A domain name is more than an address. It is your blog, your business and your very online identity. That's why your domain name must be you. Make it recognizable, easy to remember, and a proud representation of you and your brand. Examples of domain names are Amazon.com, Apple.com and Change.org.
A domain name is how your website will be known online, no matter what type of website you'll have. It is the unique address of your site on the internet and it will be yours as long as you continue paying the annual fee ($10 - $15 for .com domain). Users who know your domain, technically referred to as a URL (uniform resource locator) can simply type it in their browser's address bar, and be taken there. Others will be able to discover your blog through search engines such as Google and Bing.
Tip: There are ways to create a website that allow you bypass having your own domain, and instead go with - yourname.someplatform.com. For example, Blogger offers a hosted version of their service where you can be yourname.blogspot.com. With this option, you're being controlled by theblogging platform you are on, which isn't the best of the option.
Owning your domain name is an important part of your success online. In an ideal world, you will own sites associated with your brand before it has strong public recognition. This reduces the risk that someone else will buy the name, forcing you to purchase it for a great deal more than a few dollars. If your brand is well established, you may need to be a little more creative in coming up with an alternative domain name, if the obvious choices aren't available.
Our recommended hosting provider is Bluehost, which is able to provide a special offer that includes a FREE DOMAIN for our visitors.
When you choose a domain name, one of your choices will be what domain extension or Top Level Domain (TLD) extension to use. There are hundreds of top level domains from which to choose. Here is the breakdown of the most popular ones.
Here are some tips
If you are marketing yourself, ideally you'll be able to use your first and last names (johnsmith.com or janesmith.com). Even if you aren't marketing yourself, it's not a bad idea to register your name as a domain now, in case you want to use it in the future. If you are marketing your business, you should see if your business name (yourbusiness.com) is available.
Using a search engine like Google, search for your proposed blog or website name. Does your search show any sites with similar domain names? If it does, try a different name. Giving your website a name that's similar to other existing sites is the first step to failure. Also, don't choose names that are plural or misspelled versions of existing sites.
Pick at least five words or phrases that describe the key topic of your website. Write them down, then mix and match the words to create possible domain names. Choose one that sounds good and will be memorable.
There's a rule in advertising that says when launching a new product, you need to start by making a list of ten names. The first three are easy. Maybe you can do five or six without breaking a sweat, but by the time you get to last one, you'll be stuck for more ideas. Using the outline described above, choose the best one from your list and you are on your way. Don't be afraid to ask some friends what they like. That's the best way to help choose your domain name!
If you have to spell out your domain name more than once for it to be understood, then it won't work. Keep the name simple to remember and easy to enter in an address bar or search field.
Why is simplicity important? Because you don't want your future visitors to incorrectly type in your name and be directed to a different site. A classic example is the popular social media site, Flickr.com, introduced in 2005. Four years later, the company had to acquire Flicker.com for a large sum of money in order to redirect the many visitors who misspelled their name. If you're determined to have that oddly spelled name, make sure common misspellings are also available so you can register them and redirect visitors to the main domain.
Up to 75% of all websites are “.com” domains. It is still the preferred extension and the easiest to remember. If your number one name choice isn't available, then try your second choice before accepting other TLDs. Remember that some browsers accept address-only entries in their address
bar. If you type just the domain name (and who knows how many of your users will just do that?) they will return, by default, to the “.com” site.
Your domain name will be your brand. Some names speak for themselves. When you hear the name, you know what the website is about. Take a look at Top 100 blogs by DailyTekk, and you'll see that most popular websites have brandable names.
As we've been saying, shorter is better. If you can't get your domain name down to one memorable word (almost impossible to come by these days), then consider adding one or maximum two more words. Combinations of two words work great for the memorable names like LifeHacker.com or GeekSquad.com. Also, don't use an acronym. People will never remember the letters unless it's a highly catchy name.
