.Com, .Net, .Info:

Most people will agree a .com is best. A web user told us, “Whenever I can’t remember domain name but I know site name, brand or company, I’ll try for a .com first”. If you have no good .com alternative, start with .net and .org first. Also, be sure to consistently promote your website as a .net or .org whatever you may choose.

Hyphens, Suffixes and Prefixes:

Hyphens aren’t necessarily evil especially if it’s in your brand name or is correct way to write a word. However, they are difficult to remember, type and prone to user input mistakes. Avoid them as much as you can.

Suffixes and prefixes are i’s, e’s, the’s and numbers usually suggested by domain search tools when your desired domain is unavailable. If you choose such a domain, be very consistent in your promotion. Promote domain as a whole, do not leave out suffix or prefix. You might also want to avoid domains with very little difference between them. These are usually between plurals and singulars. Aim for singular names whenever possible. For example, petfood.com and petfoods.com; if petfood.com is taken resist temptation to opt for petfoods.com because people tend to leave out s.

Can You Say It?

This isn’t always a top consideration but it makes sense you should have a domain name that can be verbally communicated. Take your list of chosen domains and tell it to someone. Does it confuse them? Do you find yourself having to constantly repeat it or spell it? If that is so, move on or go back to drawing board.

Copyrights and Trademarks:

In this day and age, many companies particularly those with strong brand names are increasingly protective of their trademarks. Avoid trouble and expense of a lawsuit by spending some time to research your chosen name. Start by looking up name with United States Patent and Trademark Office (http://www.uspto.gov/) and your state’s trademark database.

Expiring Domains:

Anyone who has looked for a domain name finds out soon enough more than half desired names are taken. If you cannot find a suitable one despite numerous searches, why not explore expired domains? Expired domains are those whose original registrant fails to renew commonly are due to website closings or companies going out of business. Within list of expired domains are some real gems. There are many services that allow you to monitor expired and soon to expire domains for a fee. Before you sign up for them, a good place to start researching for free is DeletedDomains.com.

Some believe recently expired domains with good traffic and rankings allow you to benefit from someone else’s hard work and give your site a head start. Theoretically, that may be true. Realistically, you shouldn’t expect that to last. People consistently return to a website for a reason. If your topic is very different from original site, visitors will stop coming back because information or resource they previously had access to be no longer there. If you assume such a domain and want to convert as many visitors as possible, make sure your content is very closely related or similar to that of old site. You might want to also check that old site has completely ceased operations. If previous site still exists under a different domain, loyalists eventually find their way back there; Word gets around among them and could create a negative image on old domain that’s now yours.

Ownership:

When you do register as domain, have it registered under your name or your company. If you are registering through your host, remember a lot can happen within a short space of time. Companies go out of business or you change hosts, scams, scandals and more. Making sure you own domain reduces risk of losing your domain name in future. Check your host’s domain registration policy. If there are unnecessary expenses to transfer your domain, try to register it yourself instead. Registering a domain is a very simple and straightforward affair. Some good registrars to try are Enom and GoDaddy.

Finally, when you do find best available domain, get it immediately. Any delays no matter how minor may cost you. Finding right domain is not easy. It takes a lot of brainstorming, patience and creativity. Once you find it, don’t let it slip.

Paras Shah

Chief Technology Officer

VIP PowerNet, Inc.

Ph: (713)787-6501

Email: paras@vippowernet.com

http://www.vipwh.com

http://www.vippowernet.com

Within a couple of days I searched for my article title in Google and noticed that it did great. Publishers liked my article and they were publishing it on their web sites and newsletters.

I expected my home page to get indexed very fast.

Time went.

Each week I searched Google to see if my site has already got indexed. It didn't.

I decided to see if my domain has been spidered by other major search engines. Yes, both Yahoo and MSN got it. So, what went wrong? Why Google won't index my home page?

Here's what I think went wrong: my further investigation showed that domain name had already been used by another webmaster and had been expired half a year ago when I registered it. It seems that previous domain name owner was using unfair search engine optimization strategies and his web site was banned by Google.

I sent a request to Google explaining situation and asking to lift ban from my web site. I am not sure if they will listen and help me.

I am ready to register a new domain name in a few weeks time if I still cannot get my site indexed by Google.

So, don't make same mistake I did... If you intend to optimize your new web site in order to receive traffic from Google and other search engines, make sure to check out if a domain name you've selected for your online business is not banned by Google before registering it.