A domain name is your www address. A domain name allows you to have a professional presence on the Internet. It makes you look like one of the “big” players. You don’t have to have a Company name to be on the net. Individuals can also own a personalised domain name. e.g www.alihassan.com

WHY REGISTER NOW?

There are several reasons why you need to register your domain now:

Reserve your name:

Like any trade name, logo, or brand name, your domain name represents a part of your business identity – something customers and business associates can recognise, remember, and positively associate with your services or products. Since names are issued on a first come, first served basis, even if you don’t have a web site yet, or perhaps not even email, it’s important to register your preferred domain name now to ensure its not registered by someone else, at times intentionally to sabotage your business.

As the saying goes: “You never get a second chance to make a first impression”. Having your own domain name projects a professional image of you and your company, normally associated with large companies. It tends to say to others that you’re a serious business person, operating an established business, in a professional manner.

Get customized Email
Also, by doing business under your own domain name, you can use multiple Email “aliases”. Every Email message affirms your name, e.g sales@you.com. manager@you.com, service@you.com. Some web hosting service providers are able to embed these customised email accounts  in your Gmail account such that you can access you business emails and reply to them from your Gmail account interface.

Be Portable across Service Providers
If you’ve ever had to change your service provider, or even move your physical business address, you won’t have to be reminded of what an incredible hassle it can be to notify everyone. Remember, without your own domain name, your Internet address is tied to that of your service provider. Thus, if you want to change providers you also change your Web address and probably Email address as well.

Are you ready to print new cards, brochures, etc., or contact all your clients, suppliers, business associates, etc. to advise of your new address? Your own domain name lets you avoid all that, giving you a permanent Internet address. You can change your service providers every month if you want, and your address will always remain yourname.com

Avoids Loss of Momentum
As any web marketer knows, it takes effort to promote a web site, and sometimes months to get it listed on the popular search engines. Fortunately, over time, some of those marketing efforts can build momentum, bringing more and more traffic to your site without additional marketing effort. But, if you can’t take your web address with you when you switch to another ISP or host, you can lose much – if not all – of the momentum gained by your previous web marketing efforts.

HOW TO REGISTER A DOMAIN NAME:

• Firstly choose your domain name.Your own domain name is your identity on the World Wide Web. It should thus be simple to remember especially that for your business. It should also be available for registration i.e it should not have been registered anywhere else in the world.
• You could check whether the domain is available here: http://www.networksolutions.com/domain-name-registration/index.jsp;jsessionid=e2c14516e90560af03c60460c6cf:GMxg
• You can find out who owns a domain name by conducting what is commonly known as “Who is search” here: http://www.networksolutions.com/domain-name-registration/index.jsp;jsessionid=e2c14516e90560af03c60460c6cf:GMxg
• If your domain name is available, contact a service provider to register the name.
• Once the domain name is registered, the next step is to get hosting space for the domain in order to be able to have email accounts and websites under that domain name.

Summary:

Registration of a domain name is a vital step for all businesses and organisations, whether or not you currently feel the Internet is important to your business. Internet growth continues at a phenomenal rate and even if you don’t feel you have a need for a professional net presence right now, it won’t be long before your customers, suppliers and others demand it from you.

Registering your preferred name now will allow you to secure a valuable identity for yourself on the Internet to ensure you make the most of the available opportunities.