Category Archives: Domains

Online Home-Based Business – Is It Right For You?

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Many people dream of having their own home-based online business. I have been working online from home for the past four years and I would hate to go back to a regular office job. But how do you know if an online business is right for you?

Here are several questions to help you determine if you are ready for an online business working from home.

1. Can You Drive Yourself?

Self-motivation. Discipline. Determination. Perseverance. You might have heard these words a dozen times, but how do you really measure up against them? When you work online from home, there is no place to punch in to prove that you arrived at work on time. There is no boss looking over your shoulder and nobody to set targets for you and push you towards them.

If you want to succeed with an online business I can promise you that you will need to work very hard for the first couple of years. So be honest, do you have the strength and the determination to make a real go of this, and to drive yourself to succeed with your online business?

2. Do You Have Any Online Business Experience?

If you do not have any online business experience, don’t despair. You can still start a business working from home, however if you have no experience you should start by doing it part-time. Start to build your online business in your spare time, in the evenings and on weekends. Online businesses are perfect for this. Do not give up your full-time job until you gain some first-hand online business experience and prove to yourself that you are actually able to earn some revenue through this business.

3. Do You Have Any Additional Savings?

This is a very important question if you are considering leaving your regular job to work online from home. It takes time to build up an online business and I recommend that you should have at least 6 months salary saved up in reserve.

I can promise you that a work from home lifestyle becomes less attractive very quickly when you’re hungry and cannot pay your bills.

4. Do You Prefer Getting Out Of Home?

Come on, be absolutely honest. After all, this is your future happiness you are considering. You see, as much they might dream of having a freelance lifestyle there are many people who simply would not be happy if they were stuck at home all day.

Does your wife or husband drive you up the wall when you spend too many hours together? Then how are you going to survive working from home all day?

I do not want to get into relationship issues and solutions here, but for the sake of your business, and probably your home relationships too, take a long hard look at the reality of your home life before you quit your full-time job and start spending most of every day at home.

How did you do on those questions? Did you pass with flying colors? Well, an online home-based business may be just right for you.

How to Choose a Domain Name

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by Daniel Moro

Choosing a good domain name is one of most important steps in setting up your online business. And with more web sites being launched every day, it is certainly not getting any easier to find good domain names that are still available. So what exactly makes a good domain name?

Easy to Remember – Your domain name should be memorable and easy for visitors to recall and type into their browser.

Relevant – Your domain name should be relevant to your business and to the content on your web site.

Short Name – Although domain names can be up to 67 characters, your domain name should be shorter, preferably seven characters or less. Shorter domain names are easier to remember, easier to type and less susceptible to mistakes. Domain names with seven characters or less are harder to come by these days, so you may have to settle for a domain name that is slightly longer.

Top Level Domain – If your business is in the US or if your web site is targeting a global audience then you should use .com as your top-level domain. Generally .net and .org domains are not perceived as being as professional as .com domains. If however you are marketing to a local audience in another country, for example in UK or Australia, then using the local .com domain such as .com.uk or .com.au may make it easier for visitors to recognize that your site is local.

Keyword Optimized – If possible your domain name should contain popular keywords relating to your topic. This will help your site to rank high in the natural rankings of search engines. Use a keyword tool such as Good Keywords to check which keywords are searched more frequently.

Consider Hyphenated Names – If you are having trouble getting the name you want, consider a hyphenated domain name, e.g. barbecue-grills.com. However the downside of this approach is that some people will forget the hyphen when typing your domain name.

How Does it Sound? - If you tell a friend your domain name over the phone, will they easily be able to spell it correctly the first time?

No Trademark Conflicts – Make certain that your domain name is free of legal conflicts due to trademarks belonging to other businesses. Your new site at GoogleSecrets.com might attract a lot of traffic but it will probably attract even more after your court case is in the headlines for breaching Google’s trademark! Stay clear of other companies’ names and trademarks.

A good place to check if a domain name is available is Whois.org.  Keep these tips in mind, and you will be well on your way to choosing a good domain name.