Wednesday, July 14, 2010

at 10:22 AM Posted by suresh 0 comments

What is the Domain Redemption Period?

The redemption period is a Domain Registry period of up to 30 days that occurs when a domain name is deleted after having expired unrenewed. Instead of just getting deleted and returning to the pool of domain names available for registration, the existing registry keeps a hold on the domain name in a what is technically called as REDEMPTION PERIOD. During this 30-day redemption period, the original domain registrant (owner of the domain) is allowed to retrieve the domain name from deletion by contacting their Registrar. This process costs an additional fee.

This extra 30-day period - redemption period - extends the time available to renew expired domain names by 30 days. However, all names that enter the redemption period are removed from the zone files in the global DNS, as a result, any Web site or email services associated with the domain name gone into redemption period will stop working and would appear offline.

Pending Delete Phase

In addition, after the 30-day redemption period there is a 5-day Pending Delete Phase. When a domain is in Pending Delete Phase, no one is allowed to renew the domain and it cannot be yet registered because its still not returned to the public domain pool. After the 5-day Pending Delete Phase the Registry will release the domain name back into the public pool of available domain names enabling fresh registration.

Renew domain before redemption phase

It is strongly recommended that you renew your domain registration in time before the domain name is placed in redemption lock because once its placed in redemption, the zone files of such domain gets automatically removed from the Domain Name Service and associated website and email etc services will cease to work.


SOURCE:http://www.cyberindian.com/domain-registration/article.php?article_id=185

at 10:06 AM Posted by suresh 0 comments


In the domaining business, one of the most frequently asked questions is, "how to buy domains that end users will recognize as being profitable?

It is not uncommon for some newbie domain investor to spend hours searching for the perfect domain name to register. Then when they stumble on free to register names that they feel are as good as the next Google - their heart start beating.

They whip out their credit cards and buy the domains, sure that within a short period of time, they will be able to resell the names for profit.

But for many newbies, that initial burst of enthusiasm fades fast as no one even signal interest in any of the names.

If this describe your experience, here is how to buy domains that will be more valuable than the ones you bought in the past:

1. In general - stay away from brandable names. It is important that you buy a name that an audience will understand as soon as they see it.

These kind of names tend to have the keywords in them and people are typing in that keyword in the search engines. These types of names, would be more valuable to an end-user

2. When you are just staring in the domaining for profit business - go easy on the number to names you buy. Read the domain name forums and read Dn Journal and find out what type of domains are moving.

3. From point #2, you should haves saved some money rather than throwing money at rubbish names.

Take some of that money and search through some of the names being sold at Snap Names. You could find some real gems there for as low as $69.

Sure, you can find a good free to register name for $10. But remember, the advanced domainer scan numerous names on a weekly basis so finding that great $10 domain name is getting harder.

Again, when you go to Snap Names - look for domains that have the keywords in them.

4. Avoid long buying long domain names or names with hyphens.

5. Buy only.Coms. Until you know more about the industry, avoid dotnet, dotbiz, dotinfo and the country extensions such as dotpk (Pakistan), dotin (India) etc.

You have a greater margin of error if you register only dotcoms.

Conclusion:

Knowing how to buy domains for profit is a skill that will improve with time. Read up as much as you can about the industry and learn from your mistakes.

If you want to get a good jump start into the business, only buy domains from websites that have waded through the crappy names and only offering the gems.


SOURCE:http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Buy-Domains-Names-That-Are-Valuable&id=4648652

at 10:06 AM Posted by suresh 1 comments


In the domaining business, one of the most frequently asked questions is, "how to buy domains that end users will recognize as being profitable?

It is not uncommon for some newbie domain investor to spend hours searching for the perfect domain name to register. Then when they stumble on free to register names that they feel are as good as the next Google - their heart start beating.

They whip out their credit cards and buy the domains, sure that within a short period of time, they will be able to resell the names for profit.

But for many newbies, that initial burst of enthusiasm fades fast as no one even signal interest in any of the names.

