried ‘SmithPlumb.com’ and was able to lock down an equally awesome domain for his business website.

Something you should know…there are companies on the internet that purchase domain names in bulk. And they may try to ‘sell’ you the domain name that you really prefer. Try not to fall prey to these companies as they typically charge high prices and as long as you come up with a memorable, creative name, it won’t matter that it wasn’t the first pick on your list.

Other tips for choosing a great domain? Keep it short, and stick with alphabetic characters. Lengthy domain names are difficult for people to remember, as are numbers or other characters.

Register Your Domain Name

It’s important for you to register your domain name with official company information. This will require you to have a login and password. Most importantly: do NOT lose this information, as it’s not always easy to retrieve at a later date (without going through a lengthy approval process). Once you’re registered, your company name and data will now officially be available on the internet. Essentially, this means your business is live!

Transfer Your Domain Name to iPage Hosting Company

Once you have the domain name registered and you are signed up with a hosting company, the web host’s customer support team company will need your permission to have the domain name transferred for their use. You can request a transfer at the site of domain registration and they will give you the transfer ‘key’ info that can be supplied to your hosting company.

This process may sound a bit difficult, and it can feel a little stressful when you’re trying to complete the transfer. But it is important because it maintains the security for your domain name. As a basic rule, just remember that when requesting a transfer of a domain, you will need your login and password from the domain registrar you used into order to confirm your identity/ownership of the domain. If you need to transfer a domain, but this still seems to confusing, feel free to give our support team a call and we’ll help walk you through it: 1-877-472-4399

Put Your Domain Name on Everything!

The domain name of your website is the way that people will know you and your business. While your designing your website or having it built, take the time to reorder all of your printed materials, such as business cards (and maybe even letterhead if necessary) to include your domain name. When the website is launched, make sure that you edit your email signatures to include the new domain name. If you have a brick and mortar store, include bag stuffers and posters announcing your new website.

Your new website is a perfect opportunity to reach out to partners, fellow vendors and associates to inform them of your latest venture. If you have an email list of customers, send out a message to let them know the new face of your website and brand.

Pat Yourself on the Back

If you’ve succeeded in locking down a great domain name and/or transferring that name to your web host, don’t forget to congratulate yourself. You have accomplished one of the biggest moves towards making your business an online success. And one thing is for sure, we are impressed!

Here’s to your name and your domain!