Question 1

How to choose a great domain name?

Accepted Answer

There are a few simple rules.

The shorter the better.
Make it catchy or easy to remember.
Make it relevant to your niche or industry.
The fewer words within the domain the better. Finding a domain which is 1 word is really hard these days (for a .com domain), 2 words, is more feasible. 3 words are borderline, and anything more should have a really special reason but I suggest against it. Unless it is extremely memorable.

Additionally, if this is your first domain name, I always advise people to buy their personal name. For example, in my case it's EranBucai.com.

This is for the simple reason that you are your own brand. Your name is what makes you unique. Even if you think your name may be stupid, I want to remind you all the great brands and companies you know. These brand names were named by and after a person, who when they got started, were just like you. Here are some notable examples:

Ford (automative)

And so many more.

You can read more about this article from Wikepdia, "List of companies named after people".

Why make a domain name easy to remember? Here's a short 45 seconds video that explains this perfectly.

Here are some examples of domain names I personally bought for my businesses:

EranFunnels.com = A simple combination of my name, Eran, and the word "Funnels". My freelance business that explains my process for helping people choose the best software for their online business, and then also helping them build their funnel 1-on-1.

CustomIntroVideos.com = A domain name for a side business where my team creates an custom branded introduction video for people's YouTube channel videos. Combination of the 3 words, Custom, Intro, and Videos.

WebsiteDIYCourse.com = A domain name for a sales funnel I wanted to create for my website building services. It starts off with a simple landing page to give a free gift in exchange for an email address and the follow up products to help someone DIY their website, such as my Website DIY courses. For example, my Systeme.io Website DIY course is found on WebsiteDIYcourse.com/systeme. This domain is based on the 3 words combination, "Website", "DIY" (a well known and easy to remember acronym), and "Course".

DogTrainerFunnels.com = This domain name is to serve a very specific niche of Dog Trainers. There are literally 10s of 1000s of dog trainers worldwide, and I discovered some time ago that a lot of them were looking to create an online course on New Zenler. And so, I created a sales funnel specifically to cater for that niche audience and created a Sales Page Template specifically for them and this is the capture page to bring them into my world. This domain name is a combination of "Dog", "Trainer" and "Funnels".

Another reason to buy a domain name is if you want to have have a higher chance of being found on on the search engines like Google. For example, I promote a software called "Podia", which is a software company that lets you build online courses and memberships. Since people who are interested to learn more about Podia, may type to google the search term "Podia Review".

So I bought the domain name, PodiaReview.com. While there are other factors that go into getting a website on the first page of google, I knew that this domain name would be a good one for this reason. I also bought the domain name PodiaReviews.com for the exact same reason and purpose.

Another thing to watch for when choosing a domain name, is seeing if the social media accounts are available. To do that, check the availability on a website called NameCheckr.com - I show how in this short Instagram video reel.

To wrap up this FAQ, I have a great explainer video from GoDaddy. I would like to note that even though I greatly appreciate GoDaddy's wonderful explainer video, I do not recommend buying products from GoDaddy. I'll give you my thoughts in this YouTube video.

With that said, here is the video from GoDaddy explaining how to choose a domain name:

Transcript of the video below (italicized):

*Welcome to “How to choose a great domain name.”

Your domain name is a critical part of your online identity. As your unique internet address, it can help put you on the fast track to business success – or be a stumbling block to reaching your goals. So knowing what makes for a good domain name matters.

For starters, keep it short and relevant to your business. A name that’s easy to spell and type is a bonus.

For instance, if your business is cleaning windows, you’ll want your domain name to include the keywords “window” and “cleaning” or “clean”- because those are the words people will search when they need your service.

Numbers, whether spelled out or as digits, and dashes can create confusion. Avoid forcing customers into mental gymnastics trying to recall your online address.

The domain “bestwindowcleaning.com,” three short words, is way easier to remember and type than number1-windowcleaning-4u.com

For local businesses, including your city, state, or region in your domain helps your customers find you faster. For example, seattlewindowcleaning.com is more targeted than bestwindowcleaning.com.