If this describe your experience, here is how to buy domains that will be more valuable than the ones you bought in the past:

1. In general - stay away from brandable names. It is important that you buy a name that an audience will understand as soon as they see it.

These kind of names tend to have the keywords in them and people are typing in that keyword in the search engines. These types of names, would be more valuable to an end-user

2. When you are just staring in the domaining for profit business - go easy on the number to names you buy. Read the domain name forums and read Dn Journal and find out what type of domains are moving.

3. From point #2, you should haves saved some money rather than throwing money at rubbish names.

Take some of that money and search through some of the names being sold at Snap Names. You could find some real gems there for as low as $69.

Sure, you can find a good free to register name for $10. But remember, the advanced domainer scan numerous names on a weekly basis so finding that great $10 domain name is getting harder.

Again, when you go to Snap Names - look for domains that have the keywords in them.

4. Avoid long buying long domain names or names with hyphens.

5. Buy only.Coms. Until you know more about the industry, avoid dotnet, dotbiz, dotinfo and the country extensions such as dotpk (Pakistan), dotin (India) etc.

You have a greater margin of error if you register only dotcoms.

Conclusion:

Knowing how to buy domains for profit is a skill that will improve with time. Read up as much as you can about the industry and learn from your mistakes.

If you want to get a good jump start into the business, only buy domains from websites that have waded through the crappy names and only offering the gems.


SOURCE:http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Buy-Domains-Names-That-Are-Valuable&id=4648652

at 10:05 AM Posted by suresh 0 comments

When starting up a website there are some basics that one cannot avoid, such as choosing domain name and getting in contact with a domain name registrar. We know that there is a lot to think about and it is only natural to feel a bit confused at times. Not only will you have to find a top domain name - you will also have to consider things such as regulations, rights and strange abbreviations. To help you we thought that it might be a good idea to explain it all to you and make sure that you are not wasting any time on figuring it all out.
Domain Names

One of the most important things you will have to do when starting a website is to pick a domain name. It for sure is not the easiest thing to do, as most good ones already are taken, and it is at the same time something that can make or break your business. A domain name is a unique name that usually offers a public service as the World Wide Web or e-mail. Originally it is a numeric IP Address, but the DNS (Domain Name System) translated into IP addresses into alphabetical letters. Having an alphabetical address instead of a numerical makes the site easier to find for visitors.

So, how does one know what domain names are up for grabs? You can use a domain searcher such as our very own domain search - simply type in the name that you want. You will immediately find out if the domain name is taken or not. If the domain you want is already taken, you will get a list of names that could be of interest to you. GoDaddy and similar domain registrars work in a similar way. One difference is that if you go directly to a registrar and the domain name already is taken you could possibly obtain it anyway with the help of a "Domain Buy Agent." These agents will look up and contact the owner of the domain and make them an offer to sell it.
More about DNS

The Domain Name System was created in 1983 and it translates numbers into letters and meaningful domain names for us humans. One can say that the DNS is the phonebook of the Internet. Ít also makes sure that the readable names are translated into the abstruse IP addresses, which the computers need to communicate with each other.

Apart from allowing you to easily surf the Internet will the Domain Name System also make sure that all of your e-mails find its way to the inbox. In other words, a stabile DNS is necessary for companies wanting to work effectively and that wants everything to run smoothly.
Generic Top Level Domain

All domain names end with a top level domain name, which consists of a short set of letters (usually 2 or 3). The generic TLDs are the most common and they were set in 1984.


Since then many more have been added, for example .net and .info. The most common TLD, .com, is unrestricted but it was originally meant for commercial organizations. For the time being, new registrations are limited to a set of generic TLDs but ICANN recently approved of a new generic top level domain program which could allow a company to register under any gTLD. For example, this would allow Google to apply for .google or Yahoo for .yahoo.

Country Code Top Level Domain

Every country has a top level domain name that is reserved for them. A country code top level domain is often abbreviated ccTLD. All ccTLD's consists of two letters and they are created and delegated by the IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority).


