Investigate Before You Register Your Domain

by Joe Ebner Any Internet startup business knows that registering and owningyour own domain name is imperative to Internet success. Butchoosing the right domain name for your business should involvea bit more than just picking the perfect name. You're also goingto need to do a little detective work before you actually registeryour new domain name. A case in point: a client recently wanted to launch a new, smallbusiness Web site. After settling on a perfect name, he found thepopular dot-com suffix was already taken. He then registered the dot-net version, which was available. When his secretary innocently asked who owned the dot-com version,they were shocked to discover that it was a porno site with somevery interesting images and animations. Needless to say, the adultsite had nothing to do with their business. Surely, people lookingfor their site would mistakenly type dot-com instead of dot-net andland on the porno site. This could be devastating -- especially ifteens or children were involved. He realized they made a mistake in registering the dot-net versionand immediately contacted Network Solutions, Incorporated, theregistrar they chose to complete the registration process. Theclient explained that he didn't want his money back, he only wantedto change the registration. When he spoke with the Network Solutions representative, he gotanother eye-opener. According to NSI, domain names cannot bechanged once created. Furthermore, there is "no money back"when you register a domain name. Once the process is done, thereis no recourse. Your only option is to register a new domain name. There is a lesson here for all small business owners looking toregister a new domain name. Once you settle on a domain name, doa little checking with similar site names. You may be surprisedat what you find. It's easy to check ANY domain name in use. Most hosting providersoffer a free domain name checker on their sites. Simply type thename you want to check in the search box and in less than asecond you'll find out if it's available or not. If it has alreadybeen registered by another party, you'll be able to see who ownsit and how to contact them. At the very least, take a few minutesto visit the site before you decide to register another version ofthe domain name. Also check versions of your domain that could be frequentlymisspelled or easily mistyped. If they are open and available,register these versions too. It may cost you some extra money,but these additional domain names can be set up as pointers toyour real site. The misspelled or mistyped names could gather yousome bonus traffic, turning errors into an advantage. If the dot-com version of the domain name you want is indeedavailable, be sure to register at least the dot-net variety too.You can use it as a pointer and you prevent someone else fromregistering it and using it. If the domain name for your company is indeed already taken,consider your options. You can register the name of your productor service. Or, use your imagination and check short, easy toremember words and phrases. Success stories abound. The wordYahoo is in no way related to search engines and the word Amazontells you nothing about books. Still, these names are associatedwith the product they provide. Strong, memorable names and phrasescoupled with smart marketing programs can make you powerful on theInternet. In short:*Check ALL versions of your domain name choice.*Check misspelled and mistyped possibilities.*Register these possibilities along with the correct name.*Point all variations to the real site. Remember, there is no money back on domain names once you registerthem. Your only recourse is to register the desired name and eatthe extra expense. This article is free for republishingSource: http://www.articlealley.com/