Now for the extension…. that’s the part of the domain name following the dot. If you can get “.com,” go for it. It’s the most widely used extension, but it’s also been around so long that getting a short, memorable name that ends in .com can be a challenge.

Other popular extensions include .net, .org., .info. and .biz. Plus, hundreds of fun new ones are now available, like .guru, .shop, .nyc, and .actor. These descriptive extensions allow you to perfectly represent your business and boost your brand.

Speaking of your brand, you can protect and build it by purchasing misspelled versions of your domain name so customers who get it wrong are still ushered to your website. It’s also a good idea to purchase your domain with various extensions to prevent competitors from registering them.

Finally, make haste. Domain names sell fast. But most are affordable, so get your favorite domain registered now before someone else beats you to it.

Domain registrars, like GoDaddy, streamline the process of finding a good domain name because they know which names are and are not available and help with your search by suggesting relevant alternate domains when the one you want is already taken.

Question 2

What is a sub-domain? (subdomain)

Accepted Answer

A subdomain is a subset, or a smaller part of a larger domain. For example, my main domain is EranBucai.com.

This domain and website is with WordPress.

I have the following sub-domains...

Store.EranBucai.com, which is my courses and membership website. This link is hosted by Podia.

Go.EranBucai.com, which is my sales funnels sub-domain. This link is hosted by EranFunnels.com (my funnel builder).

For all my affiliate links, I have another sub-domain which is Link.EranBucai.Com which is hosted by another software that let's you create branded links. For example, here is a link for someone to make a payment to me through PayPal: https://link.eranbucai.com/PayPalMe or here is an affiliate link to buy the book Traffic Secrets https://link.eranbucai.com/TrafficSecretsBook

I also have a sub-domain for some of my free PDFs, which is under PDF.EranBucai.Com, this is hosted by a software that lets me design professional lead magnets to give away as freebies and build my email link. Here is a link example: https://pdf.eranbucai.com/starting-an-online-business-cheatsheet-pricing-products

There are examples of my own business.

Additionally, there is an excellent explainer video from GoDaddy which I wanted to share.

I strongly recommend, if you have not done so already, checked out the FAQ on how the internet works.

To complete the FAQ, here is a full transcript of the video:

Hi there. In this video, you’ll learn what a subdomain is and how they’re used.

A subdomain is a subset, or a smaller part of a larger domain.

To better understand the concept of subdomains, let’s dissect a domain name from the top down.

A complete domain name includes a Top-level Domain or TLD, and a Second-level Domain, or SLD.

The TLD is the part that occurs right after the last dot in the domain name; this is why TLDs are sometimes called domain extensions. In this example .com is the TLD. While there are several types of TLDs, the most common are .com, .org, and net.

The SLD, or second level domain, is the part that occurs immediately in front of the last dot in the domain name. In this example, it’s the name of the business. The SLD is what makes a domain name unique.

Now this part… right here… that displays before first dot in the domain name – it’s the subdomain. That’s right… fun fact: WWW is actually a subdomain.

The good news is you don’t have to use WWW for your subdomain; instead, you can replace it with almost any word to create a subdomain with a unique web address, without having to purchase a new domain name.

Subdomains function as an extension of a registered domain name, allowing you to send visitors to a different web address, or allowing you to point to specific IP addresses or directories in your hosting account.The most common use for a subdomain is organizing or dividing website content into distinct sections.

If your website has a substantial amount of content on a given topic, or there’s content on your website that you want to draw attention to, say for marketing purposes, you can create a subdomain for it. A subdomain sets this content apart from the main site and gives it a unique web address, without having to register a new domain name.

Consider the dog-friendly winery, Molly’s Bark and Wine.

During her first year of business, the owner has amassed a large online photo collection of dogs who’ve visited the winery.

To highlight the business’ unique dog-friendly atmosphere and provide a dedicated space for her expanding photo gallery, she creates the subdomain, ‘dogs’, under her registered domain name, mollysbarkandwine.com.

