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This series of posts is for the person asking “How do I start my own website?”. To begin with: What do you want your website to portray? Thoughtful consideration of your website’s future direction will help you in deciding on the optimum domain name for your site. A well chosen domain is a key component to your website’s success. Hopefully at this stage of the game you already know that Search Engine placement is critical to getting visitors to your website. Among other factors, the domain name you choose will help you in getting to the “top of the charts”.
You have searched for your desired domain name and it turns out someone else has already snagged it. Now what? But you really wanted it badly. Can the domain name still be acquired? It’s Possible. It’s possible, but there are conditions. With some research and hard work you can get the domain name you want even if it is already spoken for. But for now, lets look at some alternatives to getting that domain name you want:
Hyphenated Names One strategy to consider if the domain name you want is already taken would be to hyphenate it, as in turning ricksantiqueshop.com into ricks-antique-shop.com. Is hyphenating the best way to go? Possibly, but maybe not. For example, if the domain name you want is already taken AND well known, most likely this is not a good idea, because most web surfers would likely just type the non-hyphenated version into their browsers and thus could end up at your competitor’s website. Not a good strategy. Word to the wise: keep the domain name as short as possible. The longer the name, especially with dashes in between words, the more likely that potential visitors to your site will enter it incorrectly into their browsers, thus foiling the chances of them visiting your website and costing you customers! So, the shorter the better. But if the name you have chosen is already taken and there is no chance of getting it from it’s owner, and the owner either has no website or a poorly designed one with little traffic, this can be a good strategy in purchasing a name. But be careful: the last thing you want is to cause internet domain name confusion because you have decided on a domain name registration that is so close to a major competitor’s name that you end up losing business to them.
