Web Presence

What’s in a name?
Everything!  You need to have a web name that’s easy to remember and unique.  You don’t want something that is close to an existing name, since misspellings will drive traffic to someone else’s site.  If you chose a site name with a number or a word that can be spelled multiple ways, you should lock up the other versions and have them forwarded to the correct one.  For example earthtake2.com also owns earthtaketwo.com, earthtaketo.com and earthtaketoo.com.  If you want, and have the budget to, you can wrap up other extensions like .net and .org, etc., but it really is not necessary if you have the .com top level domain.

How do I obtain a name?
There are several places to get a name and it depends on the type of site that you are planning.  If you plan to do a site right away and you need a template and support to put it together, you should go with a company that offers the full package.  If you are a web developer or just learning, it is best to get the domain through the company that will host the site.  This eliminates the hassle of transferring the domain name.  The two sites I use are Network Solutions and Go Daddy, which offer all of the services and packages you’ll need.  Also, you must decide if you are going to have a store or not, since this is a different type of site and requires a “cart” to take care of the transactions.  You will also need a credit card processor for the store site.

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