A domain name is perhaps the most important aspect of your website.  This is perhaps one of the first things they will see.  The domain tells you about the site itself.  Look at sites like www.foodtv.com, or corporate websites like www.microsoft.com, you know immediately what you are getting into.  It is what your viewers will automatically relate your business to.

Your domain name is also referred to as your web address.  This is basically your address in the World Wide Web.  As it goes, the easier your address is to remember, the easier your viewers can get to your website.

We can help you get the best domain name to fit your business.  It can help increase your revenues by bringing more viewers to your site.  It can increase the value of your company by presenting it with the utmost professionalism.  Read through and your web site will have a name that fits you and your business perfectly, like a glove.

Action Steps

Make a list.
It would be good to get a good long list of possible domain names.  If you have a particularly good customer base, you can put out a contest to get the best domain names for your business.  You can give a prize for the winner.  You can also build a list of possible domain names by going through your employees.   Set up a shared account where they can contribute a domain name while viewing other people’s suggestions.

I recommend.  One way you can collaborate on a project is by going through a shared account online.  The platform of Google Docs is perfect for this.  You can set up a spreadsheet where your employees can view all the suggestions and contribute.  If you are having trouble with the list yourself, there are online tools available like Gosimmer’s Domain Name suggestion tool to give you a list to choose from.

Follow these guidelines.
To make your domain stand out among the rest there are certain guidelines you would have to adhere to.  To begin, you need to find a short domain name that is easy to understand.  As long as you can convey your business in the least amount of characters possible, you’ll be fine.  I would not recommend using initials because it comes out unprofessional, slang-like and un-customer friendly.  The next factor you have to think about is if you are getting a memorable domain name.  Domain names must convey who you are and what your business does.

I recommend. You can read through this article to see how you can think of great domain name for your business.

Protect your brand.
Protecting your brand is not a common thought that goes through someone’s head while he or she is shopping for a domain name.  Some people who are starting up a new website might actually have an established business up and running.  The motivation can be to prevent anybody using your established name to make money from your reputation and tarnish it.

I recommend. Read this simple article about protecting your business’s reputation.  It also comes with cautionary tales and lessons in protecting the reputation of your business.

Does it sound and look right?
A lot of the business owners let their web developers choose the domain name for them. This can lead to a lot of problems when you notice that your domain name isn’t quite the same as what you had hoped.  For example, it could be that your company “Pen Island”  would have a domain name that would say “penisland.com” and that just does not sound or look right.  Use a hyphen or think of a different name that would work better.

I recommend.  If you don’t understand the difference, try reading the company name and the domain name slowly enunciating each syllable.  Read through this blog for other funny domain names.

Use SEO experts in choosing your domain name.
Your domain name can also help pull up your ranking in Google.  Google’s patented search engine takes into account several aspects of the domain including the legitimacy of a domain.  Google records the length of domain registration, the address of the website owner and the administrator, the strength of the hosting company, and the number of pages of the website.  The more favorable your website is, in terms of these factors, the higher your ranking should be.

I recommend.  If you do not have a SEO consultant employed in the development of your website, it is best to get one now.  You can go to http://www.seoconsultants.com/ to find one that is closest to your area.  You also need a good web hosting company to host your domain name, such as www.gossimer.com.

Tips and Tactics
Think about several domain names and don’t fall in love with a single one.  You don’t want to set your heart on a domain name only to find that it is already in use.

You don’t have to use your business name for your domain name.  You can choose one that refers to your business but has better name recognition.

If you hired a person to develop your site for you, make sure that he knows about the English language and not just the proper terms.  When you hire a person, make sure to double check the domain name to avoid untoward incidents like the example in the above section.

Shop around for better deals.  Even if your domain is hosted by a specific company it does not mean you cannot transfer the rights to it after.  Some providers have the capability of transferring the domain name to their company for a fee.  You get to keep your domain name and still get a good deal out of it.

Best Blogs and Forums
If you want to ask questions about your domain you can also go to this site: http://forums.seochat.com/google-optimization-7/choosing-domain-name-223734.html.

You can post a question and most experts would answer you for free.

If you liked the funny domain names, you can find more at http://www.grupthink.com/topic/22

The convenience and ease of the net has eliminated the need for most people to go out. We now do our shopping through the net. We don’t need to fall in line in the bank to perform business functions. In some cases, people even work through the World Wide Web.

