How to Choose and Register a Domain Name for Your Small Business

Before launching a website, you’ll need an available domain name and a hosting provider so your site will have a place to live. But what is a domain name? What’s a hosting provider? How do you get these things, and do you really need them?

What is a domain name?

A domain name is the root address of a website: www.yourdomain.com. When you own your domain, you can add subdomains and web pages to it.

A subdomain looks like this: www.subdomain.yourdomain.com

A page on your site might look like this: www.yourdomain.com/page

Each of these is an address. The general address of a site is usually its domain. Another term often used for a web address is URL (Uniform Resource Locator). It’s also usually where a website’s home page is located online.

Why does this matter?

Owning a domain is like owning a piece of real estate. It’s digital real estate, but it’s real estate, and it has value, especially if you’re going to use it as your online business headquarters.

The reason this is important is that some web developers and website designers will offer to set up your domain for you. This is a reasonable service for them to provide, but you need to make sure the registration of your domain is in your name.

If the person you hire to manage or create your site owns the domain, they have complete control over it. Should your business relationship go sour or if anything happens to that person or the company they represent, they can take your site down with them (or just run off with it). I strongly recommend putting your domain and all related fees (including hosting) in your name and charged to one of your business accounts (in other words, you pay the domain registrar and hosting provider directly).

What’s a hosting provider? What’s a domain registrar?

A website is basically a bunch of electronic files that are stored on a special computer called a web server. The server is configured so that the files are accessible via the internet and viewable on a web browser. A hosting provider owns the servers where your website files sit and makes those files available to web users.

You own the files, you own the domain, the host owns the computers the files are stored on and all the technology that makes your site accessible to the web-viewing public. It’s similar to a cable TV provider — they don’t provide shows and movies, the networks do. But the cable provider does ensure you have access to those networks. A hosting provider ensures that the public has access to your website.

A domain registrar is an entity authorized to register domain names.

So, you register (buy) your domain name from the registrar and then you store and publish your electronic files with your hosting provider. Luckily, most hosting providers offer domain registration services, which means you can do business with one service provider instead of two.

Domains are registered on an annual basis, though most registrars allow you to register for two or more years at a time. Hosting providers usually bill by the month and most offer annual packages in which you pay for a full year in advance at a discounted rate.

Choosing a business and domain name

These days, many entrepreneurs look to the internet when it’s time to decide on a business name because it’s ideal to have a domain name that matches your business name.

Unfortunately, there’s a good chance that your number one choice for a domain name won’t be available. In fact, I can almost guarantee that if you don’t already own your ideal domain name, it’s taken by somebody else.

Here are some tips to help you choose a business and website name:

• Look for words and phrases that reflect your service offerings: Famous Footwear has a name that makes it clear — they sell footwear (shoes).
• Make a list of metaphors and synonyms for your business, industry, products, and services: Footwear is a synonym for shoes!
• Combine words in unexpected but meaningful ways: Facebook did this successfully.
• Find a mascot for your business and pair it with an industry term: Penguin Publishing.
• Make up a new word: Google proved that our dictionary is a work in progress.

Ultimately, you want a name that is sticky or memorable. Short, functional names are easier for customers to remember, and it’s best to include an indicator (literal or metaphorical) of your offerings.

Tips for Finding a Domain Name to Fit Your Existing Business

What if you’ve been doing business for years — you already have a business name, but the domain has been claimed by someone else? Or maybe you’re set on a particular business name, but the domain is already taken.

There is usually no legal recourse you can take in cases like these. In the U.S., most small business names are registered locally. There could be businesses in other states and counties with the same name as yours. This is all perfectly legal, so they have just as much right to the domain as you do.

You still may be able to get the domain you want if it’s not in use, but chances are, you’ll have to get creative.

• Check the site and see if it’s active and relevant. If it’s not, you might be able to contact the owner and make an offer to buy the domain.
• Consider using hyphens (your-domain.com).
• If you’re a geographically based business, you can add your locale to the domain name: YourNameNewYork.com.
• Add another word to the title: YourNameHQ.com, YourName360.com, YourNameOnline.com.
• Use one of the alternate extensions such as .org or.net.

Keep in mind, the name of your website doesn’t have to be the same as the domain name. You can operate your Friendly Florist website at the domain friendly-florist-hq.com. Your website title will be “Friendly Florist” but you’ll need to use the accurate URL or domain for links and on your business cards and other marketing collateral.

Bonus Tip: You can also buy a domain and use it temporarily, either while you come up with a more permanent name or work through the process of trying to obtain your ideal domain.

I have seen professionals go through the wringer on this, and I’ve been there myself. When you come up with a list of awesome names for your business only to find that none of the domains with those names are available, it can be demoralizing. Last year, I saw someone who was so frustrated by the lack of available domain names, the entire website project got shelved, and the business suffered because key marketing efforts were halted. It affected the bottom line.

While some of these solutions are not ideal, they are all better than not having a website at all. Be patient, be creative, and be willing to compromise if necessary to get a site up. On the other hand, don’t grab any old name in your hurry to launch a website, and don’t run around buying dozens of domains because you might use one of them someday, especially if you have a tight budget (that money would be better spent developing a solid site than buying possibilities).

Choosing a Hosting Provider and a Domain Registrar

You can get domain registrations and hosting on the cheap — but you’ll get what you pay for. At the high end, you can expect to spend $10-20 per year for domain registration. Hosting has a broader range. You can get hosting for about $10-25 (or less) per month for the average website. As your site grows and attracts more traffic, your hosting rates may need to increase, as your website will be consuming more server resources.

Here are a few things I recommend looking for in a registrar and hosting provider:

• Use one service instead of two. You might save a few dollars a year by using separate services, but it’s usually not worth the confusion and time it takes to manage separate accounts.
• Be sure to set up automatic renewals and billing, especially on your domain registration. Automatic renewals and billing ensure that your domain and hosting don’t expire. If this happens, your site could be lost — forever. There are plenty of horror stories about business owners who lost their websites (domain, files, and all) because they weren’t diligent and didn’t have automated renewals and billing set up.
• Look for a service provider that sends out notifications, particularly to let you know when a domain is expiring or getting renewed, when you are billed, and most importantly, when you need to update your credit card or other billing information (you don’t want to lose your site because your credit card expired).
• With regard to hosting, you’ll need to make sure your provider supports the technology you’ll need for your site; this can range from one-click installations of web content management systems (like WordPress) or e-commerce solutions.
• Finally, a great perk is a service provider that offers technical support.

Want to learn more? Find out how to choose a hosting provider.

A website is an important marketing tool that represents your business to the online community. It’s worth taking some time and figuring out a plan that will work to the best advantage of your business objectives. Learning how all this stuff works is confusing at first — especially for people who are new to doing business online. But if you’re patient and willing to learn, you’ll get through it and your website will be up and running in no time.

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Buzz Pro Studio provides website services to small businesses and independent professionals, specializing in website design and maintenance.