SOURCE:http://www.webhostingsearch.com/articles/domain-names-and-registrars.php

at 10:04 AM Posted by suresh 0 comments

The Internet domain market has become more and more lucrative in the past few years. Almost all companies as well as many individual people these days have websites, and most would prefer their websites to be immediately recognizable. Domain names tell people what websites are about, and this can be a big plus when someone is doing a search and looking for something specific.

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Although almost anyone can have a free website through his or her Internet provider, the addresses of these websites will usually contain the name of the provider first, and then whatever name the user chooses for the website. For example, if your Internet provider is called ABC Internet, and you build a website using the web space that your provider gives you, you may want to name your website "yourshop". Though you would prefer the website to simply be called yourshop.com.

Businesses, and many people, prefer their website names to be succinct and to the point. This is where domain name buyers and sellers come in. No two people can use the exact same domain name - domain names are registered to owners - therefore, every time someone wants to give a website a certain name, he or she must first do a search to see if that domain name is already taken. If the domain name is taken, then he or she can check to see if it is for sale, and possibly buy it from whoever owns it.

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It becomes clear, then, that buying and selling domain names can be quite lucrative if done properly. The more registered domain names you own and are willing to sell, the more money you can make from people who want to use them. If you are interested in buying and selling domains, however, you must first do a little research. If you own several domain names, but they aren't ones that most people would be interested in using, then you are sitting on inventory that isn't going to move – and this inventory costs you money. Domain name registrations need to be renewed periodically, and this always involves a fee. To actually make money selling domain names, you need to own names that are popular. If you own a domain name called "JustSomeStuff.com", there probably isn't going to be a big market for it. If, however, you own a domain named called "Plumbing.com", you may find that more people are interested in using this name.

The most popular method that people use to make money from selling domain names is to become a domain name reseller through a domain name registrar. Using this method, you buy and register available domain names from a licensed registrar at wholesale prices, and then you can turn around and sell these domain names for a profit. Licensed registrars usually welcome this type of business transaction, as it drums up more business for them, since the resellers provide most of the advertising. Many large domain name sellers are actually resellers for even larger domain name registrars. This type of business relationship is common.


SOURCE:http://www.articlesbase.com/domain-names-articles/make-profit-from-buying-and-selling-domain-names-plr-articles-2827047.html

at 10:02 AM Posted by suresh 0 comments

Promoting your business throughout the Internet has become crucial concept in the 21 century marketing. If there is anyone that hasn't heard of Website submission or doesn't submit URLs by now, then that person must have been either hiding in a cave, or not working in the industry field.

Any website submission campaign is launched and maintained in order to gain some benefits for your business. As a business person, a site owner or a webmaster, you clearly need to be aware of all the benefits offered by a Website submission before taking a final decision. There are two major reasons that worth being mentioned in order to convince just about any business owner to submit URL to a web directory. There reasons relate to targeted traffic and link popularity.

To submit URL to a web directory, for instance momapproved.org, means actually to submit your website address to the web directory you chose in order to promote and advertise your website. Web directories have been built for one purpose only: to provide promotional help to other websites. Put in other words, Web directories are a list of links to other sites. So, if you expect to continue receiving good quality traffic to your website or you want to make your site known, the best way is to submit URL and be listed in a web directory.

The number of people using the internet is increasing by the second, which should make happy any internet business owner. That is another key-reason in favor of website submission, and not only to one web directory but to as many directories as possible. The more website submissions, the more links pointing back to your site and the more likely to be noticed by people visiting the web directory. With a right description of your site and correct tags and meta-tags, the link to your site won't be ignored and, moreover, the probability to be found by powerful search engines winds up considerably.

Website submission is quite easy to be done, not requiring advanced IT knowledge. Usually, you need to look for a "suggest a site" or "suggest a link" type of clue and simply follow the instruction specified. Most of the directories webmasters choose to post forms for a standard website submission. And many of the host web directories are free of charge, although the most indicated and more reliable are those who ask for at least an annual subscription fee or a PPC way of payment (pay per click).

