Hello,

I thought to share an article from Entrepreneur Magazine which provides helpful hints for choosing a domain.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/219410

Janine

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WRITE FAB RFP PROPOSALS & land THE VA job. WinningRFP unveils soon! SignUp www.WinningRFP.com

Thanks for sharing, that article has some great points. I would have never thought of the first one they list (putting your location in your domain name).

Wow, very interesting article Janine. Thanks for sharing. I am still trying to come up with a name for my business. However, I will definitely bear these great points in mind when I am ready to purchase my domain name. Thanks for sharing!

Riley

Thanks Janine. Very interesting article and great points to keep in mind.

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Tracy Patterson
TEP Virtual Services, LLC

One of the reasons I want to be a VA is so I am not tied to one specific place, and therefore our family can move anywhere we want or take loooong overseas vacations while I continue to work. So, even if that's a ways down the road, tip #1 may end up being counterproductive in the long run if you are seeking that type of lifestyle!

AMEN Luke... For some businesses that may be very good especially in search engine use... BUT I agree with wanting to work VIRTUAL and not being tied down. My husband and I have purchased a motor home and that is now our office!! We are currently in LAS VEGAS - but that has no bearing on how we service clients in IL and CA

I often see domain names chosen that utilize dashes and hyphens. I often cannot remember domain names that have such characters listed in the name.

One of the tips in this article is, " Do not Use dashes, abbreviations or numbers in your domain name".

Sometimes what happens is that the name that a VA wants is already chosen or it may be quite long so to make it readable, hyphens and dashes are used.

Glad to hear the article is useful.

Janine

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Interesting food for thought! I appreciate you sharing this article.

I noticed in the comments underneath the original article that some people feel the ".com" extension is not as important as it once was. The article talks about securing a domain name with the .com extension and advises against going with anything else if possible. I have an older .net domain (though I haven't really updated the website in some time) because the original domain I wanted in .com was already taken. I was able however, to get the domain I wanted for this new venture as a .com.

What do you all think about the supposed validity or recognizability in domain names that go with .net, .org, etc? Is it that important to stick with .com domain names only?

I want to begin by saying the article was great and I am thankful Janine was gracious enough to share it. You will find that the people on VAF are so great about sharing.

I do not see it as "important" to stick with .com only -- I do believe that if you already have a .com -- it may be an unneccessary expense/action to also invest in the other extensions in addition. I know I have debsprofessionalservices.com through GoDaddy, and they are always offering me the option to purchase additional domain names i.e. debsprofessionalservices.net but I have not chosen to do so.

If someone else was nosing in and trying to use my name or close to it -- it would be an option to consider to protect my business.

Thanks great information especially for us newbies!!