For newcomers to the Web, I'll give a brief definition
of a domain name.

Your domain name is the same as "www.yoursitename.com". It's
also known as your URL or Website Address.

For example, www.webmastercourse.com is my site's domain
name or my web address.

The domain name must be registered and approved before
you can call it your own. The reason it works this
way is because two websites having the same domain name
cannot reside online at the same time. If someone types
in www.webmastercourse.com, he/she will go to my website
and no one else's.

Registering your domain name and awaiting approval gives
the registration company opportunity to check with every
other company around the world to be sure no one else
has already applied for your domain name "first."

It normally takes 2 to 3 days to receive confirmation
of your domain name.

If you haven't registered your own domain name yet,
please take the following tips into consideration
before doing so.

Your domain name can affect the number of repeat visitors
to your website.

Here's How:

1. Visitors will only remember your domain name for a future
visit if it is easy to remember.

Which of the two domain names below would you more likely
remember?

http://www.webmastercourse.com/ or
http://www.web-designer-training-course-part-1-learn.com/

Probably the first one. The shorter the better. Visitors
will see the domain name, remember it, and hopefully
visit again in the future if the domain name is simple
and to the point.

2. Your domain name should be directly related to
your offer or information available at your website.

For example, www.webmastercourse.com is directly related
to web design training. In monitoring our website statistics,
I've noticed that we have many visitors each month who
arrive at our website by simply typing in the domain
name instead of arriving through search engines, other
links, etc. Of course, this was not so at the start.
But, as visitors began coming, they began memorizing the
domain name and repeating their visits in this fashion.

3. If possible, use a generic name that people might
would type in without ever hearing about you.

For example, www.webdesign.com is very generic,
and I'm sure many people simply type this name in
to see what's available in the web design field.

Other "very" generic names I can think of are:

www.soap.com
www.cars.com
www.boats.com
www.computers.com
www.calculators.com
www.food.com
www.pencils.com
www.skiing.com
etc....

Although many of the most popular generic names are
reserved, it would be wise to search for the
most generic name possible in your field that's
easy to remember.

The three above tips will help you choose a domain
name that will tremendously increase your repeat
visitor rate. A website must first be designed, and
then built upon a solid visitor flow. A simple,
easy-to-remember domain name is a great start to
reaching your goal!



About the Author
Article written by Candice Pardue, editor of Web Design Weekly.
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