In order to submit URL, it is very important to choose the correct category and sub-category (if available) to be listed under. Many directories reserve the right to reject the website submissions which have not been correctly categorized. It worth knowing that subdomains and deep-linking must not be submitted since they are not allowed. If you do this, the sites will be deleted without notice, so everything will be a loss of your time. The correct URL or domain name and a concise description of your site are also mandatory.


SOURCE:http://www.simplysearch4it.com/article/49921.html

at 10:01 AM Posted by suresh 0 comments

A domain name is an identification label that defines a realm of administrative autonomy, authority, or control on the Internet, based on the Domain Name System (DNS).

Domain names are used in various networking contexts and application-specific naming and addressing purposes. They are organized in subordinate levels (subdomains) of the DNS root domain, which is nameless. The first-level set of domain names are the top-level domains (TLDs), including the generic top-level domains (gTLDs), such as the prominent domains com, net and org, and the country code top-level domains (ccTLDs). Below these top-level domains in the DNS hierarchy are the second-level and third-level domain names that are typically open for reservation by end-users that wish to connect local area networks to the Internet, run web sites, or create other publicly accessible Internet resources. The registration of these domain names is usually administered by domain name registrars who sell their services to the public.

Individual Internet host computers use domain names as host identifiers, or hostnames. Hostnames are the leaf labels in the domain name system usually without further subordinate domain name space. Hostnames appear as a component in Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) for Internet resources such as web sites (e.g., en.wikipedia.org).

Domain names are also used as simple identification labels to indicate ownership or control of a resource. Such examples are the realm identifiers used in the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), the DomainKeys used to verify DNS domains in e-mail systems, and in many other Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs).

An important purpose of domain names is to provide easily recognizable and memorizable names to numerically addressed Internet resources. This abstraction allows any resource (e.g., website) to be moved to a different physical location in the address topology of the network, globally or locally in an intranet. Such a move usually requires changing the IP address of a resource and the corresponding translation of this IP address to and from its domain name.

Domain names are often referred to simply as domains and domain name registrants are frequently referred to as domain owners, although domain name registration with a registrar does not confer any legal ownership of the domain name, only an exclusive right of use.

This article primarily discusses the group of domain names that are offered by domain name registrars for registration by the public. The Domain Name System article discusses the technical facilities and infrastructure of the domain name space and the hostname article deals with specific information about the use of domain names as identifiers of network hosts.


SOURCE:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_name

at 10:00 AM Posted by suresh 0 comments

When I looked into domain name auctions, I found many, many domain names up for auction, but very few with any bids posted. You'll find many domain names on eBay.com, but probably not those of the more serious domain name sellers. There are many other domain auction and brokerage sites that you can find at Yahoo!'s "Domain Registration/Brokerages" section; however, two domain name auction sites stand out: Afternic.com and GreatDomains.com.

Afternic.com logo Afternic.com http://www.afternic.com is my first choice. The site has a clean design. While you can browse without registering, a standard membership is free and allow more features. To engage in transactions you must purchase an Exchange Membership for $5. In addition to a Buyer's Guide and Seller's Guide, you can ask to have your site appraised by other members, participate in discussions on domain name value, see the latest domain name industry news, and search the auction for desirable names. A member's interface allows you to keep track of domain names you own, are auctioning, or are tracking. Auction and escrow fees: buyer pays $50 on sales under $1,000 or 5% on sales over $1,000.

GreatDomains.com logo GreatDomains.com. http://www.greatdomains.com No charge to become a member. Site appraisals by GreatDomains are $75 and based on actual sales of comparables. Auction and escrow fees: No charge for listings (though you can pay more for better exposure on the site), but seller pays 10% of the sales price plus $250 for escrow fees to properly transfer the registration. GreatDomains.com also provides fee-based escrow services for either brokered or private transactions to ensure payment of funds and proper transfer of the domain.


