DomainingOnline.com

A short domain name that is memorable and easy to spell is the kind of name you need to help visitors get to your website. If the domain name has keywords that are likely to rank high in search engines, that’s a sign of a good domain name. So then, what do you do as a webmaster if you are promoting an affiliate program or a website that you created with a free web hosting service like Geocities? The best way to do this is by using a domain name redirect service.

In case you aren’t familiar with the concept, a domain name redirect service is one where a long, hard to spell, hard to remember URL is masked with a more memorable domain name. That way the visitor would see the original URL in the browser without having to type in a cumbersome domain name.

There are both free and paid domain name redirect services. One example of a free service is Tiny URL. To use Tiny URL, all you have to do is enter the URL you want shortened. Tiny URL then gives you a domain name that is much easier for your website visitors. This URL would include “tiny url” in part of the domain name, and then a number. Here is an example of a Tiny URL domain: http://tinyurl.com/14. It’s not all that memorable, but it beats typing in the super long domain names that come with free websites or affiliate programs.

To get yourself a more customized name for your website, you can pay for a redirect service. One of the best paid redirect services is Namestick. Namestick works sort of like Tiny URL does, except first you have to choose the domain name you want to use for the redirect. You can choose any domain name you want, as if it were coming through a web hosting provider or domain name registrar. Namestick in addition gives suggestions if the domain name you want is already taken. After you’ve chosen, you’ll enter the URL you want redirected. It takes two or three days for the new domain name to be ready to use.

Does every webmaster need a domain name redirect service? No, not all of them do. It depends on how you get traffic to your site. For example, if you do a lot of offline marketing, a short, memorable domain name is vital. Nobody is going to remember http://www.id79%ffr432393xom.com if it’s printed on the ballpoint pens you hand out. But if you use a lot of hyperlinks for marketing, you may not need a domain name redirect service. With hyperlinks, words and phrases are linked from one page to another. All the visitor has to do is click on them and they are taken to the site hyperlinked to. These are easy to add to web pages.

To sum up, if you have a long, easy to forget domain name, it may be worth your while to “hide” that name behind a more normal domain name you obtain through a redirect service. But if your marketing comes mostly through hyperlinks, you might not need one.

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