Like many things concerning the internet, obtaining and keeping website domain names has become a bit more challenging. Below we’d like to explain what you need to know about website domain names so you can choose the best one, and keep it. We’ll also cover some things like where to buy them and what you need when it comes to security and renewing your website domain.
Choosing Your Website Domain Name
When choosing website domain names, you’ll want a custom domain. So even if you’re using a free website builder template, pay to customize your domain. Continue reading through the below sections and you’ll see why this matters.
There are some things to keep in mind when choosing your website domain name.
- Keep it easy to remember, this means try to avoid things like hyphens, numbers or double letters or very long website domain names that are confusing or not easy to remember.
- Make it on brand and unique.
- Go with a .com extension or, .org or .net, if this is unavailable. Don’t get whimsical with the extension, aka, the top level domain.
Also, if your brand is YOU, and you’re an author, speaker, thought leader or entrepreneur, use your name or some variation of it. If you own a company, service or product, go with keywords. Because there are so many registered domain names and depending on your competition, you’ll have to really do your research to find the right ones.
There are many sites available where you can search for and generate domain names. But you’ll want to use a reputable registrar. And you may want to purchase look-alike domain names, with different extensions.
These are domain names with the same second level domain but a different top level domain name, or extension. Such as MonkeyCMedia.org or .net. rather than .com. This will prevent future confusion if a competitor (or someone with your name) purchases one of these website domain names.
Website Domain Names VS URLs
So, you may be wondering if website domain names and URLs are the same thing. They’re not. They are related, however.
Website domain names are basically the home address of your website and they exist to make your website user friendly. In other words, instead of a string of numbers, as in an IP, you have a more readable and usable name.
Here’s a Quick Breakdown of Website Domain Names
In a website address there are subdomains, second level domains and top level domains. Using www.monkeycmedia.com as an example, the www. is the subdomain. The MonkeyCMedia is the second level domain. And the top level domain is the .com. These are also known as extensions.
But these days, you don’t have to type in that www. that stands for world wide web. It’s the standard subdomain, so you’ll end up at the right place by even typing the second level website domain names. And then there’s the extension. This is that last part of the domain name, like .com or .net. This does matter. Especially if there’s an exact second level domain with a different extension, or top level domain.
This is the simple, easy to understand explanation. If you happen to be into technical details, you can read about the differences between website domain names and URLs here.
And Then, There are URLs
What about URLs then? Well, these are Uniform Resource Locators. And not to get too confusing, but URLs contain website domain names.
The URL usually contains subdomains that aren’t www., and things called protocols and page paths. They’ll look familiar to you once you see this example:
https://insights.bookbub.com/gave-professional-book-covers-makeover/
The first part before the // is the protocol. Insights is the subdomain. After the / is the website domain name(including the second level and top level, or extension). After the last / is the page path.
Think of the domain name as a store. But the URLs, along with the subdomain, is the code for a specific part of the store. Let’s say, the cereal aisle. The page path is the brand of cereal you’re looking for. Does that make sense?
What About All Those Symbols and Such You Sometimes See?
They’re basically parameters and anchors to communicate specific locations. You’ll see them as https:// and #,?,+ and =, etc. which can look like nonsense but when you’re searching for something and you type in certain keywords or ask questions, this is just how it is translated. They are not part of your chosen domain name. They’re just codes for search engines.
In other words, domain names are a specific address, like the grocery store. URLs are codes, which include the domain name, but direct the user to a specific part of the grocery store where you can find what you need. Such as that cereal you’re looking for. URLs are even used for images.
Why Website Domain Names Matter
You can probably see, even without fully understanding all the details of how website domain names work, that finding the right one is important. The extensions, the URLs, and the address all work together so users can access your website and specific parts of it either by typing your domain name in the search bar, or by searching for something specific on the web.
Extensions, like the .com, and subdomains matter and using something memorable like your name or keywords related to your product matter because they will be memorable to users and make it easy for search engines to guide users to your website.
They can work as a part of your SEO strategy, so keep those keywords we mentioned in mind and use them when you can in your second level domain and subdomain, and even your individual page titles.
Where to Buy and How to Keep them Safe
As mentioned, there are several sites where you can buy website domain names and you can check to see if they are already in use. In the case that your ideal domain name is already in use, find an alternative by researching your keywords, or use a variation of the name or even your own name. If you have a unique name, it won’t be an issue. If you have an extremely common name like Bob White or Alice Smith, you can use BobMWhite or AliceJSmith, etc.
After you’ve chosen your domain name you can purchase it and it’s yours and yours alone.
And it’s important that you choose well because you want to keep it for life.
It’s also important to use a reputable registrar such as the ones on this list.
What About Security Issues?
As far as security goes, you do want to protect your domain name, because you don’t want it to be stolen out from under you or your website to be hacked. According to one of the big registrars, GoDaddy, you need to do the following. And we agree with almost all of this. When we build our websites, we take these steps to make sure they are secure.
On their blog post on the topic, GoDaddy says:
- Use a reputable registrar.
- Enable registrar lock.
- Choose a strong password.
- Enable two-factor authentication.
- Use an SSL certificate.
- Enable privacy protection.
- Renew your domain regularly.
- Keep your contact details with the registrar up to date.
- Beware of phishing emails.
- Keep your domain registration information safe.
A note on number 6: You’ll probably see a lot about keeping your contact information private and secure via privacy protection. But is this necessary? Hiding your contact information to make it inaccessible isn’t always necessary. IF you have other security measures in place. You can also register it under an LLC, or company name. Not hiding it does mean you may get spam or unsolicited emails, of course.
But you’ll probably get a lot of that through your contact form on your website anyway.
The real downside to privacy protection comes when YOU want to purchase a domain name(some people buy and own these names with the purpose of securing them and never use them, or to resell them at a higher price).This is called domain flipping.
When a domain owner’s identity is private, you can’t get access to purchase them or check if they’re about to expire.
Fees and Renewals for Website Domain Names
Speaking of expiring. It is vital that you don’t let your domain name expire. If it does, it’s up for grabs and it won’t be you who profits from a flip. It will be the registrar. We highly recommend you set your domain name to auto renew, which number 7 on the above list doesn’t specify. This will give you peace of mind and help protect you from scams.
Scams, you say? Yes, there are a whole lot of tricky scams out there and one of those is this:
You get an email reminder that your domain name is about to expire from some hosting platform that is not yours, but you don’t notice this. It directs you to renew your domain name. Unfortunately, what happens in these cases is that it simply transfers your domain to their hosting platform. Then you’ll have to deal with the issues that follow.
Pretty tricky, right?
Another unfortunate change with this whole business of renewing website domain names is that GoDaddy, for one, charges eighty dollars to renew your domain name if it expires. So don’t let that happen!
Luckily, you only have to renew your domain name once a year. And if it’s set to auto renew, you won’t have to worry about it. In fact, you can even register it for 10 years so you really don’t have to worry!
And speaking of security, it’s also recommended that you use a registry lock. This can add extra security when you don’t use privacy protection.
At Monkey C Media we build secure websites and we make sure our clients know what they need to know to keep their website secure. We walk you through the process and the parts you need to know, so you don’t feel lost. We even offer website maintenance retainers.
So, if you need a secure and professional website, reach out and see how we can help you.
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