Tag Archives: Business.com Inc.

About 4768 days ago E-Commerce

Name That Domain

After the domain name rush? What’s in a domain name? More than you realize. Getting your own catchy corner in cyberspace can mean the difference between your site being an out-of-the-way pit stop or a prime destination for throngs of surfers. But catchy domains are going fast. Network Solutions alone counted more than 5 million new domain names in 1999 — a 164% increase over 1998. Within two years, predicts one Florida-based Web designer, 100 million domain names will be claimed, and you can bet that the remaining ones will be as out of fashion as betamax.com or vanilla-ice.net. Alarmed because you have yet to register your site? You shouldn’t be. There’s still time to get a creative, marketable name if you act quickly and know where to look. Find Your Domain Type a domain name you’re interested in: Note: This search will take you to the Whois.net Web site. To return to inc.com, use the “Back” button of your browser. Also, once you know that your selected domain name is available, you can register it at any of the following sites: Network Solutions Register.com DomainRegistry.com Buy Domains Think globally, act locally Feeling down because your business has a simple name that someone else grabbed before you even knew there was an Internet? Try including a geographic reference in your name. For example, say your name is “Joe” and your business, “Joe’s Pizza,” is located in New Hampshire. The Web address JoesPizza.com has already been claimed, but “newhampshirepizza.com” is not. You could even take advantage of your address and turn your site into a de facto source of fun facts about the Granite State. Surfers are pleasantly surprised when sites offer more than meets the URL. Geographic references can also be easier to remember than the name of your actual business. For example, Ron Richards and Co., a New England-based wedding band, registered as BostonMusic.com. That’s a smart way to make sure altar-bound couples — who usually screen several musical acts before making a decision — keep them in mind for the big date. An even better choice might be “BostonWeddingMusic.com,” which would help ensure that users know you’re a wedding band and not a music store. Don’t be afraid to go after “.net” and “.org” domains Alternative top-level domains such as “.net” and “.org” aren’t going as fast as “.com,” but are nonetheless good alternatives if available. A common misconception about these is that “.net” is only for network businesses, and “.org” is only for nonprofits. Though they originally identified such organizations, there is nothing keeping you from registering your business with them. Just keep in mind that your users might look for you at a “.com” by default and not find you. If you are lucky enough to find your own “.com,” it’s a smart idea to buy up its “.net” and “.org” versions as well. Owning all three names will make it that much easier for visitors to find your site, not to mention prevent competitors from buying them up and luring users away. Also, keep in mind that seven new domain name registrations will be available for use sometime in 2001, according to NIC.net; the official provider of .com, .net and .org domains. They are: .info .biz .name .aero .museum .coop .pro Of the seven — .info and .name are the only two open to the general public. The other five domains are limited to professionals and professional organizations. Other options include reserving a domain in a specific country. These will give you an address that ends with a two-level code such as “.uk” for Great Britain, “.to” for Tonga, or “.nu” for the Niue Islands. Some countries require you to have a connection to the country, but some smaller countries with cool country codes (such as Tonga and Niue) are open for business. The Norwegian domain registry maintains a complete list. Note that international policy on who can get and register these domains is still evolving, and the Swedes who have grabbed yahoo.nu will probably have to give it up if yahoo.com complains. Now you can register longer names Recently, the powers-that-be in cyberspace decided to more than triple the allowable length of Web addresses to 67 characters in a domain name. Smart entrepreneurs are registering catchy words and phrases that relate to their businesses. For example, JustLikeMomUsedToMake.com is a site for swapping recipes. Another, RainingCatsandDogs.com, is the address of a Florida-based pet store, and is in its own way just as catchy as Pets.com. One way to avoid having a really long domain name confuse users is to use dashes. They also might better your chances at finding that catchy slogan. For example, “rainingcatsanddogs.com” may be registered, but “raining-cats-and-dogs.com” is not. If you do go for a hyphenated name, spend the extra few bucks to grab the unhyphenated version as well, or someone else might take it and confuse the heck out of people trying to find you. Number yourself Don’t forget that you can use numbers in your address. For example, when Fairfax, Va., entrepreneur Frank Borges Llossa was launching a search engine for finding stock photos on the Web, the name “onestopstock.com” was already taken. So he registered 1StopStock.com. A wise choice, especially because many Web directories list sites alphabetically. Having the number “1″ in his address got his site listed first in the stock photography catagories on Yahoo. Everything is for sale OK, so maybe you’ve tried everything we’ve suggested, but that catchy domain name remains elusive because someone already owns it. Few things in the world don’t have a price attached, so it can’t hurt to hunt down the owner (the contact information of people who own domains can be gleaned from any registrar) to see if you can buy it. Of course, you’ll have better luck if you’re going after an uncommon name — or have truckloads of cash to spend. “Business.com” sold for $7.5 million in November 1999. Copyright © 2000 inc.com

About 4889 days ago E-Commerce

Longer Domain Names Are Going Fast ? Are You Missing Out?

