Web in Focus

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Sum­mary:

Guid­ance on how to choose and secure an effec­tive domain name.

Episode Top­ics:

Choos­ing a domain name:

• good
  • keep it short
  • sim­ple spelling
  • hard con­so­nants
  • allit­er­a­tions
• bad
  • hyphens and numbers
  • homonyms
  • con­text sen­si­tive humor
  • pur­pose­ful misspellings

What top-​​level-​​domain (TLD)?

• .com – most desir­able
• .org – pre­ferred for non-​​profit orga­ni­za­tions, avoid otherwise
• .net  – avoid unless no suit­able .com is available
• .edu  – pre­ferred for edu­ca­tional institutions
• coun­try spe­cific domains (such as .co​.uk)  – pre­ferred if your core audi­ence is located in a spe­cific non-​​US country.
• oth­ers (such as .mobi and .me) – should be avoided unless there is a spe­cific indus­try norm.

What to do if some­one else con­trols a domain that you want:

• Buy it from them. You can use a ser­vice to nego­ti­ate the price and/​or use a domain escrow ser­vice to reduce risk.
• File a dis­pute with ICANN regard­ing improper use of your trade­mark. You must demonstrate:
  1. the man­ner in which the domain name is iden­ti­cal or con­fus­ingly sim­i­lar to a trade­mark or ser­vice mark to which you have rights; and
  2. why the domain-​​name holder should be con­sid­ered as hav­ing no rights or legit­i­mate inter­ests in respect of the domain name; and
  3. why the domain name should be con­sid­ered as hav­ing been reg­is­tered and being used in bad faith

Where should you buy your domain?

• godaddy​.com
• namecheap​.com
• moniker​.com
• Yahoo Small Business

Keep domain reg­is­tra­tion sep­a­rate from web host­ing. We use and rec­om­mend DreamHost for shared web hosting.

Email at your domain:

• avail­able through your web host
• google apps – free solu­tion (for up to 50 users)
• Yahoo Small Busi­ness – paid solu­tion