The WWW in her domain name is replaced with the word ‘dogs’ and the new web address for the dedicated photo gallery is dogs.mollysbarkandwine.com.

As an added bonus, this subdomain is treated as a unique website address and in turn, may drive new customers to her website.

Subdomains also offer a great way to create language-specific versions of websites or to accommodate information that may not be critical to the primary website, such as an events page, blog or store.

To recap, a subdomain is a subset of a registered domain name. Subdomains are most commonly used to divide websites into distinct sections that have unique web addresses.

Question 3

What is DNS? How does DNS work?

Accepted Answer

DNS stands for Domain Name System. To answer this question, here is a short video that explains.

To complete this FAQ, here is the transcript of the video:

Hi there. In this video, you’ll learn about a crucial part of the Internet – the Domain Name System or DNS.

So what is DNS? Well, it’s a translation system that allows us humans to search the Internet using language we’re comfortable with. Without DNS, the Internet as we know it would not exist.

For example, you couldn’t do your shopping online; you’d have to drive to an actual store to buy your things. There would be no way to stream music or videos to your smartphone, and no way to video chat with a friend across the ocean, or even across the street. But what does DNS have to do with this?

The Internet is made up of computers that are set up in large networks around the world. These networks are connected by a web of underground and, in some cases, undersea wires.

Computers on the Internet communicate with each other using strings of numbers called Internet Protocol or IP addresses.

Now it’s one thing for computers to communicate using strings of numbers, but imagine if we humans had to memorize these seemingly random strings of numbers for every single website we wanted to find – not very realistic, huh? Well because of DNS, we don’t have to.

DNS translates the human-friendly domain names that we’re comfortable using, into the IP addresses that computers need to communicate with one another. The process starts with you and your web browser.

When you type a domain name into your web browser, your browser and computer determine if one of them already has the domain’s related IP address in their memory.

If it’s a domain you’ve visited recently – like the newspaper website you visit every morning, your browser may have stored the domain name and its IP address in memory, and can display the website in a split second.

If the domain isn’t hanging around in local memory, your computer takes the search out to the Internet, where it asks, or queries, a series of DNS servers, if they have the domain name in their memory or database.

The first DNS server that receives the query, checks its memory for the domain name. If it doesn’t find the domain name in its memory, it sends the query on to the next DNS server to see if it can help.

As soon as the domain name is found on a DNS server, that server returns the domain name and its associated IP address to the requesting DNS server, and on down the line until it arrives back at your computer.

Each time a requesting DNS server receives a domain name and IP address, the server stores the information in its memory, so any future requests for the domain name can be answered more quickly.

Once your computer has the IP address for the domain name, your browser knows where to find it on the Internet.

Your browser uses your computer to communicate with the server where the domain name is hosted and requests any associated files.The host server returns the files which then display your web browser.

Our ability to use domain names to quickly and easily retrieve websites and files from the Internet is entirely dependent on this tightly integrated and tiered line of communication.

So the next time you buy a pair of shoes online, listen to some music on your smartphone or video chat with a friend on another continent… remember, it’s not magic that lets you do things on the web – it’s DNS.

Question 4

What is the difference between a domain name and a website?

Accepted Answer

Below is a video explaining the difference, as well as a transcript of the video.

While I appreciate the wonderful video created by GoDaddy to explain this, I do not recommend using GoDaddy for buying your domain name. My recommended company to buy a domain name and hosting is called SiteGround.

Transcript of the video (italicized):

*Hi there. In this video, you'll learn the difference between a domain and a website.

While domains and websites are closely connected, they are two very different things.

After registering a domain, you need to do something with it, put it to work for you. Your domain can be used for a website, for an email account, or for both.

You can, however, register a domain and choose NOT to use it for a website or an email account BUT you can't have a website or an email account without a domain.

When used for a website, your domain name is what people type into their browser to find your site — this is why they are sometimes referred to as web addresses.

So godaddy.com is the domain used for GoDaddy's website.

