Ah, domain names.... one of my favorite geek topics!
Why do you need a domain name? A domain name is your unique presence on the Internet. It's the clearinghouse for your brand--not your direct sales company's brand. Everything you do on social media, every time someone searches for you online, personalized email addresses-- that all comes back to your site.You want your site to be THE home of your brand name, and a custom domain name is the first step.
Secondly, you can shed the long-form name that came with your blog. For instance, many of us use TAMS' amazing blogging platform. The name of my blog would be songofmyheartstampers.thesearemystamps.com and is obviously ridiculously long. songofmyheartstampers.com is far shorter, more memorable and more professional. Wouldn't it be great to drop that blogspot or wordpress off the end? Let's cut the dead weight!
Thirdly, your domain name protects your business interests. You don't want anyone snagging your idea and mimicking your concept, confusing your customers and re-directing business away. Chances are, they aren't doing it to be mean--they are probably plugging away building their own business just like you are. Obviously, the earlier you lock in your domain name, the better.
The last best reason to have a custom domain name? No blog designer worth their salt will design for a blog name or slogan that is not legally owned by their client. If it's already taken by someone else, it's hours and hours of wasted work on everyone's part... and if the blogger continues to use it, leaves them open to legal action.
Time to go grab the domain!
Don't have a brand name yet? Read my new article: 7 Tips for Choosing a Great Brand Name
I strongly suggest you purchase your domain name right away, so that no one else can legally take it from you later. However, PLEASE feel free to contact me before you purchase it so that I can help you choose the very best version. I have a lot of experience with domain names, good and bad. I will be happy to help you even if you are not one of my Web Design Services clients.
IMPORTANT: Once you have searched a potential name and found that it is not taken, DO NOT continue to google it.
The reason for this is that domain names can be sold for any price the market will bear. If the amazingly powerful search engines see that someone is very interested in a certain phrase, they will bump the price of all potential domain names associated with that term. You will see the price jump from 99 cents to hundreds of dollars. I’ve seen it happen over and over again. So, google away, but once you spot a live contender for your desired name, leave it alone until you’re ready to purchase it.
What happens if you went to purchase the domain name for your existing blog... and discovered it's already taken?
The rights to use reside with whomever owns the domain name. IF they do not appear to be using it, you can use the site www.whois.com to find out the owner and contact them with an offer to purchase it. They can legally charge you anything they want. With lucky you will find a nice person who quotes a reasonable price. If not, however, your only other options are to alter your name either slightly or a lot, or to choose a less-desirable "dot com" name such as .org or .net. My suggestion is to change the name slightly so you can still use the most common .com ending for your address, since people do not tend to remember the others.
Because time is of the essence, I would not wait and "hope" that the name gets released back into the pool of available names if the owner doesn't renew their domain. You can use services to keep you informed if it ever does become available, though, and if it does, purchase if you please.
As far as where to actually purchase your domain, I use www.GoDaddy.com, and have been happy with their service, reminder emails, special offers and ease of use. But where you buy your domain doesn’t really matter. It will typically be around $10-15 dollars per year. Many sites offer a 99 cent first-time-buyer domain, to entice you to start with them, since you will want to keep all your domains organized under one provider.
I bought it! Now what?
Domain names can be "directed" at any blog, so if you already have a blog, just purchase the new one you want and follow the steps in your provider's confirmation email or under your account with them, to "point" that address at your existing blog. Then don't forget to update all your labels and business materials with the new address. If you are buying it for a blog that doesn't exist yet, just hang onto that email while you set up your blog and then go back to point the domain at it later.
Got more questions, or suggestions for tips to be added to this article? Please leave a comment below! Thanks for visiting SOMH Demonstrators today. I know this can be a big an overwhelming topic, but YOU HAVE HELP. If I did it, YOU CAN DO IT. I promise!
Lyssa,
This post was almost more then I could take in this evening. I'm still trying to digest all that I read. I'm sure I will have to go back and take each point one at a time until I can understand it all, you're right, it is a bit overwhelming.
First, thanks for sharing all that you do, I've learn a lot from you the last couple of years, and the longer I read your blog, the more I learn. Wish you were my upline. I'm sure I will have more more questions that will need to be explained as you get this new adventure up and running. I'm really looking forward to the interaction that will be coming.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Posted by: Norma Woodward | 10/27/2016 at 12:03 AM