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Lots of people will tell you that you either don't need a domain
name or all the good ones are already taken. I don't agree, I
find (and register) good domain names on your regular basis,
and I think they're more than worth the money (you can register
domains for less than $20 per year).

1. LONG URLs

If you don't have a domain name for your web site, you'll have a
long URL, something like http://members.yourisp.com/~yourcompany
or perhaps http://yourcompany.yourisp.com/

Now that doesn't look good on a business card! What's more, your
customers and prospects probably won't be able to remember it.

On the other hand, if you get your own domain name, you'll have
an easy to remember URL, that looks professional and is easy for
folks to remember.

2. MOVING WEB HOST

When you have the type of long URLs I referred to in point 1,
your URL is tied to your web host or ISP. What happens if you
change hosting company? What happens if your hosting company goes
out of business (it happens)? Answer: Your URL changes, which
means you may have to reprint your stationary and any promotion
efforts that you've already done and most likely wasted.

On the other hand, if you get your own domain name, you can take
it with you (and make it point to your new web host), if you
change hosting companies.

3. EMAIL ADDRESSES

When you get your own domain name, you can set it up so that you
have email addresses containing your domain name. For example,
yourname@yourcompany.com

Doesn't that look a lot more professional that an ISP, hotmail or
yahoo address?

4. SEARCH ENGINE POSITIONING

If you get a domain name contains keywords that describe your
site's topic it can help boost your search engine rank (and thus
help you get more visitors).

5. SEARCH ENGINE INDEXING

Search engines can sometimes be sensitive beasts. For example,
they don't like being spamdexed with lots of junk pages, and to
stop it they either penalise sites which contain junk pages, or
may place limits on the maximum number of pages that can be
indexed per domain.

If you don't have your own domain name, other people's web sites
who simply share the same hosting service with you, can cause
your site to drop down the search engine results - or even
disappear from search engines completely!

On the other hand, if you have your own domain, you won't have
these kinds of problems: you're responsible for and only affected
by your own web site's content.

6. DIRECTORIES

Lots of folks don't consider a site serious, if it doesn't have
its own domain name - and that includes some directory editors.

Go look for yourself in Yahoo! and see how many commercial sites
you can find which don't have a domain name... Answer: Not many.

7. CREDIBILITY

When new people encounter your business through the web, they
only know you from what they see. Do you really want to look some
fly-by-night who can't afford $20 per year to register their own
domain name?

8. PROTECT YOUR IDENTITY

When you register a domain name, it identities you (or your
business). Do you really want somebody else grabbing domain names
that identify you, your business, your products, or (if
applicable) your trademarks?

Sure, if somebody else does register a domain name that infringes
your rights, you might be able to call the lawyers in, and
perhaps get it back... but wouldn't it be easier and cheaper to
avoid this hassle in the first place by registering the domains
yourself?

9. TYPOS AND MISSPELLINGS

When people type in URLs, they sometimes can make typing errors
or misspell the URL. You might consider registering the most
common spelling errors of your URL, so that these people still
end-up at your site (ask your web host if you need help with
setting this up).

10. INVESTING FOR THE FUTURE

Some people have made a lot of money registering and trading in
domain names. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that provided
that they don't infringe others' trademark or proprietary rights
("cybersquatting").

So there, exactly as promised, are the 10 good reasons to register
a domain name... but I'll add one more, and it's a reason that you
should act today:

11. GET IT FIRST

As already mentioned, domain names are being registered at a
truly incredible rate. You know what that means? If you wait, the
domain name you want could soon be taken - so register it today.

This article is Copyright (C) 2005, Answers 2000 Limited.


About the Author
About the Author:
This article was written by Sunil Tanna of Answers 2000. For more
information about domain names, and several advanced (and free)
domain search tools, please visit http://www.domaincavern.com/