Registering a domain, however, doesn't automatically create a website — it only means that you've registered the domain.

So for example, if you decided to start your own business and you thought of great name for it, you might copyright the name to protect it.

However, simply giving your business a name is only one of many steps that go into building your business.

In the same manner, when you register a domain and want to use it for a website, you'll need to first build the website, and then find a host for it, so it can be visible on the Web.

What's a host? Website hosts are companies that house, serve, and maintain files for one or more websites.

Think of a website hosting company like a shopping center that contains several individual stores.

If you want to open a store at the shopping center, you can lease space and set up shop.

Just like a shopping center, website hosting companies enable you to lease space on their web servers where you can store your website files and make them available for visitors to view.

Because you have registered your domain, you can use it at any web hosting company you want.

Remember your store in the shopping center? Suppose you decided to move your store and lease space at a different shopping center.

If you packed up your products and moved to a new location, you would still be able to use the same name for your store.

The same is true for your domain — regardless of where you decided to host your website's files, your domain remains yours for the duration of your registration.

GoDaddy is both a domain registrar AND a website hosting company — and we have the tools to help you build your website.

This means you can register your domain name, build a website for it, and get it on the web - all in one place.

Question 5

How do you use a domain name?

Accepted Answer

There are 3 things you can use a domain name: (a) create a professional email; (b) create a website; (c) forward to another page, like a social media account. Watch this video to learn more (and transcription provided below too).

While I greatly appreciate the wonderful explainer video created by GoDaddy, I do not recommend them as a company to buy products from. The company I presently recommend to buy domain names and hosting from is called SiteGround.

Transcript from the video (italicized):

*We’re gonna show you three ways that you can use your new domain name.

Did you go with the classic .com, or claim a sly new extension like .guru, either way, your domain name is a powerful little piece of text.

You’ve purchased the perfect domain name ready to put it to work for you. The first way you can use your domain name is to create an email account. Already have an email account?

Most people do. Chances are sometime in past you signed up for a free email account - it was enough for keeping in touch with friends and creating your online dating profile.

But now you’re a grown-up; and you do grown-up stuff, like running your small business. Isn’t time to up your email game? You can use your domain name for a custom email address.

Think about it; if you want your business to stand out from the crowd, which email address is going to get it noticed: the free one you’ve had since college, or the customized one that uses the name of your business.

Using your domain name for your email address not only looks more professional, it’s a great way to promote your business!

Customized email is great, but like most people, you probably got your domain name to create a website for it, which is the second thing you can do with your domain name.

Using your domain name for a website gives you a dedicated, branded space to introduce your business to anyone, anywhere, who can connect to the Internet.

Even better, your website will give your business almost boundless marketing reach. People from Arizona to Zimbabwe will be able to can find you online with just a click of the mouse.

But what happens if you’re so busy running your business that you just can’t find the time to build your website, or even find someone to do it for you.

You might consider forwarding your domain name to somewhere else on the Web, until you get site up and running. This is the third thing you can do with your domain name. Confused? Let me explain.

It’s not uncommon for small businesses just starting out to create a Facebook business page.

If you have a Facebook business page or another social media account on the Internet, you can use your domain name to forward visitors to that page, until your website is up and running.

With forwarding in place, anyone who navigates to your domain name in their browser, will be automatically forwarded to a web page you currently have – like a Facebook business page.

Clever, right?

And there you have it.

With all the power and potential your domain name has, why would you ever let it just sit there and collect dust.

Use it for your email address, a new website, or to forward visitors to an existing website, but put it to work for you now!*

Question 6

What is a domain name?

Accepted Answer

A domain name is the name of the website that you visit. For example, this website is FAQ.EranBucai.com.

Here is a great simple and short explainer video from YouTube from a company called GoDaddy, that sells domain names.

It is important for me to note that while I seriously appreciate GoDaddy's high quality explainer video, I have been a customer of GoDaddy and I definitely do not recommend buying a domain name from them.

The company I recommend buying a domain name from is called SiteGround.