Domain Names - Why are they so important?

What is a domain name?
A domain name is the web site and email address that people use to find your company - online. Computers connected on the internet use a unique number (called IP address) which would be impossible to remember - therefore the domain name replaces the IP address to make it simpler to find a company’s web site. Domain names can contain numbers and letters, plus the hyphen. And the domain name can contain up to 67 characters, although I wouldn’t recommend one that long!

Why is it important to have a domain name?
A domain name has many important values to a company’s online presence. It will most likely be the first thing that your potential customers will encounter, and remember your company by if they find your business online. Many companies still use their internet provider’s domain name to conduct business on the net. If your current email address looks like this: yourname@serviceprovider’sname.com (examples: company01@sympatico.ca, company01@hotmail.com…) then you are using your internet access provider’s domain name as your email/web site address. This may be ok for a while, but just imagine what happens when your service provider goes bankrupt or merges with another company. Or if high-speed internet access becomes available through a different company or you wish to change to a different provider because of other problems. At any of these scenarios, your company’s online presence is in trouble, because your email address your customers have been using will no longer work. As well, you will need to let all your contacts know that your email address has changed, plus re-printing any company stationary which may have your old email address listed. This can be quite costly and time consuming - unfortunately, it happens all too often. Now if your company had its own domain name, there would be no need to change your email/web address even though you may be switching access companies.

What are the different choices available?
There are six main “top level” domain names which are recognized around the world. These are: .com, .net, .org, .edu, .mil and .gov. The start of the internet all happened with the .com domain name being the most popular and also the one that was adopted by many businesses and individuals. Even today the .com is still the most favoured choice when new businesses decide to get an internet presence. The second favourite domain name would be .net which originally was meant to be used by companies whose business involved either working on internet projects or contributing to the internet’s servers. The .net name was used by many internet service providers, but now is being used more by companies and individuals because their .com domain name was no longer available.

There are other domain names now becoming more commonly used, .ca, .tv, .cc., us, .to are just some of the alternatives. These domain names are referred to as country code domain names. The .ca of course stands for Canada, .tv stands for Tuvalu (not television), .cc stands for Cocos (Keeling) Islands, .us is the United States and .to is Tonga (not Toronto). There are certain rules and criteria, which need to be met, before your company can register any one of the country domain names. Companies operating in Canada or individuals that can proof that they are Canadian citizens can only register a .ca name. If your company is looking at registering a country code name, make sure to check out the terms of use for the domain name’s country code before attempting to register a name.

How to choose your domain name.
Choosing a domain name should be easy, right? Start with your company’s name and see what is available. Make sure also to start with the .com domain name as this is what people will check first when searching for your company’s web site. If your name has already been registered, consider using number or hyphens within your domain name (example: trace-logic.com - as tracelogic.com was already registered). If your company has a brand name product, which may be associated with your company, consider using it as a domain name. Domain names are also made part of what the company sells and not just strictly by the company’s name. Let’s say that your company sells cars and parts, a domain name choice may be “carsandparts.com” or “cars-for-sale.com”. The use of the descriptive domain names will also help your online web site get an extra boost with potential clients coming by from the search pages.

Although your web site domain name could be up to 67 characters long, consider short and easy to remember words, as you’ll end up having to spell out complex words and confusing potential customers. Take for instance my company’s names HAVE1.COM, people sometimes confuse it for havel.com (the number one being a letter L instead) this is especially true when the name is typed all in lowercase. And of course when telling my company’s web site address to customers over the phone, I always tell them that the number one is not spelled out but is a numeral instead. Confusing, isn’t it?

What if someone else has my company’s name registered as a domain name?
This scenario is occurring more and more lately as more businesses wish to establish an online presence for their companies. Through my internet services business (HAVE1.COM) I register a lot of different domain names on a regular basis - many companies usually have to settle for a slight alternative to their company’s name if they wish to have a .com domain name. But then again, there are those few lucky ones that end up find a gem of a domain name.

The .com domain name has been available for quite some time now, and when realizing that it’s available worldwide to any individual who wishes to register a certain name. Due to the fact that it is quite simple for someone to register a domain name, there have been many cases of abuse and “cyber squatting” reported by Hollywood stars, large corporations and other businesses. Cyber Squatting is usually referred to an individual who registered a popular domain name (examples: walmart.com, madonna.com, sting.com, survivor.com) just so that they can resell it at a high cost when the “real” owner comes calling. Other companies are now trying to auction off popular domain names to the highest bidder, making this type of activity their full-time job. Business.com and other such catchy names made millions of dollars on the auction block.

How can I check to see if my name is still available?
To check the availability of a domain name for your company, there are different web sites that offer a “whois” search on your choices. These web sites all perform a search on the complete domain name database and can give you instant results. Try the following most popular sites for doing a domain name search: www.register.com or www.networksolutions.com. Or try our online domain name search, located at the top of each of our site’s pages.

After you’ve found a domain name, which is still available, you will now need to register it for a per-year period. The cost for domain names depends on what company you use as a registrar to register your name. It used to be all controlled through one company out of the U.S. called Network Solutions. Their price was $70 U.S. for the first year and $35 U.S. per year after. Only recently the domain name registration market has opened up and now there are hundreds of registrar companies available. Make sure though, that you read each company’s terms of use carefully, as there are sometimes hidden fees carefully disguised into these terms. Also, make sure that you are the rightful owner of your company’s domain name and not the company who registered the name for you. All this information is available upon doing a whois lookup on your registered domain name.

Where is the future heading in domain names?
Face it, .com domain names are here to stay. But what if your company’s name is already taken, and all the “catchy” and short domain names are all in use? The internet domain name organization, ICANN (ICANN.org), is about to release another bunch of alternatives which will make it easier for companies who are now looking at having a presence on the net. These new domain names are: .biz for businesses and corporations, .info for information-based services such as newspapers, libraries, etc., .name for individuals’ and personal web sites, .pro for professions such as law, medicine, accounting, etc., .aero for services and companies dealing with air travel, .coop for co-operative organizations, and .museum for museums, archival institutions, and exhibitions.

If you are interested in finding out more information about domain names, on-going disputes and solutions to cyber squatters… I have compiled a short web references list of web sites, which will lead you to more information than you may wish to know about domain names. Happy reading and domain name hunting!

WEB REFERENCES

• CIRA (www.cira.ca) - The .CA Canadian country domain name registration organization.

• ICANN (www.icann.org) - The organization that governs the domain name .com, .net & .org.

• Cyber Squatters Information - Electronic Frontier Foundation (www.eff.org)

If you have any questions or would like to submit any comments, please feel free to send me an email at: info@HAVE1.COM.

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