Purchasing A Real Estate Domain Name

Sharon Hassler, President, Go Get Experts

Thanks to speculators buying up the great domain names and reselling them for hundreds, thousands, even millions of dollars, you can rest assured that the best real estate domain names are taken. As a result, you probably won’t stumble across a domain name that will generate phenomenal traffic so let that dream go! For you, the primary benefits of owning your own domain name are having a web address that’s easy to remember, easy to read, easy to share and contains a few of your keywords to help with searches.

Use your domain name on your business cards, ads, flyers, brochures, sign riders, car magnets…all your marketing. Also be sure to include it in your email signature and all online directory listings so potential customers can click on a live link and go directly to your web page or web site.

Stay In Control

You should purchase and control the domain name yourself instead of leaving that to a webmaster. Why? If the time comes that you want to switch to a new web company, you don’t want your domain name and email address at the mercy of someone who may not have your best interests at heart. While most webmasters are ethical professionals, some real estate agents report their web companies took two weeks or longer to redirect their domain name after their original site was cancelled. That means neither their old or new website was available to customers and they couldn’t get email for that address either. You don’t want to be caught in that limbo.

You can control a domain name yourself. Just follow the instructions provided by your domain name reseller. You will set or point it to the host servers for your site which may take a day or two to become active or you’ll set it to forward to your web page or site which may be activated in 6 to 24 hours. It’s easy to do and will take only a few minutes of your time.

Domain Names Are Inexpensive

Owning a domain name probably costs much less than you think. A recent article in a popular online real estate publication quoted domain name prices at $40 to $60 a year, but it has been years since you had to pay that much. In fact, you can purchase a name from a reputable domain name reseller for less than $10 a year. Avoid resellers who push high prices or tack on other fees, such as for a website you don’t want and/or web hosting you don’t need. Pay only for the domain name.

There are many domain name resellers to choose from; a Google search will result in thousands of choices. What to watch for:

• There’s no requirement for purchasing another product to qualify for the low discount price they advertise.
• You—not the reseller—control the name.
• The price includes free domain name forwarding and free email forwarding. These features are fairly standard today so don’t settle for less!

After you purchase and manage your first domain name, you may be tempted to buy more. But start slowly, and add only the names that will be useful to your real estate business.

Visit GoGetName.com to start your search for domain names.

©Copyright Sharon Hassler. All rights reserved. Sharon Hassler is president of Go Get Experts, LLC, owner and operator of GoGetRealEstate.com and other web page/directory websites. She is author of the downloadable eBook “So You Think You Want A Website: Internet Marketing 101 for Real Estate Agents”. A former loan officer and real estate agent in Southern California, she served as Communications Manager for First American Title-Arizona for 11 years. For more about Sharon, visit GoGetRealEstate.com/Get/Sharon.