This however doesn’t stop us from being social beings. We need to interact with other people. This is not an efficient activity by any means, but you have to remember that we are not machines and we need to have human contact. This is where online community sites come in. When you look at today’s web world it is dominated by sites like, Facebook, MySpace, and other online communities. This is because of the need for humans to connect. You can set up one, too. Here are some simple steps to help you build your own online community:

Encourage them to join. It is important that you know what is encourages other people to join your community. After all, Members are the life blood of your community. Find a common thread, this is especially true because people tend to mingle with people they share common interest with. As communities go, your community should be able to offers benefits that outweighs the hassle of signing up. Some other reasons for a person to sign up for a community includes gaining “street cred”, as a hobby, to learn something new and others that are personal to the new member.

I recommend: take a look at the community sites Second life. It brings people with common interest in gaming together as an online gaming community. Flickr does the same thing wit people who love sharing photos. Of course, YouTube achieves this by presenting videos. These communities provide the benefit of communicating with other people while pursuing their interests.

Keep it going. It is important to get members to join but that is only half of it. You also need to keep their attention in the community. One way to keep the community alive is by encouraging participation. You could grow your community by allowing members to express themselves, making them contributor instead of just plain vanilla members. Like any community, recognition counts, so, give members the ability to rate other peoples work, encouraging them to discuss, improve as well as commend. It is also good to place fresh content every day or every other day.

I recommend: Sites like YouTube enjoys much success through this initiatives. They encourage rating and commenting. They feature new posts everyday through their editors. Of course they also encourage casual viewers to post their own videos by promoting contests through their sponsors. Another example of a community that works well with this is Craigslist.

Recognizing obstacles and dealing with them. It is not enough to know how to encourage people to join and keeping them interested. Much like any endeavor there are hindrances that stop you from enjoying the benefits of it, online communities are no different. Most common excuse is being busy and having no time. You can deal with this by being giving incentive for participation. Hostile, narrow minded or even boring, low quality conversations can discourage people from participating in communities, so, you have to be mindful of maintaining a respectful environment without cutting into the freedom of participations. Some other barriers include lack of interest and lack of knowledge on the subject matter.

I recommend: You can see sites like MSN Live-searchwhere they offer points for every game you play. These points can then be exchanged for merchandise. You can look at communities like craigslist where inappropriate behavior is policed by the member’s itself. After several flaggings of your post, the system will automatically remove the said posts. Lack of knowledge and interest is dealt with by Yahoo! by having a wide variety of content. With its wide array of content it is hard not to find something that is particularly relevant to you.

Get the best. A lot of the potential members of online communities look at how these online communities work. They look at the best user interface; how fast it loads, all the features it provides; and a thousand more little things that they look at. If you are not adept at web 2.0, then it would be best to get some professional help because unless you get the best interface, graphics and features in your site you don’t really stand a chance.

I recommend: There are countless businesses out there that can provide you with the best internet related services providers out there, including http://www.gossimer.biz/. Gossimer is a domain registration and web hosting company that offers great assistance in getting your web 2.0 site up and running (I am CEO of Gossimer). Companies like this offer a long list of services, customized to provide you with the best website out there.

Tips and Tactics

Maintaining respect and movement is important in any community. If things start to become stale, time to start stirring the pot.

Recognize holes early. Online communities are popping up everywhere so it would be best to recognize holes in your strategy faster than you competition.

Take your member’s pulse. Being a community, your most valued assets are your members. That is why it is best to ask them what they want to see in the community. If it is viable, why not give it a try.

Encourage discussions. The main advantage you have over other forms of media is its interactivity. Unlike TV, Newspapers and magazines, online communities have the aspect of sharing. Make good use of that advantage.

To enter the contest, all you have to do is write an entry on your blog with the title Gossimer 2009 New Business Contest.  The article should detail the importance of having a stronger online presence on the internet, and how having your own domain, free web hosting and free web design will help you accomplish your business goals for 2009.  Once your blog is published, forward the link to contest @ Gossimer.biz to finalize your entry. Please resubmit if you do not receive a confirmation email from Gossimer.  There are no other particular requirements on the writing style, but the submitted blog post must be original work.  If your entry does not pass the original work qualification, we will immediately disqualify your entry.  Random blog traffickers, selected marketing entrepreneurs, and current clients from Gossimer Web Hosting and Christie Graphic Design will judge each blog entry and select 3 deserving businesses to receive the fabulous prize packages.

By entering the contest, you are agreeing to the Acceptable Use Policy and User Agreement for the Gossimer platform; and agree to the terms described in the Gossimer Privacy Policy and the Terms of Service of Christie Graphic Design.

The deadline to enter is January 16, 2009.

The judging will conclude on January 31, 2009 and

all winners will be announced on or before February 16, 2009.

If you have any further questions, please direct them to contest @ gossimer.biz.