SOURCE:http://www.wilsonweb.com/wmt5/domain-auctions.htm

at 9:59 AM Posted by suresh 0 comments

Believe it or not, even thieves are already high-tech these days. Browsing the net and reading through online forums, I came across a startling story about how thieves have found their way to infiltrate the world wide web. I read about a lady who was planning to put up a web page of her own. As the normal process dictates, she first thought of a domain name for her website. She chose her own name and had it checked in CNet Domain Search page for domain registrations and found out that it is very much available. A couple of days later, she checked it again and was shocked to discover that her name is already taken. She found out that her name is already a domain name registered to a firm with the name Chesterton Holdings.

The helpless lady brought the matter to the attention of Larry Seltzer, a columnist of eweek.com and a staunch critic of cyber crimes. Larry Seltzer investigated the matter himself. He checked the website whose domain name is that of the lady's. He immediately came to a conclusion that firm who "owns" the website and its domain name is a domain squatter, one among many domain squatters scattered all over cyberspace. Seltzer saw that the website is full of advertisements all domain squatters are associated with. He even claimed that the advertisements were syndicated through information.com. In Seltzer's column in eweek.com, he followed the next events regarding the theft of the lady's domain name. He reported that after a number of days, Chesterton, the bogus owner, has already let go of the stolen domain. He said this could have been prompted by the low hits or very few visits the site had. Apparently, silly domain squatters do not stay long in a domain, which is not lucrative for them. Squatters are somehow wise, at least in that sense.

The question that was immediately formed in my mind that Mr. Seltzer also posted, is how in the world was Chesterton able to register someone else's name to be its domain name? Moreover, why was the squatter allowed or given the permission to have ownership of a domain that is obviously not theirs? Anyway, I think my questions are unanswerable as of the moment. Even big companies and other established domain owners cannot exactly explain how domain theft is being successfully done. I bet you have also heard of the stealing of panex.com's domain. Well, if you have not, the bottom line is that even the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), whose mandate is to police the world wide web, failed to fully account the culprit behind the theft.

Curious about how rampant domain theft is, I made a little cyber investigation and probed on my own. I logged on to search.com, a property of CNet domain, and searched for the availability of my own name. I guess you've already guessed the result. Yes, my own name is already a registered domain name. With whom is it registered? Bingo! It is with Chesterton Holdings. My possible domain is already stolen. But I am confident the squatter will leave sooner than I think. My name is unpopular nor does it sound good to generate thousands of hits and visits. There is no way that notorious domain thief can make profit out of my unpopular name.

Though my stolen (domain) name is not much of a big fuss for me or for others, domain theft is an issue of great concern for other web owners. It is alarming that theft incidence can happen so easily and victims cannot do anything to account for the theft done.

Who is behind this syndicated theft? I do not think we can answer right now. Who is to be blamed for the proliferation of cyber thieves? We can go on pointing fingers but still not quell domain theft. I guess the only question we can answer as of now is who is already registered in a particular domain and who is not -- thanks to whois, a *querying database*. Whois is a transmission control protocol(TCP)-based query or a response protocol. It is utilized to identify the owner of a domain name, an IP address, or an autonomous system number on the internet. But then, it is also very probable that domain squatters are using whois to know which domain, in the form of people's real names, can they squat in.

Domain theft and squatting is really a complex and alarming matter. This issue is a concern for current domain owners but more so to those planning to put up a website. This issue is most especially pertinent to those who are planning to put up an online business and use a website for marketing. I guess the best that people can do is to seek only the services of trusted web servers and hosts for domain registrations to ensure the security of their domain.


SOURCE:http://www.selfseo.com/story-18916.php

at 9:56 AM Posted by suresh 0 comments

Your Domain Name Should Be Your Website Name

Naming your site after your domain may seem obvious to some of you, but you'll be surprised to learn that not every website is named after the domain name even when the webmaster owns that domain name.

Naming a site after its domain name is important, for the simple reason that when people think of your website, they'll think of it by name. If your name is also your URL, they'll automatically know where to go. For example, when people think of thefreecountry.com, they don't have to wonder what URL to type into their browser to get there. The name of the site is also the URL.

Imagine if your business (or website) is called "Acme", but somebody else holds that domain name. Instead, you have some obscure domain name called, say, "mybusiness.com". What happens when your customers, recalling that Acme has a product they want, type "www.acme.com"? They'll end up at your competitor's website. One lost sale.

