Custom Domain Names – They Look Great and are Easy to Remember!

It’s difficult for people to remember a long name or long site address with a bunch of weird words or formatting. Phone numbers are only seven characters because it is proven that seven characters are the maximum a human can remember at one time.

Knowing this, it’s a good idea to get your website a domain name (and a short one at that!) that people can easily remember. The long Clubspaces domain names are difficult to remember, let alone type into the browser! Here’s how to get yourself a nice short domain name and hook it up to your website.

• Choose a Domain Name
  This can be easy or difficult, depending on which domain names are available. Let’s say you’re an AYSO Region in Long Beach, located near Belmont Shore. It might be best to choose a name such as belmontshoreayso.org, so people know your location and can remember it easily. Region numbers are difficult to remember (and parents don’t always know what Region they play in), so it’s best to go with a location-based domain name.
   
• Choose a Domain Name Provider
  There are many, many providers out there on the Internet, with all different kinds of pricing available. GoDaddy has domain sales every so often where you can get a domain name for $0.99. Shop around and make sure you get the right price. Sometimes they’ll ask if you want to buy your domain for five or 10 years, giving you an even cheaper price. Be careful with this because sometimes you will be charged for the whole five or 10 years up front (yes, it happened to me and then I wondered why my domain cost me $60). It may be more cost efficient for you now to just buy one year at a time. Other sites may give you a low cost domain but the pricing is only effective for the first year. Read all of the fine print BEFORE clicking the BUY button!
   
• Link it to Your Website
  Once you purchase your domain, it’s pretty easy to link it up to your website. Somewhere on the website you host your site on, they’ll have two DNS addresses that you can use to link up your domain. If you can’t find them, contact the company your host your website from and they can help you. Once you have the DNS addresses, log into your domain and find the DNS management section. Here you should be able to input the two addresses (NS1 and NS2). Once you update these, your domain name should link up to your website. Sometimes it can take up to 48 hours to take effect.

Domain names are a cheap, great way to help visitors remember your website. It also helps to have a nice easy name in all of your registration and advertising materials! Happy naming!