URL Gonna Love This! How to Name your Website and Where to Get a WWW Web name

William Shakespeare once wrote that “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” (cite: Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare) What he meant was that Juliet would be just as beautiful no matter what her name was. While this may be true for the lovely Juliet, this is not true when it comes to the name of your website.Having the wrong web name can be detrimental to the success of your business!

What is a URL? URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator; the URL is the web name of your web site on the World Wide Web (www).

The Silent yet Powerful Marketing Tool

Did you know that the name of your website is more than just a web address for people to find you? It is a silent yet powerful marketing tool you can use to help you gain higher rankings and new visitors to your website. {+}   You see, search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing, MSN, Ask, and others use what are called “Key Words” to bring up a list of sites that best match the words you typed into the search bar.  And when that search engine is looking though millions of websites, where do you think the First (1st) place it looks for these keywords is …. in the web name!  Therefore, if you have keywords in your web name you are increasing your odds of being found and ranking higher in search engine results.

Naming Your Web Site

Before naming your website, put a little thought into what that name should be. Here are some basic rules to guide you…

• Try not to make the web name too long.Ideally, a web name should be 2 or 3 words long and between 8-12 characters.  A URL should never be longer than 20 characters or consist of more than 4 words. Here are some examples:SingingLessonsNow.com = 3 words, 17 letters

  LaunchNow.ca  = 2 words, 9 letters >

• Should my website name be the same as my business? That depends. If the name of your business meets the criteria above and is related to your business then the answer is yes.  If your business name is very long, you may want to shorten or abbreviate it.
  For example, The Sweet Spot Training Centre (5 words; 26 characters) chose the url: www.SweetSpotTraining.com (3 words; 17 letters)
  Beware of using acronyms. Unless your company has a very popular one (like IBM and HP) people will not know it so you are better not to use an acronym for your url.
• If possible, use keywords in your web name. I recently advised one client; who’s business name was called “ACME” and who were Fire Prevention Experts, to try and obtain a URL that resembled www.FirePreventionExperts that they could use as a redirect to their ACME site. There are a few techniques you can use with keywords and web names to bump yourself up in search engines.
• If you are Canadian, take advantage of buying both the .com and the .ca of your web name. I cannot stress this enough!!  While you want a .com name because it is the most common web extension used and the easiest to remember for your customers, only Canadians are permitted to own a .ca web url which you must register with CIRA (Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA). CIRA is the not-for-profit, member-driven organization responsible for the management of Canada’s dot-ca domain namespace, the policies that support Canada’s Internet community, and Canadian involvement in international Internet governance.  CIRA’s leadership and policy direction are influenced by its Members. As a CIRA Member you can participate in CIRA’s Board of Director Elections, Annual General Meetings, consultations, and other activities which help shape the future of Canada’s Internet presence. CIRA Membership is free and as a dot-ca domain holder you are eligible!
  Simply by purchasing a .ca url your website will be listed in a major government registry with links to other registries, that are sure to bring you more hits! Canadians know that doing business with fellow Canadians means no tariffs, duties or other issues that can arise from international dealings or foreign exchange. If you are a Proud Canadian, then being listed in the official Canadian Directory of established web sites is quite advantageous to the success of your website on many levels.
• Does having more than one URL mean I have to manage more than 1 website? No. When you buy a URL you have the option to either:
  • use it as a website address for a new site
  • place it under construction (not recommended because it’s just a wasted, paid-for URL) or
  • redirect it to another site
• Take advantage of inexpensive advertising by purchasing additional keyword-rich URLS and redirecting them to your main website. A second URL also provides opportunities to conduct marketing and promotional campaigns that can be tested and measured, to ensure you’re getting the most value for your advertising dollar. (Let Sweet Spot help with your promotional online advertising. Contact us today for a Free quote.)

Displaying Your Web Site

While we’re on the topic of web names, I’ve received a few questions about using the letters “http” when displaying or typing in a web name. Marcia from BC wrote: “I’ve seen others type http:// in front of their web name. Why do they do this and should I start writing down my website in this manner? I usually just type the name of my website as: www.mywebsite.com”
http:// is part of Html code (one of the computer codes that makes your website look and act the way it does). By using Html code when typing in your URL you are actually creating a hyperlink (def: a hyperlink is a link that is live) that will make your site *clickable* on the internet and in some programs like Microsoft Word and Excel. In other words, the website name comes alive! If someone clicks on it they will be redirected to your website. Of course they can’t click on it if it’s simply printed on your business card. In that case, you would have www.mybusiness.com printed on your card.  Using http:// before the name of your website is a good idea when you’re writing on the internet, such as in a blog, chat (MSN) or social forum (Facebook, My Space). Rather than just typing out your web address, you’ll give them a clickable link directly to your site. This will provide an easy way for people to visit your website, increase your hits AND add a back link to your site (back links are another strategy in gaining FREE organic visitor traffic. Read all about Backlinks in our Summer issue).

Where to buy a URL:

Now that you’ve decided what to name your website, it’s time to get one.
There are many companies out there today selling URLs. Unfortunately not all of them are legitimate and not all of the safe ones are licensed to sell all the possible url extensions (.ca .org .gov .edu ….).  When it comes to web names, we trust Go Daddy.

Go Daddy has a simple to use name search function that shows you instantly if your desired URL is available. It even gives you similar web site name options to choose from. They are licensed to sell: .Com .CA .ORG and all the other URL extensions. They are affordable and best of all…. Go Daddy loves Sales! There is always a coupon on the go! Be sure to visit our home page to claim the most recent “Go Daddy” Coupon!

(Note: Go Daddy also offers hosting and an array of other add-ons and services. While we love Go Daddy for purchasing our URLs and we have opted for some of their URL add-ons for a few of our websites, it is not our hosting company of choice. Click here to read more on our preferred hosting and why.)  Just be sure to read the details to see what works best for you and your business before you buy any additional features. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Remember, you don’t actually own the URL. You buy the rights to use it – like renting it for whatever term you agreed to in your contract; usually 1 or 2 years. At the end of your term you will have the opportunity to renew it or not. Often times, marketers will buy up recently lapsed website names, taking advantage of any back links, status and visitors already established and use them for income generating sites. Some will also buy up and post names in an auction forum – brilliant! So be sure to review any URLs you plan to use in the future.

Good luck in your name search!

Take advantage of our 5 course, Web Site Building Training Series – included with your FREE Membership to Sweet Spot Training. Join today!

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