Thursday, December 18, 2008

Domain Basics: What, Why, and How

What’s in a domain name? A lot more than might think. Your domain name can be your first impression, your face to the outside world, and your new marketing plan. Learn more about what domain names are, why you should take the time to choose a good one for yourself, and how to go about it.

What is domain name? A domain name is an address for the internet. It helps people find your website. Just as homes and businesses have street addresses, all web sites have domain name. The Yahoo! Domain name is yahoo.com

A domain name is made up of two parts, typically preceded by WWW. Let’s use yahoo.com as an example:

The first part, yahoo, is a unique name that represents the web site.
The second part, com, is the extension, and stands for “ commercial.” There are many extensions available, though .com, .net, .biz, .info, and .us, .in, are the most popular extensions in the united states.

Why is good domain name important? A good domain name helps you in numerous ways.

For businesses
Add your domain name to your business card, email signature, and other advertisements.

Build credibility: Show your customers that you have an established business.
Improve your marketing: provide customers an easy way to remember and contact you. Protect your brand: secure the domain name that best represents your business name and keep it our of the hands of your competitors.

For consumers
Describe your site as best you can with your domain name. For example, a pair of amateur magicians might use their stage names, some combination of words including magic, or the name of their most famous trick.



Why Domain:
1) Web hosting
2) Web site design
3) Online help site
4) New marketing plan
5) Size does matter
6) Relate to your business
7) Avoid similiarities
8) .com is best.

Web solution:

The world wide web is a massive collection of web sites. All hosted an computer called web servers, clients simply upload their websites to a hared (or dedicated) web server, which the ISP maintains.

Domain name

A domain name is also called a web address. Just as a street address helps people find you home, a domain helps people find you online. You can register your own name, your company’s name, key words to describe your business, or even a short phrase.

What ever will make your web address easy to remember for your friends or customers, both yahoo! Custom mailbox and yahoo! Business mail come with a domain name included at no extra cost.

Reaching specialized markets

There are over 25,00 newsgroups representing every sport, hobby or interest imaginable. No matter what your niche, your customers are probably on-line. Furthermore, it has been found that some of the most successful businesses on the web are those that target niche markets. Since net access will submit your company to several different internet directories, your interest group will be able to find you certainly, they will find some of your competitors.

i) Reaching the education and youth market

If your market is education, consider books, tutoring or counseling services, study courses, youth fashion and any other items or services. These markets need to be on the web.

ii) Serving your local market.

The power to serve the world with a web site is clear. What about your local markets? In most cities today there are probably enough local customers with web access to make it beneficial to market through the web.

Test marketing new services and products

If you demonstrate your new product on the web, you will know what your customers think in a fast, economical manner. For the cost of a page or two of web programming, you can gain insight into where to position your product or service in the marketplace.

Opening international markets

The is a whole new high-tech world out there, populated by millions of people on all parts of the globe, and marketing on the web is the easiest way to begin doing business internationally. With a web site, you can open up dialogues in international markets as easily as with the company across the street.

Streamline information distribution to workers

Web site is the fastest, most economical way to disseminate information within your organization. Instead of relying on the haphazard distribution of memos, employees can visit their company’s web site at their convenience. Net access can also password protect an employee-only web site so that sensitive information remains within the company.

i) Staying in contact in any time zone.

If you send employees abroad or have offices around the world, Having a website in an expedient way to communicate. It costs no more than a local phone call to access the site and the web in available in over almost countries for the world.

ii) Employees on the road.

Your employees on the road may need up to the minute information. A quick local phone call can keep your staff supplied with the mos detailed information, without long distance phone bills and tying up the staff at the home office. Additionally, salesmen on the road can enter orders on-line so that the company can immediately begin working on them.

Public Relations

This is becoming an exceedingly important reason to have your company on-line. Even without creating a complex site like the federal express site, your presence on the internet is like passing our your business card to thousands, may be millions of potential clients and partners. It is virtually a worldwide announcement saying, “This is what I do. If you ever in need of my services, you can, 24 hours a day inexpensively and simply, reach me on the web.”

i) Releasing time-sensitive materials.

Information can be made available on your web site at the time you specify, with all related materials such as photographs, biographies, etc.


ii) Reaching the media

Every kind of business needs the exposure that the media can bring. With the internet hype at the eclipse of its power, an innovative web site will almost certainly get written up in one publication or another.

Reduce to costs of serving your customers

You will find many ways to serve your customers using WWW technology. For example, you can make forms available to pre-qualify for loans. Or have your staff do a search for that classic jazz record your customer is requesting. (without typing up your staff on the phone to take down the information.) Give your clients valuable back-packing tips or

“The 10 Best ways to pay less taxes.”

All this can be done. Simply and quickly. On the web.

i) Making business information available.

You can save phone calls and your staff members’ time by just posting basic business information on your website. Posting the upgrade information on your site will save you money and keep your customers informed of every reason why they should do business with you.


ii) Answering frequently asked questions.

A lot of your staff’s time is probably spent answering the same questions over and over again. These are the questions customers and potential customers will ask before they deal with you.
Display the answers on your web site and you will have freed up a lot of time your office staff.

iii) Receiving feedback from customers

With a web site, you can ask for feedback from your customers and get it instantaneously. E-mail can be built into web pages and will give you the answers while they are fresh in your customers mind, for a fraction of the cost. Another benefit is that you can respond to your customers when you choose to and not necessarily at the exact moment that they call.

iv) Creating a 24 hour service.

If you have ever remembered too late or too early to call the opposite coast, you know the hassle. We are not all the same schedule. Business is worldwide but your office hours are not. Trying to reach America to Europe is even more frustrating. Web pages serve your customers 24 hours a day, seven days a week adding to your costs.