Domain Names Explained: Who Needs One and Why?

Do you have questions regarding Domain names?

Do you need one? Why?

Wanna know where to get one?

How do you "re-direct" your domains to your affiliate links and other pre-built (replicated) sites?

Should you "mask" your domain?

Well, I'll go ahead and answer those questions here.

If you're doing business online, what is the single most important thing you can do as a network marketer, a business owner and an affiliate in order to make sure that all of your prospects, your leadsand your commissions stay with their rightful owner (YOU)?

Having your own domain name is not required, but it is VERY HIGHLY recommended. In today's Internet world, if you want the image and perception of a professional, then you had better have one!

For around $8.00, there isn't a more important investment that you could make.

Besides increasing your professional image and the appeal of your affiliate pages, you have many advertising advantages as well with your own domain name.

You won't have to use long ugly looking affiliate links, and in fact, advertising sites like Google will actually show your ads more if you have your own domain name!

It's even worse over the phone.

If you've got a big, complicated url, no matter how many times you repeat it someone, even if they genuinely do want to go to your site, the odds of them getting it wrong are astronomical.

And heaven forbid you don't give them any url at all. Give them the name of the company or the product you're promoting, leave them to their own devises to find it themselves and you're basically building someone else's business.

Your prospect does have a mind of their own and they will go off and do their own research... and this isn't like the innocent "going to the library" type of research. With the kind of research we're talking about - research that involves "cookies" and ip addresses and all that fun stuff - merely "clicking" on someone else's website can mean they (and any subsequent sales) are connected to that person now and not YOU.

You have to do everything you can to ensure you get credit for your efforts. This means having your own domain.

Then... you have your domain name redirect the prospect to your affiliate url.

Is it worth it?

Let me tell you what happened to me.

My best friend was so excited about her new MLM business and being able to get paid to prospect online that she bought the website building software and hosting company I used to build this site.

Boy, a sale! wouldn't you be excited? I didn't remember seeing her name in my back office tracking center so I figured I may have over looked it and I checked again.

She wasn't there!

I figured I'd just send out a quick email to the affiliate support center and all would be well with the world.

It didn't happen. Why?

Apparently, I became a sub-affiliate (The person I brought my site from) of some big shot and it also went against their fairness policy to transfer sales. I wasn't going to take this lightly because I would miss out on a lot more sales when she sold website too. Besides, this was my best friend, not some random Internet browser. I worked for that sale and answered a lot of questions

It made no difference what I said. Now that mistake can cost me thousands of dollars this year alone not to mention renewals for next year, and the next etc. I am determined to never let that happen again and now you can avoid the same pain.

To help make this easy for you, I decided to put together these highlights to help clarify where to get a domain name and what to do with it:1) Where to get your domain name:

Go to GoDaddy . Start With The Domain Search Box and search for a name that is available.

Once you find a name that works, Go ahead and start the check out process. Your new Domain Name will only cost you $8 - $10. Skip ALL of the extra services they will try and sell you. You DO NOT need them!

You only have to register domains for 1 year at a time to keep costs down. They will automatically renew each year or GoDaddy will notify you to do so.

Congrats! You now own your very first domain name!

Why You Should NOT "Mask" Your Domain:

Domain masking is an option available through most domain providers, including www.GoDaddy.com , that should NOT be used with affiliate websites!

Masking can actually cause affiliate tracking to be thrown off… resulting in lost sales. Although, this hasn't been a problem for some tracking systems, you don't want to take that chance!

So in short, be safe… DON'T "mask" your domain for affiliate sites!

If you are building a site using a free hosting services, like weebly.com or googlepages.com you will want to mask your domains. You can do that in about 30seconds using the instructions found in your control panel after you purchase the domain.

The instructions for "domain forwarding" or redirecting is there as well. This is when someone types in a domain name like www.yourdomainname.com but it takes them to www.affiliatesite.com/aff=ID123.

More Inside Info On Domains

To get further insight on domains, how to use them properly, and why…

To download the "MLM Domain Secrets" Right-click to download this PDF file here.

**You must have Adobe Acrobat Reader to View. If you don't, you can download it free here.

To download the "MLM Domain Secrets" Right-click to download this PDF file here.