Dipti Gore
When you’re starting a new business, your to-do list is a mile long. From deciding what specific goods and services you’re going to offer to more clearly identifying your target market so you know how to best reach them, the life of a new entrepreneur can be stressful to say the least.
With one consumer-internet survey finding that 85 percent of customers use the internet to find local businesses, domain registration is an important task to add to the list. What can you do to make this process as stress free as possible so you can focus on other areas of starting up that need your attention more?
Select the right domain name
For starters, you want to pick the best domain name possible. This is important because, once you start directing people to your site, it becomes harder to change.
Ideally, your domain name will be your business name. That way, it’s super easy for your customers to remember, which makes you easier to find.
However, if it’s a long business name (over the 67 character limit), you may need to shorten certain words or use an acronym. For instance, Bobs Heating and Cooling may be BobsHandC.com or Bay Area Sporting Shop may be BASS.com.
Keep in mind that acronyms work best if you use them regularly in your business. If you don’t, it won’t be easy for your customers to remember.
And if you’re in business by yourself, such as when you’re a freelance designer or a CPA, your domain name may simply be your name or some version of your name (such as first initial and last name or the initials of your first and middle names followed by your last name).
Because there are currently almost 146 million .com and .net domain names (which are two of the most common extensions), you may find that your domain is already taken. Therefore, when trying to decide your domain name, it’s beneficial to come up with a list of 4-5 names that you like before you do a domain search in case the one you want is gone.
Yahoo! Small Business offers an easy online domain search option that will quickly tell you whether the domain you want is available. If it isn’t, you can either approach the current domain owner and ask if they’ll sell it to you or pick another one.
Identify the best registration option
Once you know what domain name you want to register, the next step is to identify your registration options. Several companies can help, so it’s more a matter of choosing the one that works best for your business.
For example, if you’re creating your own website through a free platform such as Wix or WordPress, then that platform will likely register your domain for you. All you do is fill in their template with the requested information and, before you know it, your business is online.
Or, if you have the skills to create or own website or are paying a company to do it for you, then you may go with a known domain registrar. Some even offer bulk discounts when registering multiple domain names, so you could actually purchase all of your startup’s related domain names as a part of an online brand protection policy.
At a minimum, you want to select a company that provides support in case you need help. Preferably, this support should be available beyond standard business hours because, as most new entrepreneurs know, the workday doesn’t start at 9 and end at 5. Not by a long shot.
Although starting a new business can sometimes be a headache, the domain registration process doesn’t have to be. Follow these simple tips and you’ll soon have the best domain for you with very little hassle, and that’s the best kind of domain there is.
(Image Credits: creativehands.ib2d.com)