Once you've decided on your top choices for your site name, make sure you are not violating anyone's trademarks. To check within US, visit uspto.gov/trademarks and do the search before you register the name. It is always good to check now because this could kill a great website and business down the road. Also, if you are going to include some big name product, such as Twitter or Facebook, review their terms and conditions. Most will not allow you to use their name in any part of your domain.
Numbers and hyphens (especially hyphens) cause confusion. Stay away from them at all costs. Even something as clever as the number1website.com will cause confusion. Make the name speak for itself.
Anything that deals with something trendy will, like the trend, fade away. Stick with a classic name that will span the generations and not be tied down to a trend or fad. Deciding whether something is a trend or here to stay, is a matter of personal judgment, but it's usually not too hard to tell.
It sounds odd, but you have to be absolutely sure you love your domain name. Once it's set, you have it for years to come. If you decide later to rename it, then you will lose time, money, branding, and rankings. We do not recommend changing your domain once your blog has been live for any considerable amount of time.
Before you register your desired domain name, it's always a good idea to check social networks for the same name. To keep your site name constant and to build your brand, you want a name that is readily available. For example: check facebook.com/yourdomain, twitter.com/yourdomain - and secure them as well. KnowEm is a great tool to use to see if certain names are already branded on social platforms.
There are several tools you can use to check for an available domain name. Tools like PCNames andInstant Domain Search will allow you to check your domain name's availability with most of the common and some of the new top-level domains. You can also try Domain Name Generation tools such as Impossibility, which comes really handy to find domains are available. You can also go directly to sites that allow you to register domains such as GoDaddy and Namecheap.
If your desired domain is available, you can proceed to purchase it. If not, don't panic! You have a couple of options and we will describe them below in the Premium Domains section.
Once you've determined whether your domain is available, you will want to purchase it from a domain registrar or web hosting company. Some web hosts will register a domain name for you for free (usually for one year) when you buy a web hosting services from them, while others will do it for you, but you'll have to cover the registrar fees (an annual fee of $10 - $15 for the “.com” domain).
It's a personal preference whether to register the name directly, with a domain name registrar, or with the web host. In any case, you want to make sure you are assigned as the owner, the administrative, and technical contacts for the domain name you purchased. If you are buying multiple domains, it might be easier to use one good registrar. But, if you are buying a domain name and planning to make a website or use it for custom email purposes, it will be easier to go with the hosting company (hosting account) and keep everything under one roof.
One thing's for sure. You have to find a reliable company to register your domain with. There are hundreds of companies available and we will recommend you the best ones from our experience, both registrars, and hosts. If you decide to pick a company on your own, here are some things to consider when choosing one.
Your domain registrar should be accredited by ICANN, a non-profit organization existing to define how the domain name system functions and expands. They coordinate unique identifiers across the world to ensure the web is truly worldwide.
When choosing your domain registrar, you will want to check out the price and top-level domain availability (everyone does .com, but not everyone does specific country top-level domains and the new topic-specific top-level domains). Here is the list of recommended domain registrars and web hosts:
Recommended domain registrar |
Godaddy
View all registrars |
Recommended |
BlueHost
View all hosts |
Tip: Keeping your domain name and hosting account separate will involve extra operations, such as pointing DNS records from your domain registrar to the hosting company before launching and making your new website. This is not a complicated task and most registrar companies have step-by-step description of that process.
If you are trying to get a cool short domain name, chances are high that this name will be taken. Don't give up too soon, though, many of these domains are up for sale and waiting for their new owners. If you are ready to spend extra dollars, spend time doing research, and negotiate with the seller. The tricky part about purchasing domains is that you cannot really estimate the value (as you can with cars, phones, computers, etc.) for your negotiations. Salesforce.com paid $4.5 million for the domain name Data.com. Folks from WebFlow were able to buy webflow.com domain for around $3,000. Recently we've helped our friends to find domain name BoldGrid.com for the regular price of $15. Each case is different, but, if you're willing to spend some time and money, you could get the domain name you want relatively cheap. We've detailed the process below.
