domain name

You have a great idea. You have chosen an excellent business name. You have created all the concepts and the systems to run your online business to success. You have the team to run the online business.

Next - you have to choose a great domain name. If it’s merely ‘good’, your online business is only half the potential. Period.

Choosing a great domain name is just as important as choosing a great business name. Fail to do so in the first place will damage your business potential.

You might ask, what’s in a name? In business, as well as in our daily life, a name can command respect, trust, and worthiness. Just to make my point, you simply don’t want to name your child Lazy or Stupid, do you?

What to look in a domain name

Having your business name as your domain name is not always a good way to go.

If your business name is Amazing Retail Company selling laptops, choosing AmazingRetailCompany.com might always seem logical to do.

However, in my opinion, this is not the best route to take.

I recommend you to have keywords in it.

What’s in a keyword? Choosing the right one for your online business will almost always guarantee more organic traffic and better position in Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs).

For the above example, I would prefer to choose AmazingLaptops.com than AmazingRetailCompany.com.

Where to look for a domain name for you

I highly recommend you to use domain name suggestion tool, such as AptDomain.name.

I use AptDomain.name to look for domain names with the keywords of my choice. The site will suggest you the domain name filled with the keywords you specify, if any. If yours is available, you can buy the domain name from the site.

[click to continue...]

You have found a great domain name suited for your weblog or website. And the best of all, the dot com name is available! That’s a hard find today :)

Now, your next step is to find the right domain name registrar.

I’ve done domain name registrations with several notable registrars, and for a number of domain names, because I’m actually owning dozens of websites and dozens more of domain names.

In my humble opinion, each of registrar has its own strengths and weaknesses. I have a tip or two for you on how to find a good domain name registrar.

How to find a good domain name registrar

In choosing the right registrar for your domain name, you might want to consider the following:

1. The range of services - does the registrar offer you not only domain name registration, but also other services as well, such as web hosting, SSL certificates, etc.?
2. The reputation - what clients say about the registrar?
3. The price tags - how competitive is the pricing and promo programmes the registrar has?
4. The customer support - how well the registrar handle enquiries?
5. The peace of mind - do you feel ’save’ with the regsitrar?

A recommendation for you

In my search for a registrar to add to my long list of registrar partners, I just found one that stands up above the rest - Triple.com.

No, I’m not their affiliate - yet, and this post is NOT about trying to get you join the Triple.com affiliate program through me :)

However, I honestly did recommend this registrar for two big plus - free privacy protection and visible domain secret key.

Privacy protection is important to protect you from spam and identity theft. Domain secret key is needed to transfer a domain name from one registrar to another.

Most registrars I deal with does offer those services, but they are either not free or treated as ‘hidden’ features (hidden domain secret key - perhaps to avoid customers easily transfer their domain names to another registrar?).

I register a domain with Triple.com today and all I can say is that the registration process is simple and straightforward. No double opt-in registration process, thus speeds up the process in itself.

The control panel is simple yet comprehensive - and as I mentioned above, the domain secret key is visible - easy to take note, and the privacy protection is free (my whois contact info appears as PrivacyProtect.org).

Triple.com also offer other services, such as web hosting and SSL certificates to complement it’s domain name registration services. Just give it a shot and see whether it is the right registrant for you.

Ivan Widjaya
Domaining

I’ve started falsely before and learned the hard way about the importance of domain name for your blogging to make money online.

Like most others, I started out at Blogger.com and Wordpress.com. I love the feeling of starting out of nothing for my make money online journey by blogging - especially if I can earn money out of my blogs.

However, I finally understood that I’m not building assets.

If you blog for money, your blog is a real business - treat it like one

If you are keen to blog for money, you have to realise that, just like other businesses, you have to build both cash flow and asset.

Free-hosted blogging might be a great solution for blogging for cash flow at nothing down, but not for asset building.

Yes, your unique content is yours and it is an asset, but what would happen if your domain name is not? In fact, your domain name is belong to the free blogging service providers.

Just like in the offline world of business, your blog’s asset is not only product (in this case, content) but also brand name - a.k.a. domain name. Not having a domain name is like having a business without a unique brand name.

The proof that domain name is an important asset

Just try to list your blog for sale in online marketplace. No matter how much you make, you won’t get any offer - even you will get scolded by the marketplace visitors! I’ve seen it before, so you can trust me on this :)

One excellent article that also chime the importance of having your own domain name and host the blog yourself is Make Money Blogging: Host Your Blog on a Custom Domain Name.

The blog owner, Alan Liew, really learns the hard way by not having his own domain name. He also states that not only his blog’s domain name belong to Blogger.com, but also he can’t sell the blog if he decided to do so!

That’s really unfortunate, because in my opinion, his blog, Money Maker Info, is one of the better make money online blog out there on the Net - unique and interesting articles, with exceptional income, I suspect ;)

The only action plan - get a domain name, host the blog yourself, and start creating outstanding content

What to do now?