In the modern world of the Internet, where people automatically turn to the Web for information, it pays to have a domain name that reflects your site or business. There are just fewer things for your customers or visitors to remember. Moreover, you don't seriously think that they'll try to memorise an unrelated URL just because you want them to, do you? The only people who'll memorise it are you and your competitors who want to compare your prices.

What if you cannot get the domain name of your choice? It really depends on how committed you are to that particular name. If you have an existing brand name that you're known for, you'll probably not want to ditch that name just because you couldn't get the domain name. After all, it took you a lot of time and money to establish that name. If so, you might simply want to try to buy over the domain name from the current owner. Check up the "whois" information for the domain, and contact that person listed to see if they're willing to sell it. You probably should be aware that they are likely to want to charge a higher fee than you'll normally get when buying new domains (assuming they want to sell it in the first place).

On the other hand, if you're just starting out, you might prefer the cheaper alternative of trying to obtain a domain name first, and then naming your website (or business) after the domain that you've acquired. So if you've acquired, say, the domain name "acme.com", then your website and business might be named "Acme" or "acme.com". I know this seems a bit like putting the cart before the horse, but that's the reality if you don't want to lose out on the Internet.
Generic Names Or Brand Name Domains?

I know that a number of people seem to think that your domain name really must be some generic name like "cars.com" if you are selling cars. Witness, for example, how much money those generic names are being sold for. But seriously, if you were looking for a car, you'll probably already have some brands in mind, and you're more like to try out things like generalmotors.com or toyota.com rather than just cars.com.

For that reason, I personally feel that a domain name that matches your brand name is very important. The very name that you use to advertise your product is the name that you will want for your domain, because that is the first thing that people will try in their browser. It is also the easiest thing for them to remember, and whatever that is easily remembered, will be more likely to be tried out than the obscure domain name.
Long or Short Domain Names?

Domain names can be of any length up to 67 characters. You don't have to settle for an obscure domain name like avab.com when what you mean is AcmeVideosAndBooks.com.

Having said that, there appears to be some disagreement about whether a long or short domain name is better.

Some argue that shorter domain names are easier to remember, easier to type and far less susceptible to mistakes: for example, "getit.com" is easier to remember and less prone to typos than "connecttomywebsiteandobtainit.com".

Others argue that a longer domain name is usually easier on the human memory - for example, "gaepw.com" is a sequence of unrelated letters that is difficult to remember and type correctly, whereas if we expand it to its long form, "GetAnEconomicallyPricedWebsite.com", we are more likely to remember the domain name.

Some of these arguments are actually academic. It's increasingly difficult to get short meaningful domain names. I have not checked, but I'm fairly certain that names like "getit.com" and "good.com" have long been sold. If you manage to get a short domain name though, the key is to make sure it's a meaningful combination of characters and not the obscure "gaepw.com" in my contrived example above.

Long domain names that have your site keywords in them also have an advantage in that they fare better in a number of search engines. The latter give preference to keywords that are also found in your domain names. So, for example, if you have a site on free C++ compilers with a domain name like freecpluspluscompilers.com, it might fare better in a search for "free C++ compilers" than my other site, thefreecountry.com.

Which would I go for? I'd go for the shorter name if I can get a meaningful one, but I'm not averse to longer names. However, I would probably avoid extremely long names verging on 67 characters. Aside from the obvious problem that people might not be able to remember such a long name, it would also be a chore typing it and trying to fit it as a title on your web page.
Hyphenated Names?

Should you get a hyphenated name? There are a few things to consider here:

*
Disadvantages
1.

It's easy to forget the hyphens when typing a name. Many users are used to typing things like freecpluspluscompilers.com but not free-c-plus-plus-compilers.com. They'll probably leave out the hyphens and end up at your competitor's site.
2.

When people recommend your site to their friends verbally, having hyphens in your domain name leads to more potential errors than when the name does not contain hyphens. For example, how do you think your visitors will refer to your site if it is named "acme-books-and-videos.com"? They might say, "I visited Acme Book and Videos dot com yesterday. It was fabulous." Their friends, remembering that comment later, might type into their browsers "acmebooksandvideos.com". Oops.
3.

