Your domain name is probably the least expensive component of your Internet presence. Amazingly, it is one of the most important! Your domain names are annually renewed and paid for just like your property taxes – if it lapses someone else can obtain it and use it regardless of your web investment.

Domain names give your customers easy ways to find you on the web. Some choose to have one domain name to create a website, some use a domain name to create email accounts, and some own many domains to enhance their web presence. Here are some tips, regardless of whether your domain name is for personal or business use:

• Initial Search
  First and foremost, be careful of how you search for a domain. Unscrupulous companies purchase domains people search for to sell them to those people at much inflated prices (often $100+ for $15 domains). CharlesWorks can avoid this problem. Just ask us.
• Association
  If possible, you should use the name of your business as all or part of at least one of your domain names. This will make it easier for your clients or potential clients to remember you and to find you on the web.
• General Names
  More general domain names are most likely already registered to other businesses (it doesn’t hurt to check with us first). It’s still a good idea to have more general name(s) associated with your business as one of your domains.
• TLDs
  Top Level Domains, or TLDs, are the extensions of the domain name, such as .com, .net, .org, etc. The most popular TLD is .com. If you find that the domain you’d like is already registered, you might try for an alternate TLD. For example, if YourBusiness.com is not available, many folks use something like YourBusiness.ws or YourBusiness.net or YourBusiness.biz instead. The various TLDs act exactly the same for search engine purposes and so on as the .com TLD.
• Hyphenated Names
  Although you can obtain them, we recommend against using hyphens for your business domain name. Most people who are searching for your site will not use a hyphen. You are better off to try a different TLD or variation of your domain name.
• Variations
  Sometimes variations can be a good option if your general business name is already registered. For example, if YourBusiness.com was not available, then you might try to register something like YourBusinessNH.com or even NHYourBusiness.com instead.
• Keywords
  Having words pertinent to your business in your domain are increasingly important. Simplistically put, search engine algorithms (the math formulae used to compute the importance or value of words contained in your site) rank the importance of web sites according to words. Many businesses use a domain name to describe the name of their business (like PixByDix.com), and, in addition to that, own domains which contain keywords which are present in their website (like photography-camera-instruction.com).
• Cost
  The charge for various domains varies according to which TLD it is. CharlesWorks will search for domains for you at no cost, and will register most of the common TLD domains at under $19 per year. If we register it for you this fee includes private registration (so your personal information is unavailable to others and you are protected more from spammers and scams) and initial DNS setup (actually pointing your domain to your web server).
• Renewal
  Most importantly, CharlesWorks will ensure that your domain is renewed automatically each year so you will not lose it.

There is absolutely no obligation of any kind to click the red button below and check out your domain possibilities!

Already have a domain name? Click on the red button below to transfer it so we can get you online here at CharlesWorks!

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