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5 Tips to Buying a Domain | Online Marketing Pundithttp://www.onlinemarketingpundit.com/online-marketing-technical/5-tips-to-buying-a-domain/[5/18/2009 9:46:56 PM]
5 Tips to Buying a Domain
It’s becoming increasingly harder and harder to find the right domain name. I buy many domains everyyear for myself and my clients, and now I am going to share with you some advice and my
5 tips tobuying a domain
.First make sure you don’t use a registrar that offers the scam where you buy your domain cheap thefirst year and then get hit with a BIG renewal charge, that’s hundreds of times larger than the industrystandard rate. Yahoo pulls this crap all the time, they offer domains for $1.99 the first year, then upyour renewal rate to like $50 the next year, that’s why I useGo Daddy, they have yet to ever pull thatcrap with me. I also find their domain control panel easy to use, and the dozen or so times I haveneeded to contact their support my issue was resolved within minutes. Of course the fact that theyalways have some of the lowest domain prices doesn’t hurt.
So let’s get started with my 5 tips to buying a domain!
1.
Brainstorm Domain Names and Make a List 
 It’s common for great domain names to already be taken, if this happens, you can try and buy it,but it normally costs a lot of money. The alternative is you can look for other good alternativesdomain names to fit your need.So before you even start take a few minutes to create a list of domain names you like and could usefor your purpose. Once you have your list you can visitGo Daddyor any registrar to see whichdomains are available.2.
Always Use .com 
 Do not be fooled into buying one of the other domain extensions like .org, .biz, .net. Etc…, for yourmain domain name, even if it’s your dream domain. The majority of people doesn’t pay attention toextensions and automatically assume every domain name is a .com.You will save yourself a lot of heartache in getting a .com, even if it’s your third or fourth choice.
*note 
, best practice is to also buy the .org, .biz, and .net for the .com domain you purchase. Irarely do this, but if you’re super serious about your marketing and brand you should.3.
Keep it Short or Descriptive 
 The shorter the domain name, the easier it is to remember. Best practice is to get the shortestdomain name you can, BUT if you can’t find a good short domain available, the next best option isbuy a longer and more descriptive domain name.Some examples could be OnlineMarketingPundit.com, GreenGuideForHomeowners.com,SanDiegoRealEstate.com, you get the idea.
*note 
, if you get a longer and more descriptive domain, I recommend also buying a short domainthat connects to your longer descriptive one. When I bought this domain I also purchasedOMPundit.com. This short domain is useful for many reasons, the biggest reason though is thatmany advertising opportunities only allow so many spaces for the domain display, so if yours maindomain doesn’t fit, you can use your smaller domain in its place. The best short version in myopinion is getting the acronym of your long domain if possible.
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5 Tips to Buying a Domain | Online Marketing Pundithttp://www.onlinemarketingpundit.com/online-marketing-technical/5-tips-to-buying-a-domain/[5/18/2009 9:46:56 PM]
4.
Search Engine Optimization Starts with the Domain Purchase 
 Most people don’t know this, but the search engines look at the Whois records for domains and givedomains registered for 3-5 years more importance than one that was only purchased for a singleyear.The reasoning is pretty solid, most domains purchased for nefarious purposes like phishing, spam, orblack hat SEO have a very limited lifetime, so why would people waste money on more than theminimum one year registration. On the flip side real businesses and people serious about their webpresence expect to use their domain for many years to come, so they would want to register formore years from the start. I always recommend registering your main domain for at least 3 years.5.
Don’t Waste Your Money 
 Every registrar I know offers several other services you can bundle in with your order. Some of these are great services and some aren’t very good and are overpriced. Make sure you evaluateeach offer to see if it would be a benefit for you or not.The only recommendations I give is, if you’re going to be doing business online and need a SSLcertificate I find it much easier to purchase one throughGo Daddywith my domain purchase, thatway I have one point of contact for both services and both services will be on the same termcontract length.My second recommendation is if you do not have a lot of technical support or knowledge, it’s ofteneasier to get things like hosting and email with your domain purchase, but like everything online,you need to consider
all
your options before making any decision.I hope these
5 tips to buying a domain
have been helpful, and I wish you the best of luck in gettingthat perfect domain.
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May 10th, 2009 inTechnical
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