It's a pain in the neck to type. Enough said.
*
Advantages
1.

Search engines can distinguish your keywords better and thus return your site more prominently in search results for those keywords occurring in your domain name.
2.

The non-hyphenated form may no longer be available. At least this way, you still get the domain name you want.

Personally, I prefer to avoid hyphenated names if I can, but I guess it really depends on your domain name and your situation.
Plurals, "The", and "My" Forms of the Domain Name

Very often, if you can't get the domain name you want, the domain name registrar will suggest alternate forms of the name you typed. For example, if you wanted website.com, and it was taken (of course it is), it might suggest forms like:

thewebsite.com
mywebsite.com
websites.com

and the like, if they were not already taken as well. The question is, should you take them?

My personal opinion is that if you take the "the..." and "my..." forms of the domain name, you must always remember to promote your site with the full form of the name. Otherwise, people are likely to forget to affix the necessary "the" or "my". For that reason, I always advertise my sites as "thesitewizard.com" and "thefreecountry.com" in their full domain name forms, rather than just "Free Country" or "Site Wizard" (without the article).

On the other hand, I would not take the plural form of the domain name (eg, websites.com) if I cannot also get "website.com", since the chance of the visitor failing to type the "s" in the name is very great. Think about the famous name tussle between etoys.com and etoy.com. Many people wanting to go to etoys.com were apparently going to etoy.com instead. If it happened to them, it can happen to you too.
COM, ORG, NET, etc?

One common question I encounter is from people who can't get the ".com" domain of their choice, but find the ".net", ".org" or other country-specific top level domains (TLDs) available (like .de, .nu, .sg, etc). Should they try for these?

The answer is not as straightforward as you might think. If your website or business caters to the local community, such as a pizza delivery business or recruitment agency or the like, then it makes sense to get a country-specific domain. You actually benefit from having such a local domain because the people in your country know that they're dealing with a local entity, which is what they want. After all, if they stay in (say) the United Kingdom, they're not likely to want to try to order pizza from pizzaparlour.com, which suggests an international site. You'll have better luck calling it pizzaparlour.co.uk, ie, with a UK domain.

What if yours is a site or business that can benefit from an international audience? There are actually many schools of thought on this. I'll just mention a few common ones.

The first school of thought goes on the premise that it is better to have a domain name of your choice "myperfectdomain" even if it has a TLD of ".net", ".org" or some other country specific extension, than to end up choosing an obscure domain name for the simple reason you can't get your first choice. Thus they would settle for domain names like "myperfectdomain.de" or "myperfectdomain.net" or whatever. Against this is the argument that if you get a country specific domain, people might think that your business only caters to that country.

Another school of thought finds that ".net" and ".org" extensions are actually quite acceptable domain names. For some, the ".org" extension actually describes the non-profit nature of their organisation. So, for example, the famous Apache web server can be found at "apache.org".

Others settle for the ".com" extension and no less. As grounds for their arguments, they cite the browser algorithms used to locate a website when a user simply types a name like "acme" into the browser. Apparently, the browser searches for a domain name "acme.com" before attempting "acme.net", etc. As such, people who do that will be delivered to your competitor's site if you do not also own the ".com" extension. Indeed, even if people do not rely on their browser to complete their typing, many simply assume a ".com" extension when they type a domain name, so if your business is "Acme", they'll just assume your domain name is "acme.com" rather than "acme.net" or some other such name.

As you can see, there are actually good grounds for accepting any of the above views. My personal footnote to the above arguments is that if you get a domain name with an extension other than ".com", make sure that you promote your business or website with the full domain name. For example, if your domain name is "dogandcatfood.net", make sure that when you advertise your site or business, call it "dogandcatfood.net" not "dogandcatfood". Otherwise people will assume a ".com" extension and travel to the wrong place.


SOURCE:http://www.thesitewizard.com/archive/domainname.shtml