What’s In A (Domain) Name?

Choosing a domain name is a very important first step for anyone starting a business on Internet. This name is first impression that strangers are going to have about you and your business. You are going to need to give this decision some real thought. It is very likely that you have a name in mind already. Something catchy, perhaps? Something that has meaning to you. Maybe you always wanted to name your business after you grandchild, or your favorite pet. I strongly urge you to reconsider. In very informative book, The Invisible Touch, Harry Beckwith has some unique ideas about naming a business. He touches on saying your proposed name out loud, slowly. How does it really sound? He cites name Facial Aesthetics. Sounded out slowly, it becomes ‘fa shil ass thet icks’. Doesn’t sound so good now, does it? Get opinions from others, and then really listen to what they have to say, objectively. The next thing to consider is whether or not your name says anything about your business. Some years ago, I was friends with a lady who had a business named “Heather’s Feathers”. So, what do you think that this business sold? Feathers? Birds? Bird products? Nope, it sold emu oil. And Heather was her 4 year-old daughter’s name. Consider what you would think of when you see a business name. You may love your family name. If you are thinking of naming your business after yourself, however, you really need to give it some thought. I have never forgotten these two businesses, whose names I saw on billboards years ago: Crouch Equipment and Tick Insurance. Now you may say to yourself that I remember these names after years. True, but not for their products or their service!

So, You Want Your Own Website? Is Free Or Paid Hosting Right For You?

You have made decision to build a website! Good for you. Whether you are simply looking for a way to show off your family, to try your hand at making money from an affiliate program or to go into a full-fledged business, your first decision is going to be where to host it.

Traveling maze of hosting options is a bewildering and time consuming job these days. There are literally millions of hosting sites on Internet! If you don’t believe me, try putting “hosting sites” into any major search engine, and look at number of sites you will get back. There are free ones, cheap ones, expensive ones… ones that offer a lot of space or only a small space… some offer free templates to build a site “in minutes” and some require an extensive knowledge of HTML programming. Will you need an on-line control panel? Do they allow uploading from your hard drive, or are you going to need an FTP manager? Am I confusing you? Well, these are all things that you are going to need to consider before you make your choice.

Most people want to try their hand at a free site to begin with. If you are going to try and do it yourself this is a good way to start learning ins and outs of site design. I strongly recommend that you sign up with a well-established free hosting site for starters. There are a ton of free hosting options out there, but you are going to want one that is not going to disappear after you have built your site! You also want one that has very little down time. The best site is never going to be seen if host is unreliable. So, consider such hosting options as Tripod, AngelFire, Yahoo Geocities, AOL Communities and other long-standing sites for your choice. Remember, anyone can buy a used server and set himself up as a hosting site, it does not mean that they will give you anything but grief.