Domain name and Label questions....
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Posted on Jul 21, 2004 08:22 pm
ILLbizzel
ILLbino - one of WA's finest
Member Since: Feb 10, 2004
Couple questions:
Is it a bad idea to have a domain name with a hyphen in it? for ex. home-recording-connection.com, lol.
Also, when it comes to a label name. How do you register to create your own label like HomeRecordingConnection Records? Is that something you register with the state or with the national govt? How do you check if the name is already taken?
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Jul 21, 2004 08:29 pm The domain name thing is a mixed arguement. Many argue this is just what you need for spiders (web robots checking names) and others argue against it.
These days, the Search Engines are getting more and more sophisticated and place little emphasis on the actual names included in the title, tho this does still have some affect on a search.
It used to be if your domain was say guitars.com and you had a page loaded with guitar keywords, title tags etc - AND the domain, it would add a fair bit of extra weight to your S/Eng rankings. Now, they are all wiser and check the title tag (THE most important tag apparently) followed by keywords and relevance to the page.
Alas, its not as important as it used to be methinks. Im sure DB will have some input here being in the SEO game as well..
RE: Your label name - I have NAE idea!!
Good luck
Coco.
Jul 21, 2004 08:33 pm I would assume you would register a label name just like any other business name. Legally, I label is just that, a business, nothing special about it from that perspective.
I personalyl wouldn't have hyphens in my domain name, nothing to do with bots, just harder to promote and remember with odd characters like that in it.
cooloFrisco's Most UnderratedMember
Since: Jan 28, 2003
Jul 21, 2004 10:56 pm Personally, I wouldn't put dashes because if you ever tell someone the domain, you'd have to tell them everytime, "oh yeah, and put dashes between each word." Then they go home and don't know the difference between dashes, underscores, and slashes, and never find the website.
As for setting up a label, it is the same as setting up any other company. First you need to determine what structure your company is going to be: sole proprietorship, corporation, S-Corp, LLC, partnership, or whatever. You'll need to check what structures your state allows. If you live in a state that charges sales tax, you'll need to get a resellers permit for you company. You'll also have to get an employers id # from the IRS (basically the equivalent of an SSN for a company) if you choose any structure besides sole proprietorship. You'll likely have to register with your municipal/county government for taxes as well, and possibly for DBA (doing business as) sometimes called a fictious business statement. You can check with your state gov (in Cali it's the Secretary of State's office) to see if anyone has trademarked your name already. There is also a national office to check for trademaks as well.
Hope that helps.
Jul 22, 2004 06:54 am Aye...avoid those dashes/underscores.
I would never use them myself tho Search Engine wise, I dont think they would harm your site.
If you find the domain you want is taken, consider rephrasing with a whole new domain, pointing at your business. Example: your domain is mystudio.com - rephrase with someting like qualityrecording.com - thats just an example and not a good one at that but you get the idea. Each "pointing" domain can be a doorway, an advert if you like, for your actual site.
Its gets complicated but as everyone's said so far - avoid the slashes/underscores/dashes.
Coco.
Jul 22, 2004 09:43 am Having just recently purchased a domain name, I will echo the thoughts of those against hyphens and underscores. When someone asks you for your website address you want to be able to tell them something that they will remember off the top of their head. You don't want to have to grab a pencil and paper and scrawl out some big long URL.
The problem is that all of the good".com" domains are spoken for. We opted to go for one of the newer ".us" domains, as in "thecutaways.us" It's a lot easier than our old one, which I could never remember anyways!
ILLbizzelILLbino - one of WA's finestMember
Since: Feb 10, 2004
Jul 22, 2004 02:02 pm Yea, I just bought a new domain name without the dashes. I got lucky on the name. Once I'm done designing, I'll give you the link.
As for the label, it's on a state by state basis? For example, Eminem's label is "Shady Records". So there could be a different Shady Records for each state?
I've registered for a business license before but that was for TriplePlatinumBeats.com. Not really a label, but for making beats. It was sole propietorship. I heard its better to have a corporation license so in case of any lawsuit, a person could only sue the company, not me individually. Is this correct?
Jul 22, 2004 02:05 pm yes, that is correct, but, before you do that, go to the trouble and expense, I would wait and see hwo things go, and think about the possible situations that would open up a lawsuit to determine if and when it would be necessary. Concentrate on getting the business going first.
zekthedeadcowEat Spam before it eats YOU!!!Member
Since: May 11, 2002
Jul 22, 2004 03:29 pm actually having - in a domain name with screw up email in various ways... I never looked at why but it does. My local Chamber of Commerce had a big problem with it.
Google does it's ranking on how many other sites link to the site in question... an the title tag, description tag, and content for key words ... yahoo I think is only title and description tags...
Jul 22, 2004 03:46 pm I do believe Inktomi (Yahoo) uses content pretty heavily as well.
Jul 22, 2004 04:52 pm Aye..that is correct DB..
Coco
cooloFrisco's Most UnderratedMember
Since: Jan 28, 2003
Jul 22, 2004 06:45 pm Trademarks are a state by state thing and a national thing. If shady records was only operating in one state, say MI, and someone in say, NY started another label called shady reocords, they could never use that name in MI, but could use it anywhere else.
That's why Dreyers ice cream is Edy's on the east coast. It's too close to Breyers, even though Dreyers started before Breyers, they didn't have presence in the east until after Breyers came along. Does that make sense?
