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Choosing Domain Name Tips

Our Readers Write: Which Domain Name Would You Recommend?

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Many website registrars offer a wide variety of Domain names. Do you need to register a domain? What are you writing about? What will a Domain name do for you? There are many reasons you may not need a Domain Name. However, if you have run into road blocks trying to register for certain programs, like claiming your LinkedIn page, then you are probably ready for a paid url, or at least a paid email address. Is your Domain Name still available? Check myhosting.com free Domain Search.

How to Choose a URL 

Many successful companies have changed their domain name, but it has cost some like Twitter, thousands of dollars. Here are two tips that can help you choose a domain name that will help you get found:

1. Before purchasing a paid url, create a list of potential site names.Your first choice may not be available. Is your Domain Name Available? 
Check myhosting.com free Domain Search
2. Think like your potential client - what are they searching for? Usually the name of the place and the name of the product or service. The best site name choice will include the keywords your potential customers would type when searching for your products or services. Companies used to  name their businesses with lots of A's to get to the top of the Yellow pages heap, but most people will enter the name of a place then the service when searching for a Taxi for example rather than AAA Aadvark Albatross..  Remember -your url does not need to be the name of your business, but it should be related for best search results.

How to Choose a Domain Extension or URL:

My Web Hosting offers a wide variety of urls from .ca,.com, org ..me .info and more. Have you seen the different domain names on myhosting.com Domain Search ? Which url will be best for your purposes? Does your extension affect search engines results? Well, that is still widely debated  However it is important to choose an extension that reflects the type of site you have to draw clients that are looking for your type of services or content. .There are three types of Top Level Domains [TLD] -

1. The original domains
2. ccTLD - Country Domains and  
3. gTLD - General domains.

What Do Those URLs Mean?

Each year, a few more new Domain extensions are unveiled. New this year,among others will be .vatican and .mormon Here are some of the more popular domain extensions and their meanings.
 .
COM (Commercial) – Generally for commercial use. By far the most recognized domain name extension.
NET (Network) – This was originally intended for network oriented sites such as internet service providers. This definitely isn’t the case any longer. People will register .NET domains for commercial use, generally if the .COM extension isn’t available or if they’d like to protect their main .COM domain by registering all available extensions. .
ORG (Organization) – This domain extension was originally for non-profit or trade organizations, but is generally registered by anyone looking to protect their main domain by registering all available domain extensions or simply because a better extension isn’t available for registration. .
BIZ (Business) – This is a gTLD that is generally registered to classify their website as a business. Although it’s not a commonly recognized extension, It can be  great alternative if the .COM extension isn’t available
INFO (Informational) – This gTLD is generally used as an extension for informational websites.While it received some back lash as a spam type for a while it is rebounding in popularity. Developing an informational website? It’s a good domain extension

Country Domain URLs

CA (Canada) – This  restricted ccTLD is generally reserved for Canadian-based businesses
US (United States) – This ccTLD generally refers to US based companies.
CO.UK (United Kingdom) – This country code domain is generally reserved for commercial related websites based in the United Kingdom. Although not restricted to UK based business,unless you plan on doing some sort of business in the UK it is longer than most.
CN (China) – This is the ccTLD for China. Not restricted to companies based in China it can basically be registered by anyone that would like a .CN extension
WS (Website) – This is actually a ccTLD for Western Samoa but was converted to a domain extension commonly used as an acronym for ‘website’.
ME (ME) – Originally the ccTLD of Montenegro but often used for personal related websites such as family websites or blogs, posting your resume or portfolio.
NAME (NAME) – These are gTLD  intended for personal use. This extension is used for personal / family websites or  name related email addresses. If you have a common name you might, want to grab yours..
MOBI (Mobile) – This domain extension, as of this writing, is fairly new. Many domain name owners register their domain name with the .MOBI domain name to protect their brand,  but it is usually reserved for websites built for displaying on mobile devices. .
TV (Television) – Used primarily for media, primarily video, related websites.
There are many many more extensions you can register, though many extensions are country code domains restricted to businesses or individuals living in that particular country.

Which Company to Choose When Purchasing Domain Names:

Watch out for websites offering Domain names less than $1 that do not let you purchase more than 1 year, at a time. Often these are re-seller sites which will camp on  your domain name then try to sell it to you for an inflated sum in the following year.

Look for a company that has good customer service, especially if you are fairly new to purchasing web solutions. Online web support, an email address,  and a phone number that is not on the other side of the world are handy too.
My Web Hosting, an award-winning company offers a great many web solutions including Domain name look up  shopping cart solutions, email hosting and more. Take a look around their site, and let us know what you think.


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