new domain name & email address

zagyzebra · #1 (**permalink**) 03-08-2009, 01:28 AM

I'm starting a non-profit venture centered around a website, which will take considerable research and funding prior to launching.

Before I spend too much time developing it, I intend to test the waters with potentially interested parties at an upcoming convention. Obviously, I'll hand out business cards with my personal name and that of the future website. And, I will register the domain name before I print the cards.

What I'm wondering is, what do people usually use as an email address on their business cards if there's no site up and running yet? I want to appear as professional as possible, but using mypersonalname@msn.com on my business card is sort of amateur-like. And yet, to use mypersonalname@mydomainname.com would encourage the curious user to check out a site that doesn't exist. And, IMO, those place holders are a turn-off.

So, I'm just wondering, how do others handle it? This juggle of looking like a real business way before you're ready to pull the curtain. All opinions welcome.

ssmorgan · #2 (**permalink**) 03-08-2009, 01:50 AM

Hi zagyzebra,

I agree with you, I think it's better to have yourname@yourdomain.com. You can tell people, as you're handing out your business card, that the website is not ready yet.

I have gotten business cards with email@domain-name.com, but the domain did not exist - but it wasn't necessarily a terrible thing.

The problem, though, is when you actually start using the domain for your website, now you will probably have to buy another set of business cards that displays the url.

Here is another option, which of course depends on how much time you have between now and the convention, but it may not be that hard to create a simple website, especially now that many hosts provide website builders.

Hope this helps.

Sherif

zagyzebra · #3 (**permalink**) 03-08-2009, 03:57 PM

Sherif,

I just love that we can go online to these forums and get thoughtful feedback like yours.

I have two follow-up questions: 1) What exactly happens when you register a domain name that isn't up and running? It's routed to one of those place cards, right?
2) Let's say my domain name is swanlake.com. Are you suggesting I put a hyphen in my domain name on my business card, i.e. myname@swan-lake.com, which would take people to a non-existent site? What's better, being sent to a place card, or to a non-existent site?

And, yes, I'm definitely going to explain to people my idea is still being tested and only if there's substantial interest will I proceed.

Sherif, would you mind giving me your feedback one more time? I really appreciate it.

ssmorgan · #4 (**permalink**) 03-08-2009, 10:23 PM

I am glad you thought my response was helpful

To answer your follow-up questions:

If you only register the domain with the registrar (e.g. GoDaddy.com), then after a while your website will show up as a parked page (those generic pages with ads on them). Not sure if there is a way to avoid that.

However, in order to have email, I believe you have to have the domain hosted on a hosting account. If it is hosted and your domain's nameservers point to that of your hosting plan, then the website will show "Page Not Found" until you add files on the public_html directory.

There is a debate about whether it's a good idea to use hyphen in the domain name or not. Some prefer no hyphens. For me, I would avoid hyphens, but it all depends on domain name availability, the length of the domain name, etc. So there is no general rule. I think most people prefer no hyphens, because most people are not used to hyphens in urls... but there is no distinct advantage or disadvantage for having or not having hyphens.

Your email needs to match your domain. If your domain is snowlane.com and someone sends you an email to name@snow-lane.com, it will bounce. If you are concerned that the two words blend together, you can say your domain is SnowLane.com - and it will still point to the correct url (i.e. snowlane.com - in other words, domains are not case sensitive).

Sorry if I rambled, but I hope I made some sense

Sherif

sammas · #5 (**permalink**) 03-10-2009, 01:25 PM

I think you can do it on MSN for free :P

You click oin the link and click. Register. Then type in Sammas@*YOUR SITE*

I think i remember doing it and it works...

EricG · #6 (**permalink**) 03-23-2009, 10:51 PM

If your domain registrar offers email forwarding facilities, you can set up email forwards for your domain name, and messages sent to that address will be delivered to your existing email address. (i.e. something@yourdomainname.com could be delivered to youraccount@gmail.com or something.

Generally your registrar does not provide any hosting where you can put a web page.
However, you may have some free web space on the ISP account to which you connect to the internet.
You can create a page there, and redirect the domain name to it from the registrar.

When you get hosting, you can set up the nameserver connections to your hosting account, and set up proper email accounts and a website.
Cheers, Eric G.

zagyzebra · #7 (**permalink**) 03-24-2009, 03:32 PM

Thank you, Eric..being new to this game, I had no idea I could forward mail, and just checked with my network provider to realize I indeed can. This I will do. Thank you for the great suggestion.

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