Your domain name is more important than what you believe it to be. For starters, it clues your visitors about what the site is about. It also has a pivotal role to play in laying the structure of your blog.
What is a Domain?
A domain name is like a website’s fingerprint. It is totally unique and the sole way to access it directly. Much like a home address or a phone number, it’s the essential component of your website, a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols that no other site can use.
Rather than relying on lengthy strings of letters and numbers (known as IP addresses), domain names simplify the process of exploring the internet and quickly accessing specific websites. Not to mention, domain names possess economic value and can be purchased, exchanged, or sold in multiple online venues. So, in other words, investing in a quality domain name is definitely worth it due to its limited availability.
How Do You Decide On a Domain Name?
You decide on a domain name based on its potential to branch out and expand into other niches in the future. If you make your domain name too specific, for instance, mumshealth.com, there is a high chance of you putting a cap on the search volume.
Eventually, you might just run out of areas to talk about that deal specifically with mothers’ health. Instead, it is wiser to come up with a name that has more scope, something like womenandhealth.com.
You can easily expand upon the site and talk about mothers’ health as well as something that caters to working women, homemakers, and the like.
In case you are still wondering how this is crucial for your site, the simple answer is GROWTH! The more you have areas to talk about, the more you can grow and build the authority of your site, so keep this in mind when you’re planning and growing niches.
It is like a snowball effect. Therefore, you start gaining the search engine’s favor and confidence and rank for everything that is remotely associated with your site only because Google trusts your site more than any other site.
Significance of a Domain Name for Your Business:
Having a good domain name provides the following benefits:
Builds authority and trust in your business:
A custom domain name gives your business an air of professionalism that can’t be matched by generic, free web-hosting URLs. With your own unique domain name, like www.yourcompany.com, you can instill confidence in your customers and show them that you mean business.
Provides brand visibility:
A great domain name is like a shop window, displaying your brand and luring customers in. It’s a brilliant way to increase visibility and get your brand noticed.
Provides mobility for your internet presence:
Having your own domain name provides mobility for your internet presence. If you ever choose to switch web hosting services, move to another country, or even host on your own server, your domain name remains the same, enabling you to keep building your brand without having to start from scratch.
Improves Your Marketing and Visibility:
Having a domain name that is branded, short, and easy to remember can take your marketing and visibility to the next level! With a memorable name, users and search engines will have an easy time finding you, leading to increased reputation and natural traffic, all without any recurring costs.
SEO Ranking:
Having a domain name that matches your target keyword gives you an edge. But even more crucial is the bendability of your domain – the power of your brand cannot be underestimated. Your domain name is how customers will share, recall, search for, and connect to your business online. In search engines and on social media, the domain name is the main way people identify and know where the links are taking them.
Custom domain name for emails:
Having a custom domain name opens up the opportunity to create a custom email address that reflects your professional brand. Instead of using a generic email address like Gmail or Yahoo, why not show off your business’s identity with something like “info@businessname”? This not only gives you a much more polished, professional look but also builds trust with potential customers, demonstrating that you are a serious, dedicated business.
Where Do You Buy Domain Names From?
There are several sites from which you can buy domain names. GoDaddy, DreamHost, BlueHost, and Namecheap are all sites that excel in this area. Namecheap might be the right choice for you if you do not have a grand budget for your first domain name. They register domain names at a much lesser cost than their competitors. Also, they have high regard for your privacy and shall keep your data confidential.
You can follow the following steps to register a domain name:
1. Brainstorm a catchy name and check its availability
2. Choose a reliable domain registrar
3. Pick an appropriate domain suffix
4. Buy and register the domain
5. Don’t forget to renew at the end of your term.
Things to keep in mind before choosing a host:
Now that your domain name has been taken care of, you need a good host. InMotion, BlueHost, and WPXHosting are some of the names that you can consider. While opting for a particular host, you need to keep certain things in your mind.
Speed:
Check whether your host has a good page load speed. Google considers the time taken for your website to load as an extremely important criterion. Therefore, you need to choose a host that has excellent speed.
The audience does not have the patience to wait for 10 seconds for a web page to load. Therefore, your host must be able to provide you with maximum page load speed.
Location:
Go for a host that has its servers in different locations. This shall give you immense opportunity to choose from, which will eventually be responsible for increasing the speed.
Support:
You need a host that provides you with support round the clock in case of any emergency. Even if there is no emergency and you are an amateur who needs help with setting up the website, you need to be able to reach out to people who can help you out with your issue.
Additional Details to Check:
Check if they provide their services at the best price in the market and also see whether they provide your site with SSL certificates, a factor that works tremendously well with Google.
Connect Your Domain and Host:
Now that you have registered your domain name and have a host at your disposal, you need to connect the two so that when someone searches for your domain, they are directed to your website.
The process is usually simple, and whichever site you buy your domain from will have simple steps that shall teach you how to go about the process.
It usually takes a day for the entire procedure to be registered, and your website shall go live in a day. So you will have to wait until that is done.
The Bit About a WordPress Website:
WordPress has made content management and website optimization easier than ever. You can choose from a host of themes and plugins that are available for free.
Your host could also provide several advantages that you could reap from WordPress. An account with WPXHosting, for instance, means that you are entitled to malware protection, backups, and others.
When it comes to very competitive niches like casino and gambing SEO, you need every advantage that you can get, and malware protection becomes even more important as there are some very competitive webmasters out there who want to outrank you at all costs.
Conclusion
Not many people harp on the role domain names have in the growth and expansion of websites. This is pretty negligent behavior, especially on the part of the ones imparting knowledge about SEO. Authority SEO content can get you far, but a strong domain is like attaching your content to a rocket ship.
Take your time when selecting the perfect domain name for your business project. After all, it’s like getting a tattoo where you want it to be just right, as it’s meant to be with you for the long haul. Sure, you can change it, but that would require effort and cost more resources.
Choose a domain name that allows you to expand into other niches so that you can scale up your website and see it as a long-term business.
FAQ
Can someone else own my domain name once registered?
Once you have registered a domain name, you are the only person with access to it as long as you keep renewing it and maintaining ownership. As long as you continue to pay the registration costs and keep the contract’s data up to date after registering a domain name, you retain the rights to use that name for a certain period.
Who is called a domain registrant?
A company or person who registers a domain name with a domain registrar is known as a domain registrant. The person who registered the domain is the rightful owner of the domain name and has the sole authority to use it. They must also ensure that any use of the domain complies with all existing laws and regulations.
Who is a domain registrar?
A company that handles the registration of domain names on the Internet is known as a domain registrar. They hold accreditation from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which oversees the DNS and allocates domain names to certain IP addresses.
