Choosing a Domian Name
When you decide to set up a website, one of the key decisions you have to make is what the name of the site will be. Once you have done this, it can be very frustrating to find that you’re domain has been taken. This article will attempt to explain some of the ins and outs of choosing and buying a domain
Overview of Domain Names
When you buy a domain, one of the first decisions to make is who to buy it from - my favorite is Godaddy because I’ve had no trouble with them.
The domain name company will then register the domain for you, and once the DNS servers resolve the domain, it will redirect to wherever you have set it to (ask you’re host for details on this).
Check it first!
When you choose a name for you’re website, the worst thing that can happen is that you choose a name, spend hours painstakingly designing a layout based on that theme, and then check to find that the domain you want is unavailable - most 2 and 3 letter domains are taken by the way, so you can expect to spend a lot of time looking for such a domain.
Alternatives
If you find that the domain you want is taken, don’t dispair - there are a few alternatives - one is to get another TLD - for example if yourname.com is taken, try yourname.net, your-name.com and your-name.net (or .org,.co.uk etc.) - you can build a brand based on your URL even if it isn’t you’re first choice (a prime example being infinitefire.com being taken - I own infinite-fire.com and both infinitefire.net and infinite-fire.net ).
Conclusion
Buying domain names is at face value very easy, but there are many issues surrounding it to consider - one point to make is dont try to rip someone off - mike rowe was almost involved in a costly lawsuit because of his domain mikerowesoft.com. Anyway, have fun!
