Does Your Business Need A Custom Domain Name?

by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson
Web Marketing Today, Issue 4, January 4, 1996

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This article contains older information. Go here for newer information on miscellaneous Internet marketing strategies.

The short answer: Yes, unless you expect to do a minimal amount of business on the Internet.

Isn't A Domain Name Basically Vanity?

As I see it, these are the reasons for getting a custom domain name:

• Increases name recognition
• Makes it easy for customers to remember your address
• Indicates you are a serious Internet player
• Protects your Internet advertising investment from failure of your Internet Service Provider
• Allows your Internet address to go with you, even to your own in-house server if necessary.

An Instructive Story

My own story illustrates some of the issues. I began on the Web in March 1995. It was new and exciting. I used my Internet Service Provider's (ISP's) domain name (garlic.com)-- a name that stuck in people's minds. Great!

I developed the "Wilson Internet Services" Web site and began to let the world know I was there. My articles and service Web pages -- Web Marketing Info Center (http://www.wilsonweb.com/webmarket/) -- began to be discovered. I advertised on the 12 to 15 most common Web search engines with considerable success, and wherever else I could.

This morning I searched the powerful AltaVista Web Search Engine and found that here and there out on the Web are nearly 4,000 links to just one of my Web sites. I am very pleased, but unfortunately those 4,000 links are all to my ISP's domain name. Can you imagine how much work it will be to induce 4,000 Web Masters to change their links? To get Web Search engines to change all their references? Oh, I still get connected when someone clicks on each one of these links, but only so long as I keep my same Internet Service Provider.

Now I really like my ISP, and have no plans to change. But one of these days, the "big boys" will decide to move into the Internet Service Provider business in a large way. There will be price wars, and those who don't have the capital to outlast the war are likely to either fold or be bought out. What happens when cable TV and telephone companies provide Internet service through their installed network? What happens to you and me if we don't have our own domain names? We're at the mercy of the new owners, unless of course our ISP went belly-up during the price war. Then we start all over.

How Do You Register A Domain Name?

InterNIC (Internet Network Information Center) is in charge of registering domain names in the US. Once fully-supported by the National Science Foundation, they now supplement their operations from the businesses that seek domain names.

Registration is $70, good for the first two years
Renewal is $35 for each successive year

Right now there are about upwards of more than a million unique domain names, with more being registered each week. Usually a registration request goes through in a few days. I've got one client, however, who waited about three weeks.

Registration of domain names takes place through your Internet Service Provider. While the forms are available on the net (http://rs.internic.net/), you can't really do it yourself. Your ISP will probably charge you a one-time fee of $25 to $50 for the trouble of registering you. The $70 InterNIC registration fee you may pay to your ISP or, more likely, be billed by InterNIC. Tip: Don't let an ISP charge you a monthly fee for domain hosting; that's a rip-off. Insist on a single, reasonable, one-time fee. Make sure that you are listed as the administrative contact, not your Internet Service Provider. It is better for you to receive a bill two years from now than your Internet Service Provider, who just might forget. This is one bill you don't want to get lost.

Choosing A Domain Name

Most of the best names (one-word domain names) have been taken. But you can still identify your business clearly by either making a single word (i.e., yourbusiness.com) or a hyphenated word (i.e. your-business.com). To find out which domains are taken and which are still available, check out the Web interface for InterNIC's WHOIS query function, linked from Wilson Internet Services Web site, and at InterNIC (http://rs.internic.net/cgi-bin/whois/).

Can You Reserve A Domain Name?

Yes, if you can convince an Internet Service Provider to apply for the name for you on those conditions. InterNIC doesn't hold names unless you pay to register them.

What Kind Of Name Should You Choose?

One which is:

• Memorable
• Short
• Fairly immune to misspelling
• Pronounceable
• Directly related to either your business's name or core field.

I now have a domain name for Wilson Internet Services (http://www.wilsonweb.com). If I had it to do over again, I would have applied for it when I first began my business.