You may find that your intended domain name is reserved but available for sale at a premium price. Don't just settle on the asking price for a premium domain. See if you can contact the seller or service to negotiate a lower price. This tactic is especially effective if the domain has been on sale for a long time.
Your intended domain name may be reserved but available through an auction, such as Godaddy Auction, Sedo, or NameJet. You'll need to find the desired name and monitor the auction to ensure you get the best price and beat any competing bidders.
Another possibility is that your intended domain name is reserved, but not in use, not publicly listed for sale and not up for auction. If this is the case, try contacting the domain owner to see if they're willing to sell it. See if the contact details are listed on the site. If not, you can try to find it by looking up the domain owner's information using a Whois search. In 40 to 50 percent of cases, you'll find the domain owner information there.
If you're not comfortable doing this yourself, you can use a broker to buy a domain for you. Some brokers have established relationships with the major domain investors. But remember, a broker will charge a commission rate of 10 to 15 percent of the total sale price.
Does the seller have a documented history of previous sales? Does he have a blog or social media profiles that could give you insight to his standing, views, and opinions? What is his favorite breakfast cereal? Every tidbit of information you can gather on the seller could help you in negotiations.
Before you purchase an already used domain, you will want to see what has been published on that domain in the past to ensure it has a good reputation. You don't want to purchase a domain that has hosted adult content or has a bad backlink history that you may have to clean up. Use Archive.org to see what content has been on a website in the past and use Cognitive SEO Site Explorer to check backlinks. If something looks suspicious don't buy it.
Your new domain is going to be your branded business name. You need to ensure that future social media profiles are available. Use Knowem.com to quickly check profile availability for your new brand and instantly reserve handles from services like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and others. It's probably not a good idea to buy a brandable domain if its corresponding social profiles that are already taken.
Be patient when buying a premium domain, the process is completely different from simple domain registration. Rarely will you immediately reach a mutually agreed upon price. Sometimes waiting on a deal for few weeks and checking with the owner later will result in a success in a better price.
If the price is too high, try to work with the owner to agree on a “lease-to-own” or “partial payments” deal for the domain name. This way you won't need to pay a big chunk of money up front.
If the owner has agreed to sell the domain, try to get the agreement in writing if possible. Or better, draft and sign a purchase agreement with the buyer. This will legally dictate the terms of the purchase and protect both parties. Next step, you'll have to make the payment. Don't just wire money to the buyer once you have reached an agreement. You need a secure transaction to protect you from any fraud activities. Use a secure service such as Escrow.com to close the deal.
You've got a lot to think about right now, so there's a final piece of advice you should follow: Don't rush it. But don't procrastinate too long, either.
Choosing your domain name is a major decision. Take time to consider it carefully. Play around with it (ex: Napster.com or Pinterest.com), pair different words and change their order (ex: GeekSquad.com or LeagalZoom.com). Make sure you're comfortable with your decision before you pull the trigger.
On the other hand, compared to the massive amount of work entailed in building, developing and creating content for a website, choosing a domain name might seem pretty easy. But it's a much bigger deal to miss out on a great name because you took too long thinking about it, than to grab the wrong one too soon.
Bonus Tip: Make sure your name doesn't accidentally spell out anything embarrassing when the words are smushed together. For example, if you wanted to make a blog all about things you and your girlfriends say, Girls Talking is a short memorable name that fits most of our advice here very well. However, you probably don't want to rush out and buy girlstalking.com, right?
And, finally, don't stress out. These are all tips to make your experience a little easier and avoid potential problems. Keep in mind that it's all about you and your brand. If you look around, you'll find successful sites that have broken almost every one of the rules we've laid out in this guide. (Although no one site has broken all of them, as far as we know.) Google would still be a giant if they'd called it Zugzut.com or Goohoo.com. Good branding makes things easier, but it's still up to you to build it.
It may be a lot of work, but it's a lot of fun, too!