On Dec. 16, 1999, Register.com announced it would begin accepting domain name registrations up to 67 characters in length, versus the old 22-character limit. While much of the hype promoting the value of this new service is just that, there are compelling reasons to use long names nonetheless. Consider this top-level domain name and others like it as illustrations of how not to leverage this new freedom: http://www.ourcompanieshavethebestproductsonthemarketIswear.com And while the example above may seem of little value, consider the opportunity for companies whose actual company name is so long that it could not be effectively abbreviated under the old 22-character domain name schema. In practical terms, this new longer domain name may hold some real value for companies (including these Fortune 50 examples below) whose long names lost out to old character restrictions on the Internet. Benefactors include: www.theprudentialinsurancecompanyofamerica.com (38 characters) www.internationalbusinessmachines.com(29 characters) www.statefarminsurancecompanies.com (28 characters) www.morganstanleydeanwitter.com(23 characters) Short, memorable domain names have recently commanded sale prices bordering on the obscene, most recently with “Business.com” selling for $7.5 million in November 1999. “Cybersquatters,” sometimes known as domain name speculators, register available domain names, hoping to resell them for a king’s ransom when somebody wants one badly enough. Now that 67-character domain names are available, these parasites are in full-frenzy mode, snapping up the obvious choices. It begs the question, does a longer domain name have real value for my company? If attaining high ranking in major search engines is a goal of your online marketing plan, pay attention. The availability of longer domain names affords an opportunity to educate online marketers about the value of keywords in the top-level domain. There has been a relevance “boost” reported by search engine positioning consultants in the following spider-based search engines for Web sites whose domain name includes keywords. These include: 1. Excite 2. AltaVista 3. HotBot 4. WebCrawler 5. Google Simply put, if your domain name includes keyword phrases, it will tend to rank higher than Web sites that do not include those keywords in these engines. You may already know that most search engine users do not scroll past the first three pages of search matches after performing a query. If your Web site is not found in the top 10 to 30 matches, your site may as well be invisible. Any edge you can give yourself will pay dividends. Many Web marketers are learning the value of a search engine positioning strategy that includes several domain names. If a Web site contains content on several topics, products, or services, why not break out that content onto separate URLs? Each of those new URLs may be eligible to be listed separately in directories like Yahoo and OpenDirectory as well. There are myriad benefits to breaking your content out into separate and multiple URLs. If your company, Joe Smith Co., sells indoor/outdoor concert speakers, your Web site might have been located at www.JoeSmithCo.com. If you hoped to rank well in the search engines when someone queried “Joe Smith Co.,” you’d be on your way. However, if your company name does not have national brand recognition, you’d be well advised to work toward ranking well on targeted keyword phrase queries instead. Under the previous domain name length restrictions, the best you could’ve hoped for would be a domain name like www.indooroutdoorconcertsp.com (22 characters before the “.com”). Now, with new longer domain names available, you could register www.indooroutdoorconcertspeakers.com or even www.indoor-outdoor-concert-speakers-at-Joe-Smith-Co.com. We recognize that either of those two domain names would be too long for branding purposes (47 characters in the second example!). And we’re not encouraging companies to register such long domain names for their primary company Web site. But remember, domain names are inexpensive, at just $70 for two years. Hosting a Web site is also relatively inexpensive, with some companies charging as little as $25 a month. A top ranking in the major search engines is free. However, just a few top rankings in the major search engines can drive more targeted traffic to your Web site than just about any other online marketing method. A search engine positioning strategy that uses multiple domain names is generally beneficial. The ranking improvement possible will likely pay for the cost of the additional hosting and registration fees. Conclusion There are several valid reasons for implementing long domain names, including long company names and appropriate keyword and phrase inclusion. However, much of the recent, breathless advice on registering long names comes from Web marketing firms that charge you fees based on registering additional domains. Often these companies link to registration companies through their affiliate program, which pays a commission to the referrer. Regrettably, there is as much hype as valuable discourse on this topic. Registering very long domain names containing several of your targeted keywords or phrases such as: www.keyword-and-keyword-phrases-and-yet-another-keyword-phrase.com Probably won’t help you accomplish your search engine positioning goals in the long term. Search engines will likely flag domains that contain more than two dashes, or that contain dissimilar keyword phrases. However, longer domain names that help Web site marketers focus in on a particular product or service that is composed of more than 22 characters may reap considerable benefits. Copyright © 2000 iProspect.com