Point your website in the right direction!
Now that you have decided to enter the online community, it is time to select your address. Think of your domain name as an online calling card to your business. The rules for selecting a domain name are a little different than selecting a business name and the two do not necessarily have to be the same.
Get the .com no matter what 
There are so many extensions out there like .info, .net, .biz, etc that you may be tempted to register something other than the dot com. Please make sure that you register the .com. This is extremely important no matter what industry you are in. If you are an educational site or non-profit, you will of course want to register a .edu or .org, but also register the dot com. I have several dot com domains that recieve traffic because the business owner chose to only use a secondary extension like .info. When I see that happen, I will register the dot com and place a few good ads on the page. In essence, they are sending ME their customers!
What if the .com extension is not available?
If the .com is not available - then keep looking. Otherwise your promotional efforts are likely to benefit someone else. We have done countless studies to observe online behavior and the findings are overwhelming. Imagine that you are speaking to a potential customer on the telephone and tell them to go to your website at www.mysite.NET. Guess what they are going to do - they will go directly to mysite.COM and you have just lost a customer. In other words - always, always, always register a dot com domain name. It is ok to register a .net or .info, but just make sure to get the .com as well.
Consider keywords when selecting a domain name
This is where your online strategy can differ from your real world strategy. Consider the following examples:
Business Name = Discount Insurance Connection
Domain Name = www.sr22quotes.com
*note - discountinsuranceconnection.com is also registered but the above name is more keyword focused. This is the type of domain name that can serveas an advertisement for itself. The domain name says who, what, when and where.
Business Name = High Recall Advertising
Domain Name = www.mygamephotos.com
*note - highrecall.com is also registered but the company has a very diverse product line. Since business cards are distibuted at sporting events, it was important that the domain name be fitting. It all ties in very nicely plus "game photos" is a good phrase for search engine optimization.
The domain names above are entirely different from the actual company name. In each case - the companies actually own several domain names and use them in different ways.
Registering multiple domain names
It is a good idea to think about how you plan to use your domain name. Will it only be on your business card and yellow  page ad? Or do you plan to some day do internet marketing? Think about how it will sound when you say your domain name on the telephone. If it is really long or hard to spell you may want an additional domain name. If it sounds one way but can be spelled several different ways it can cause confusion. EZ or easy, ate or 8 or eight? If you work hard to generate web traffic, don't make it hard for the user to find you.
Another Example
An insurance agency with a primary domain name of www.texbarnesinsuranceagency.com realized that the url became difficult for people to spell without making a mistake. The strategy was to create an additional domain that was pointed to the same location. So when directing people to the website on the telephone, they now just say "go to texbarnes.com". Since both domain names are in use, it is easy to determine from the analytics where the site visitors are coming from. If they enter from the short url, then it is obvious that they were directed verbally.
Why does your email address matter?
Having a domain based email address is much more proffessional that brian@yahoo.com. Your email address says alot about you and can be an effective form of promotion for your company. Make sure to consider how your email address will look and sound. It is quite possible that you may register a domain name just for the sole purpose of creating email addresses. When we send an email to someone that is not familiar with us we will use subject@TacticalWebSolutions.com. Immediately you are able to determine what it is that we do. If someone verbally asks for our address because they want to send us something, we may give them person@TacticalWebs.com just to make their life a bit easier.
How to find an available domain name
Good domain names are still available. You may be suprised and it is very easy to see if your domain name is available.
Go here to search for domains
Need Expert Domain Help?
I consider the domain name to be the cornerstone of the online marketing strategy. By itself, it is only a small piece of the overall puzzle. But you can combine an effective url with other elements like search optimization, viral traffic generation, and email marketing for a very successful website. For a free consultation regarding domain name selection just give us a call at (573)339-5730.
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Domain Registration