This privacy policy has been compiled to better serve those who are concerned with how their 'Personally identifiable information' (PII) is being used online. PII, as used in US privacy law and information security, is information that can be used on its own or with other information to identify, contact, or locate a single person, or to identify an individual in context. Please read our privacy policy carefully to get a clear understanding of how we collect, use, protect or otherwise handle your Personally Identifiable Information in accordance with our website.
What personal information do we collect from the people that visit our blog, website or app?
When ordering or registering on our site, as appropriate, you may be asked to enter your name, email address, phone number or other details to help you with your experience.
When do we collect information?
We collect information from you when you register on our site, place an order, subscribe to a newsletter or enter information on our site.
How do we use your information?
We may use the information we collect from you when you register, make a purchase, sign up for our newsletter, respond to a survey or marketing communication, surf the website, or use certain other site features in the following ways:
• To personalize user's experience and to allow us to deliver the type of content and product offerings in which you are most interested.
• To improve our website in order to better serve you.
• To allow us to better service you in responding to your customer service requests.
• To quickly process your transactions.
• To send periodic emails regarding your order or other products and services.
How do we protect visitor information?
Our website is scanned on a regular basis for security holes and known vulnerabilities in order to make your visit to our site as safe as possible.
We use regular Malware Scanning.
Your personal information is contained behind secured networks and is only accessible by a limited number of persons who have special access rights to such systems, and are required to keep the information confidential. In addition, all sensitive/credit information you supply is encrypted via Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology.
We implement a variety of security measures when a user places an order enters, submits, or accesses their information to maintain the safety of your personal information.
All transactions are processed through a gateway provider and are not stored or processed on our servers.
Do we use 'cookies'?
Yes. Cookies are small files that a site or its service provider transfers to your computer's hard drive through your Web browser (if you allow) that enables the site's or service provider's systems to recognize your browser and capture and remember certain information. For instance, we use cookies to help us remember and process the items in your shopping cart. They are also used to help us understand your preferences based on previous or current site activity, which enables us to provide you with improved services. We also use cookies to help us compile aggregate data about site traffic and site interaction so that we can offer better site experiences and tools in the future.
We use cookies to:
• Keep track of advertisements.
• Compile aggregate data about site traffic and site interactions in order to offer better site experiences and tools in the future. We may also use trusted third party services that track this information on our behalf.
You can choose to have your computer warn you each time a cookie is being sent, or you can choose to turn off all cookies. You do this through your browser (like Internet Explorer) settings. Each browser is a little different, so look at your browser's Help menu to learn the correct way to modify your cookies.
If users disable cookies in their browser:
If you disable cookies off, some features will be disabled It will turn off some of the features that make your site experience more efficient and some of our services will not function properly.
However, you can still place orders User Login over the telephone .
Third Party Disclosure
We do not sell, trade, or otherwise transfer to outside parties your personally identifiable information unless we provide you with advance notice. This does not include website hosting partners and other parties who assist us in operating our website, conducting our business, or servicing you, so long as those parties agree to keep this information confidential. We may also release your information when we believe release is appropriate to comply with the law, enforce our site policies, or protect ours or others' rights, property, or safety.
However, non-personally identifiable visitor information may be provided to other parties for marketing, advertising, or other uses.
Third party links
Occasionally, at our discretion, we may include or offer third party products or services on our website. These third party sites have separate and independent privacy policies. We therefore have no responsibility or liability for the content and activities of these linked sites. Nonetheless, we seek to protect the integrity of our site and welcome any feedback about these sites.
Google
Google's advertising requirements can be summed up by Google's Advertising Principles. They are put in place to provide a positive experience for users. https://support.google.com/adwordspolicy/answer/1316548?hl=en
We use Google AdSense Advertising on our website.
Google, as a third party vendor, uses cookies to serve ads on our site. Google's use of the DART cookie enables it to serve ads to our users based on their visit to our site and other sites on the Internet. Users may opt out of the use of the DART cookie by visiting the Google ad and content network privacy policy.
