Attire Accessories - Dec 2017/Jan 2018 (Issue 67)

94 ATTIRE If there’s one thing guaranteed to cause frustration, stress and worry for any new e-commerce business owner, finding a good domain name is probably on the list. I remember way back in the early noughties spending literally days musing over a name for my new business, one which had an available domain name and didn’t have a competing registered entity already trading. Putting the trials and tribulations of setting up a brand-new business aside, don’t think that getting a good domain name to promote an already established bricks-and-mortar retail store is easy.There are many pitfalls and crocodile traps to look out for… NEWOR OLD? Finding a domain name that isn’t already registered can be a bit of a challenge. If you think your company name is pretty original, think again. Somebody has probably already got your chosen domain name and is currently using it to promote a business out there on the World Wide Web! If you’re lucky enough to be able to register the domain of your choice through a registration service then great, however what happens if somebody already owns the domain name that you really want? Domains that are actively being used are unlikely to be given up at any price, however people can and do buy domain names to trade as commodities. In this case, you can approach the domain owner to negotiate a purchase directly (there are many services online to search for domain owner details, try viewdns.info for instance). In most cases, unless the domain owner has masked his or her identity, contact details will be present for the domain. You may find that the domain you want is actively being traded on a domain name marketplace. Expect to pay a substantial amount of money for the domain, based on a number of factors including that domain’s history, popularity or trading vertical. DOMAIN HISTORY Buying a pre-owned domain name, whether you’ve bought this from its current owner or a domain registration company, comes with some potentially important gains or truly disastrous pitfalls. It’s here that you really need to be cautious and do your research. You can end up spending a large amount of money on a pre-owned domain that could potentially do your business a lot of harm, or at the very least dampen any progress you could possibly make with your new e-commerce website in search engines. Domain history is all important. Google especially has a very long memory when it comes to domain name usage history, so even Intelligent Retail’s David Fairhurst explains how to avoid the pitfalls of choosing a domain name for your business’ website Getting the right domain name