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There are many do’s and don’ts on domain registration flying around the web.
If you don’t want to spend too much time on those when you need a domain name fast, or you simply can’t remember them all, here’s a quick list of the 4 major rules that will help you save time and money finding a catchy domain name for your website.
Warning: These are the fundamentals and you shouldn’t miss out on any of them. And here they are…
Rule #1: Short
Why short?
Firstly, most people cannot remember long domain name. Secondly, long domain name is prone to typo when people type into their browser.
Some so-called experts said that a domain name should be long so that it clearly speaks out what the website is selling.
Well, this is true. But it may not be desirable because as mentioned earlier, long domain name is hard to remember and prone to typo. Agree?
Hence, as a rule of thumb, you should go for short domain name (like “Yahoo” and “Google”) so that people are more likely to remember your domain name and get on your website again and again and again…
Many people are complaining that it’s hard to get a short domain name nowadays. Well, not true. If you think hard enough and stretch your creativity, you’ll find one. Really.
To help get your creative juices flowing, you can try this: search for “expired domain name” in search engines.
By doing so, you may find the right domain name for your website from the list of expired domain names, if not, you can get some inspiration out of them and come up on your own with a very unique name for your website.
Rule #2: Logical
Two ways: one is to coin a domain name that logically ties in with what your website is selling, another way is to simply make your domain name the same as your company name.
For example, if you sell ebooks online, you should register ebooks dot whatever extension you like (best is dot com since it’s always the first extension that most people try when searching for a website).
Or if your company name is called Example Pte Ltd, you should register “example.com”. Period.
Rule #3: Spell Check
You MUST always check the domain name for any spelling error before you proceed to the order form and buy (register).
Just so you know, many registrars will refund a newly registered domain name if you ask within a few days of registering it.
If you register a domain name wrongly, for instance “exampe.com” (missing the ‘l’) instead of “example.com”, you can ask for a refund as long as you’re within the refund period, which is often around 5 days.
[Note: Some domain registrars may have different qualified period for refund. Hence, it’s advisable for you to check with that particular domain registrar before you register the domain name with them.]
What if you only notice the typo after the refund period? Then too bad, you’ll have to keep the misspelled domain name until it expires (the minimum registration period is one year), whether you like it or not.
You can’t edit the name even in your domain control panel, it’s fixed once registered.
I’m sure you don’t want to waste money on a misspelled domain name you can’t use, right? So don’t take chances. Spending another 20 seconds to make sure your domain name is error-free is a really good bargain.
Rule #4: Register NOW!
There are now more than 360 million registered domain names worldwide, and thousands more are registered every hour.
With that said, if you’ve come up with a good domain name for your website, don’t wait. Register it quickly, in case someone else snaps it up before you do.
So, these are the 4 main basic rules you should always stick to whenever you register domain names. They’ll make life easier for you.