As suggested above - the only action plan is: get a domain name, host the blog yourself, and start creating outstanding content. The rest will eventually come to you as long as you blog consistently and resiliently :)

Ivan Widjaya
Make money online

Dare I quote Shakespeare, “What’s in a name?”

I answer to thee, “A lotta!”

You wouldn’t want to name your son Stupid Jr., would you? Or call your business ISASDY Inc. (I Suck And So Do You Inc.) - pardon my language… but did you catch my drift?

In domaining world, domain names are a precious investment - even some considered as more precious than gold and oil.

Domaining is the business of buying, selling, developing, and monetizing Internet domain name - Wikipedia.org

A person doing domaining business is called a domainer.

Your domain names are your valuable assets considering that they are all TLDs (Top Level Domains - those .com, .net, .org, .info, .us, and others domain name ending) - more valuable than most of you think!

Domaining is a business that is not being talked much on the news - especially considering oil and gold soaring price. But here’s some facts of domain name investing:

The most valuable domain names

According to SoldNames.com, the top 5 all-time most valuable domain names are:

1. Sex.com (sold in 2006 for US$ 14,000,000.00)
2. Porn.com (sold in 2007 for US$ 9,500,000.00)
3. Business.com (sold in 2005 for US$ 7,500,000.00)
4. Diamond.com (sold in 2006 for US$ 7,500,000.00)
5. Beer.com (sold in 2004 for US% 7,000,000.00)
6. To add, the 100th place is MyBlog.com (sold in 2004 for US$ 400,000.00).

Domaining is open for both individuals and businesses

Domaining is for the big boys? Think again. 2 from the top 5 are individual owners (like ol’ you and me in our home office), 1 LLC, 1 Inc., and 1 protected identity owner. A US$ 10.00 domain name registration is considered as a very low investment. But, of course, you can buy a US$ 50,000.00 domain name as a premium domain name investment. The low domain prices relate to high risk of investment failure, while high domain prices relate to low risk of investment failure. Just like our ol’ business world. The market is still open - the question, do you want to learn through trials and errors to get there?

Are domain names more valuable than real estates, gold and oil?

Domain names are unique investments: You can register them as low as US$ 6.00 but I have seen ‘normal’ domain names are being sold for tens thousand of dollar. Ho-hum.

What the main things that make domain investing is better than real estate investing? EACH domain name is unique, whereas a real estate in a complex can share similar attribute and value, regarding the street address. For example, www.mydomain.com and www.mydomains.com are way, way much different in value.

To me, domain names are more valuable than gold, diamond and oil - why? Those valuable commodities are scarce, all right - but domain names are even scarcer. For example, www.domain.com is usually much more expensive than www.domain.net. www.domain.info is less valuable that those two. More example, www.domain.com is considered to be more valuable than www.mydomain.com, because the former is one word domain name and the latter is two word domain name. THIS is what I called ’scarce’

So, surely we can’t compete with those guys raking many valuable domain names, such as business.com, computer.com, travel.com, etc. - wrong! You and I still can enter this unique, lucrative business - I tell you why; Please follow me:

The general rule of thumbs for valuing a domain name are:

1. The number of characters and the number of words
2. The TLD value (the dot value) - .com is more valuable than .net, and so on
3. Domain names containing numerics / hyphens will alter the domain name value
4. Brand recognition and commercial use
5. Market trends and qualitative / abstract industry factor

I highlight number 4 and 5 for a reason - This is where you and I can compete with the big boys. This is the ‘grayest’ area of all - only experienced expert can predict the domain name value, but can’t tell the exact value of it.

For example, nike.com is super-valuable domain name, but you can use sportshoes.com (of course, this is already taken - including most of those words you can find in an English Dictionary, but ‘most’ is not ‘all’ - got it?). eBay.com is a valuable domain name, even more valuable than marketplace.com - Why? Because brand name carries intangible value - brand recognition and commercial use. Marketplace.com doesn’t have the intangible value eBay has. You can create a domain name, visioning a future great company name. Who knows, noobpreneur.com name will receive an offer due to its catchy name? :D

Likewise, if you are one of those trend setter (or, at least, savvy trend watcher), you can ‘predict’ what the good domain names are.

You would say, “Well that’s all interesting, but the .com good names are gone - That’s it, then. No more chance.” I’d say, “Yes the good ones are gone mostly, but (unaware) people will drop their actually good domain names, for any of us to take, and sell it in the future for an unpredictably high price tag. Moreover, there will be new TLDs to be introduced - new TLDs, new investment opportunities.”

What? There are new TLDs?

Domain names today has many TLDs (endings) - .us ,.ca, .name, .biz, .info, .mobi, .eu and many more - the latest, .asia. Like an IPO (Initial Public Offering) of an company going public, a domain name landrush operates just the same. The official, non-profit, domain name system and IP addres space allocation regulatory board, ICANN, will inform the availability of new TLDs - for us to grab. Then, we battle each other neck to neck to bid for the new domain name, if someone else also want the name, too. The highest bidder take control the domain name.

