A Beginner's Guide to Domain Name Registration

Your imagination is your best asset when it comes to domain registration. More than half the time you will find that the domain name that you have chosen is already in use or owned by someone else. It takes a lot of creativity and a knack for marketing to come up with a domain name that is short, snappy and witty. It must also be not too abstract and concisely express the nature of your business on the World Wide Web.

If you are going to depend on search engines to generate traffic towards your site, some experts recommend using a keyword in the title that will make it easier to find on the web. For instance if you are operating a site about fly-fishing you are much better off to enter www.flyfishing.com into the domain registration form then you are www.myfavoritehobby.com.

Some web hosts will provide you with a free domainregistration. Technically however, you have just paid them to register your domain name in a database that belongs to them. This means that they own your domain name and may try to sell it back to you after the right to rent your own domain name "expires." Inexpensive domain name registrars are Stargate Inc. (http://www.stargateinc.com) or GoDaddy.com (http://www.godaddy.com). Both of these sites allow you to register a .com domain name for an annual fee of less than ten bucks.

You will also have to make sure that your domain name doesn't contain any trademarked material. For instance, a domain name such as www.CocaColaFan.com infringes on one of the world's most famous trademarks. It would be blocked from domain registration even though the direct message in the URL actually promotes the product.

Domain registration typically costs between $8.00 and $35.00. To register you are given access to a control panel that allows you to access your account. You will be asked to provide your domain name, your name and your email address. Some sites will give you a free domain name if you agree to purchase a year's worth of hosting. A year's worth of web hosting can cost as little as $4.95.

If you have your heart absolutely set on a domain registration that is already taken then you can always go to betterwhoisit.com. Betterwhoisit is a site that can search the databases where people have been registering domain names. Some people just collect common and sought-after names for domains and are willing to sell the name you need to you. Betterwhoisit.com accesses the databases of domain registration sites so that you can see who had the same brilliant idea for a domain name that you spent so much time dreaming up.