Search for Suitable Domain Names Proves Tougher With Internet Growth

As Firms Flock to Web, Finding an Appropriate Site Name That’s Not Already Taken Becomes One of First Challenges

By Nancy Kercheval

Daily Record Business Writer

The age-old philosophical debate over what’s in a name has taken a new twist in the Internet Age: Even a slight variation on a domain name can lead an Internet searcher down a thorny path.

For instance, don’’t send your children off to do research on the White House without providing them with the exact address for the government site. The official site is www.whitehouse.gov.

Changing the .gov to .com brings up a site that some might think is Bill Clinton’’s own personal Web page, but it won’t provide your children with the necessary information to write an essay on the White House. Too many X’’s are on the page and definitely too much flesh,—even under the topics of White House Interns and First Ladies.

Obviously, someone snatched up that site early on, and since the address didn’’t infringe on anyone’s trademark, it was up for grabs.

By contrast, “the Marines got smart and registered .com as well as .gov,” said Hollis Thomases, owner of Web Ad.Vantage, a venture that assists in marketing Web sites.

Most business owners don’t want their clients’ interest being diverted by porn when they should be zeroing in on their own Web pages. Yet, it’s becoming harder to find a domain name that fits a company’’s service and is likely to bring its address to the top of a search engine.

“What you try to do is create a name that is closely aligned with the product or service,” said Thomases. “You want it to be top of the mind for someone looking, or at least something that will be clever and remembered.

Client Confusion

Thomases had her own difficulties coming up with a domain name for her Web site. Everything she tried (—web connection, net connection) —already were in use by others associating their businesses with advertising and the Web.

Eventually an aunt came up with the Web Ad.Vantage name for the company, she said. But someone had already had www.webadvantage.com, so she opted to put .net at the end of her address.

Thomases recommends companies register more than one name, or avoid the brand name altogether if it does not have universal recognition.

“Ideally you want someone to type it into the browser and it pops you up,” she said. “It needs to be easy to remember and related to the product.”

But even the best-laid plans can be confusing to the client.

Domain names are registered with InterNIC, an agency under the auspices of Network Solutions that keeps track of domain names and collects the registration money. Domain names cannot exceed 26 characters, including the four character extension at the end.

InterNIC, reachable through www.internic.net, provides a search of domain names through WHOIS, accepts the registration and puts the client online,—normally within 24 hours.

InterNIC used to be strict about whether a registrant was a .net, .com, or .org. But with the skyrocketing increase in demands for domain names, InterNIC has loosened its hold and allows the client to decide the final four characters of the domain name. However, .edu still is reserved for four-year educational institutions, and .gov for government agencies.

Domain names cost $70 to register, and $35 to re-register every two years with InterNIC.

But check out www.internic.com. It’s a software company that will register a company’’s domain name for a $220 fee. The renewal every two years is $50.

It does carry a disclaimer on its opening page that it is not InterNIC.net, but basically it offers the same services at a higher price.

Incidentally, it offers a new domain name extension- .to. The extension refers to the country of Tonga, but Internic insists no one needs to live in Tonga to register a domain name with the .to extension.

Strategizing

Thomases said companies should check up front about the cost of domain name registration.

“”Some people are making money on registering names,”” she said. ““They mark up the registration fee. That’s not my practice because it’s better if the client has control of his own site.””

She warns business owners to find out who is registered as the administrative contact and insist it be a member of the company. Otherwise, whoever registers the domain name can take it over at any time and the company is left without its identity.

“”They’’re playing off people’’s ignorance and making money,”” she said.

Kristin Gonzalez, marketing director for Buttonwood, Inc., located in Adamstown in Frederick County, said she tries to strategize with clients over what words will pop to the top when they are entered into a search engine.

A funeral home director who exclusively handles Jewish funerals opted for the domain name jewishfuneral.com, knowing that his company would show up when someone was looking for a place to conduct a Jewish ceremony, Gonzalez said.

Another client simply removed the “s” from his company name, Backyard Creations, because the plural form was in use.

“Our main concern is what the visitor will enter into the search engine,” Gonzales said. “People are really having fun with coming up with their domain names.”

A trend is emerging, using RealNames, which gets away from the necessity for domain names.

“For a fee you buy just a name and can be found on a search engine that way,” Thomases said. Using net words and a special adapter, a word search on the browser will come up with a single company or person who has purchased the word.

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