In conclusion, domaining looks like a complicated business - but it’s actually simpler than those conventional investment vehicles - commodities, stocks and shares, and real estates. The challenge is not in the domaining business system itself - domaining is just like arts - If the community think that www.xyz.com is hot, then it is high in value. If people think www.xyz.com is garbage, then it is a garbage with 0 dollar value.

Domaining is a business where barrier to entry is very low (cheap and easy to get a domain names, except for premium domain names - those that has high domain value) and exit is very easy (your domain name is no good? Just forget it and don’t renew it’s registration - simple). Therefore, you can easily make or break in domaining business. Experience and knowledge will determine your success in domaining. I’m a noobpreneur in domaining, and plan to learn and experience more through trials and errors.

Interested in joining me to be a domainer?

If you like, please view my domain name portfolio

Related posts other people has read:

Keen to Invest in US Real Estate? Consider Breckenridge, Colorado

The Declining Real Estate Market Value: Now is the Time to Invest

Choosing the Right Web Hosting Partner for Your Web Business

Where to Leverage Your Money

How to be a Good Bootstrapper-Investor

I’ve been into web design, publishing, and development for many years. Yet, I still in a position to learn the ins and outs of web, particularly with the emergence of social media and web 2.0.

The Internet is no longer the good ol’ place to hang out and share info. Websites and blogs are commercialised. Nothing wrong with that, as I also believe that the Internet is the driving factor of the new economy. There are people make a living (or even a lifestyle) working on the net - as their only source of income.

For the unaware businessmen - behold, the e-Commerce will leave you in the dust. You HAVE to jump into the band wagon NOW. I did, too. Why? According to Paypal, e-Commerce transaction already pass US$ 2 billion mark. Huge numbers. Big opportunities. The market is still wide open for you and me.

Whether you are an entrepreneur looking to explore the lucrative world of the Internet or an avid businessman looking to expand to the Internet, I have one thing for you: start selling with your website, and start evangelising about your business with your blog.

You already have a great product. Now, sell it in your website. Here’s the how-to:

Choose a domain name

Domain name: Web address that usually starts with www.yourgreatbusiness.com (the most common ending - called TLD, Top Level Domain - is the .com… however, you are free to explore other TLDs, such as .us, .ca, .biz, .info, .tv, etc) - suggestion: Never choose other than .com or .net, unless you have strong reasons to do so!

Web hosting company: Your provider of web space. Usually the company have several hosting packages, or even for free. Suggestion: Use web hosting company that guarantee almost 99.99% uptime (meaning, your website is accessible 99.99% of time)

About free domain name and hosting

So many free alternatives out there, but why throw money? location, location, location. Your ‘physical’ location on the net is your domain name (just like your ol’ business address) and web hosting (just like your ol’ leased retail space). You see, location is important. You wouldn’t want put your business address on P.O. Boxes to gain trust. You don’t want your business website address looks like http://mygreatbusiness.otherpeopleweb.com or http://www.otherpeopleweb.com/mygreatbusiness - you’ll want http://www.mygreatbusiness.com. Got it? :)

How to find a good domain name

To get a good domain name, you have to search for it. Usually, a good web hosting company has a feature to search for domain name. If not, just try to look for it in whois.ws, whois.net, etc.

Some tips on good domain name:

1. The shorter, the better. www.abc.com is great, but unfortunately has long been gone… www.mygreatbusinesswithgreatproduct.om is NOT a good idea!
2. Easier to read, the better. www.mygreatbusiness.com is good, but www.my-great-business.com is easier to read. It’s all up to you.
3. Filled with keywords about your business. If you sell Acme biscuits online, you’d name your domain www.acmebiscuits.com or www.deliciousbiscuits.com, rather than www.acmecompany.com.

Choose a hosting package

Next, choose a hosting package. Choose what you WILL need, not what you need it right now. Choose more than enough storage space for your website, and more than enough bandwidth to attract visitors. You would not want for your website to be unable to get more visitors, because your ‘retail space’ is full!

You shouldn’t worry too much about pricing, because nowadays the web hosting competition is so stiff, that prices are low and almost identical.

I suggest you to look for the plans and features you need. For example, I want to establish an online store. Then, I look for a web hosting company that is designed to support e-commerce, to simplify my life :)

If I were you, I will choose web hosting that:

1. Can search domain name
2. Simple registration
3. Easy to reach customer support
4. Have verified testimonials, full of positive words on the service.

There’s there. Hopefully this article helps you look for good domain name and web hosting company. If you want to, you can try IPOWER for reliable hosting and great service.

Related posts other people has read:

How to Start Small but Successful Ecommerce Shop

How NOT to Regret Choosing the Web Hosting Solution for Your Valuable Web Property: A Case Study

How to Find a Good Domain Name Registrar

Web Hosting Review Business: Lucrative?

Choosing the Right Web Hosting Partner for Your Web Business