We have implemented the following:
• Remarketing with Google AdSense
We along with third-party vendors, such as Google use first-party cookies (such as the Google Analytics cookies) and third-party cookies (such as the DoubleClick cookie) or other third-party identifiers together to compile data regarding user interactions with ad impressions, and other ad service functions as they relate to our website.
Opting out:
Users can set preferences for how Google advertises to you using the Google Ad Settings page. Alternatively, you can opt out by visiting the Network Advertising initiative opt out page or permanently using the Google Analytics Opt Out Browser add on.
California Online Privacy Protection Act
CalOPPA is the first state law in the nation to require commercial websites and online services to post a privacy policy. The law's reach stretches well beyond California to require a person or company in the United States (and conceivably the world) that operates websites collecting personally identifiable information from California consumers to post a conspicuous privacy policy on its website stating exactly the information being collected and those individuals with whom it is being shared, and to comply with this policy. - See more at: http://consumercal.org/california-online-privacy-protection-act-caloppa/#sthash.0FdRbT51.dpuf
According to CalOPPA we agree to the following:
Users can visit our site anonymously
Once this privacy policy is created, we will add a link to it on our home page, or as a minimum on the first significant page after entering our website.
Our Privacy Policy link includes the word 'Privacy', and can be easily be found on the page specified above.
Users will be notified of any privacy policy changes:
• On our Privacy Policy Page
Users are able to change their personal information:
• By emailing us
• By calling us
• By logging in to their account
• By chatting with us or sending us a ticket
How does our site handle do not track signals?
We honor do not track signals and do not track, plant cookies, or use advertising when a Do Not Track (DNT) browser mechanism is in place.
Does our site allow third party behavioral tracking?
It's also important to note that we do not allow third party behavioral tracking
COPPA (Children Online Privacy Protection Act)
When it comes to the collection of personal information from children under 13, the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) puts parents in control. The Federal Trade Commission, the nation's consumer protection agency, enforces the COPPA Rule, which spells out what operators of websites and online services must do to protect children's privacy and safety online.
We do not specifically market to children under 13.
Fair Information Practices
The Fair Information Practices Principles form the backbone of privacy law in the United States and the concepts they include have played a significant role in the development of data protection laws around the globe. Understanding the Fair Information Practice Principles and how they should be implemented is critical to comply with the various privacy laws that protect personal information.
In order to be in line with Fair Information Practices we will take the following responsive action, should a data breach occur: We will notify the users via email
• Within 7 business days
We will notify the users via in site notification
• Within 1 business day
We also agree to the individual redress principle, which requires that individuals have a right to pursue legally enforceable rights against data collectors and processors who fail to adhere to the law. This principle requires not only that individuals have enforceable rights against data users, but also that individuals have recourse to courts or a government agency to investigate and/or prosecute non-compliance by data processors.
CAN SPAM Act
The CAN-SPAM Act is a law that sets the rules for commercial email, establishes requirements for commercial messages, gives recipients the right to have emails stopped from being sent to them, and spells out tough penalties for violations.
We collect your email address in order to:
• Send information, respond to inquiries, and/or other requests or questions.
• Process orders and to send information and updates pertaining to orders
• We may also send you additional information related to your product and/or service.
• Market to our mailing list or continue to send emails to our clients after the original transaction has occurred
To be in accordance with CANSPAM we agree to the following:
• NOT use false, or misleading subjects or email addresses
• Identify the message as an advertisement in some reasonable way
• Include the physical address of our business or site headquarters
• Monitor third party email marketing services for compliance, if one is used.
• Honor opt-out/unsubscribe requests quickly
• Allow users to unsubscribe by using the link at the bottom of each email
If at any time you would like to unsubscribe from receiving future emails, you can email us at
• Follow the instructions at the bottom of each email.
and we will promptly remove you from ALL correspondence.
Contacting Us
If there are any questions regarding this privacy policy you may contact us using the information below.
Next Big Biz
1808 Hewitt Ave
Everett, WA 98201
privacy@nextbigbiz.com
(425) 320-4020