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	Domain Registration Tips

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Some domain registration tips

Before you register a domain name , why not consider these following points:

1. What name should I choose as my domain name?

Choosing the right domain name is critical at this stage and cannot be changed once registered . Most people tend to choose a domain name that reflects their business name or website name, for example if your business is called Computer Parts you would want to register www.computersparts.com.

Basically, you want people to be able to think of your business name and assume the URL to your website is the same . If you register some other obscure name , and someone else registers www.computerparts.com, then you could lose business from potential buyers This is not always possible of course as more often than not, the 'ideal' domain has been registered by someone else . In this case you really need to look at word combinations for example www.computerpartsonline.com

2. Long or Short domain names.

This is a common issue with new registrations as it can effect different aspects of your business. For example , whatever domain you end up registering , is also going to be printed on your headed paper, business cards, receipt books etc , so take that into consideration.

Short names are definately easier to remember and are not prone to typos or spelling mistakes. Another common alternative is to abbreviate a domain name because its either far too long (www.gyoim.com instead of www.getyourselfonlineinminutes.com) or is prone to types or hard to remember

Long names have one advantage in that they can contain your site keywords in them so , from a search engine viewpoint , they could get indexed better.

3. To hyphenate or not to hyphenate ?

You often see a domain name with hyphens being used , example www.this-is-my-domain.com . There are pros and cons with this style of domain name , lets look at the cons .

Easy to forget
Prone to typos
Its annoying to type out
It doesnt look professional

The only time this may be unavoidable is when the domain you want is already registered, so using hyphens is the only way you can get the domain you want.

4. Which TLD (com / net/ ie) should I choose ?

Bit of a hard one to determine this and is often down to personal choice rather than people actualling knowing what each TLD or ccTLD represents.

Firstly lets look at what a TLD and ccTLD actually is

A top-level domain (TLD) is that part of an Internet Domain Name which follows the final dot of any domain name. For example , in the domain name www.example.com , the top-level domain is com .

A country code top-level domain(ccTLD) is a used to represent a specific country . For example www.mhost.ie , the .ie represents Ireland

Next lets look at what each domain means , we will just deal with the domains we are selling on our website.

TLD	Entity	Description
.BIZ	Business	This is an open TLD; any person or entity is permitted to register; however, registrations may be challenged later if they are not by commercial entities in accordance with the domain's charter.
.CC	Commercial	This is an open TLD; any person or entity is permitted to register.
.COM	Commercial	This is an open TLD; any person or entity is permitted to register.
.INFO	Information	This is an open TLD; any person or entity is permitted to register.
.MOBI	Mobile	Must be used for mobile-compatible sites in accordance with standards.
.NET	Network	This is an open TLD; any person or entity is permitted to register.
.ORG	Organisation	This is an open TLD; any person or entity is permitted to register.
ccTLD	Country	Description
.EU	European Union	Restricted to companies and individuals in the European Union
.CO.UK	United Kingdom
..IE	Ireland	Owner must display a connection to Ireland for both Personal and Business usage.