Planning your site

Getting your domain name registered

After having decided upon a name for your site, there are a few more hurdles to clear until the domain name is officially yours-getting your domain name and registering the trademark or ensure that you are not violating on the name someone else has chosen.

To ensure that the name is yours, you have to:

• Get the domain name registered
• Get the trademark registered

Getting the domain name registered: This has to be confronted by everyone wanting to build a website and is quite a troubling one. The process however, seems to be a simple one. You just have to pick up a name, select an internet host and then finally furnish the licensing charge annually. It’s easy if you can come up with a name that has not been taken. Because of the fact that an increasing number of businesses are making their presence felt on the web every year, there are less number of dot-com names that are at your disposal. The good thing is there are other options like .biz and .info.

If you come up with a domain name you require, you can get it registered for approximately $100 per year via a web-hosting service.

Getting the trademark registered: Provided you are determined of your website, you have to give a thought to register the name as a trademark. Even if you do not attach importance to your website, you should ensure that the name does not violate on someone else’s.

A trademark can be a logo, name or word that represents your company or product in a unique manner. No other individual, association or company can duplicate your trademark. For example, in case of Nike, the “swoosh” logo and the “Just do it” phrase are all trademarks which cannot be violated by anyone.

The laws attached to trademark are applicable in the online world just like in the offline world. If your domain name has a word, phrase or symbol that is trademarked by someone else, you can be sued for it. The last thing you require is an intellectual-property suit six months later.

Hence, ensure that you are clean. The first thing for you to do is to carry out a trademark search via the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (http://www.uspto.gov). Following this carry out a search on the internet on the word or phrase you choose. Before settling for a choice, you are to have an idea of any similar names.

The expense rendered on registering a trademark is approximately $350. This can be carried our for words or symbols used for business purposes.

Methods to name your site:

1. Dot-com names

• Dot-com names are founded on a generic word that defines the focus of the site
• artdealers.org
• drugstore.com
• efax.com
• weather.com

Advantages:

• Customers can easily have an idea of what you do because the focus of your business is described by the name.
• Customers can memorize your URL since it’s candid and associate to your business
• Since the name has vital keywords, the search engine ranks elevates.

Disadvantages:

• They’re very 1999 and as a result will not age well
• They are different and unique. Hence, customers can get a bit puzzled with similar names of other competitors.
• They can be restricting if you want to expand off the internet
• Dot-com names normally do not usually build up confidence in the consumer.

2. Unfamiliar names

Unfamiliar names have minimum or no essential meaning at all. Hence, the name can be described by the brand.

• Amazon
• Google
• Napster
• Yahoo!

Advantages

• They are unique and it’s less possible for customers to get confused with other competitors.
• They do not have a basic meaning, so you can be the “owner” of the word. You can describe its meaning just as you describe the brand.
• They can be retained in the memory.

Disadvantages

• Since they are not definite or clear, customers will have a tough time to know exactly what you do. You’ll have to put in more efforts to make it explanatory.
• They’ll not facilitate to improve your rank on search engines since the name lacks important keywords.
• It is likely that customers will simply pass you by since they are unable to understand what kind of service you provide.

3. Names with combination

Names with combination adopt the middle approach with names that are unique but can be clearly understood.

• Ask Dr. Weil
• BabyCenter
• BlackPlanet
• Guru

Advantages

• Customers can easily have an idea of what you do even if it wasn’t obvious when they heard it for the first time.
• They are unique and hence customers can make a distinction between you and other competitors around.
• They can often be retained in the memory

Disadvantages

• They can be easily copied. Despite the fact that they are not totally generic, names with combinations can easily be copied by other competitors.
• They don’t facilitate you to improve your search engine rankings since the name lacks important keywords.