Choosing A Domain Name

Selecting a good domain name that will serve you well in the years to come is an important decision. Unfortunately, most of the short, memorable domain names are already registered, and it can be very difficult to find an appropriate domain name for your web site.

Here are some things to look for when selecting a domain name:

• Short — In general, a short domain name is better than a longer one.
• Easy to remember — A catchy domain that's easy to remember and pronounce is generally better than one that's hard to remember and impossible to pronounce.
• Conventional spelling — Try to stick with the correct spelling of your product, company name, place name, or dictionary words in the domain. For example, if you sell appliances, appliancesales.com would generally be a better choice than applicancesalez.com. A web site catering to teens who frequently use common abbreviations in text messaging can likely get away with using abbreviations and alternate spellings, but web sites aimed at adults and/or business people should stick with correct spelling.
• Relevancy — A domain that is relevant to your business will serve you better than one that is irrelevant.
• No hyphenation — You may find that you have to use a hyphenated domain to find one even remotely appropriate for your business, but if you have a choice, register and use the non-hyphenated version. One exception to this guideline may come into play if your domain includes a double letter that might be confusing without a hyphen, such as appleeating.com — apple-eating.com will probably be easier for people to recognize and remember.
• Easy to tell someone on the phone or in a noisy meeting place — Imagine yourself telling a caller to your office your web site address. A domain with unconventional spelling, hyphens, double or triple letters, or other "gotchas" can make it difficult for the person on the other end of the phone to get it correct.
• Easy to print on a billboard or flier — Is the domain suitable for promoting in your offline materials? Will someone driving by your billboard at 70mph be able to read the domain?
• Best TLD (top level domain) — For most business web sites in the U.S., a .com will be the preferred domain tld. Other TLDs include .net, .org, .biz, .info, and country-code TLDs such as .co.uk.
  
  Some of the most common TLDs include:
  
  .com — commercial .org — organization (usually non-profit) .gov — governmental entities .net — network and computer related firms
  
  Two domain TLDs were introduced a few years ago: .biz and .info. Neither of these has taken off as expected, and both are often associated with spam web sites and other low-quality sites.
• No trademark problems — Make sure your chosen domain doesn't use trademarks belonging to another business. If in doubt, check with a lawyer experienced in Internet and trademark law before developing a domain that includes a trademark.

Registering Your Domain

When you're to start checking on the availability of domains, you can use this convenient search box. When you find one you like that's available, you should go ahead and register it right away. Thousands of new domains are registered every day, and if you wait, you just might find that someone else has grabbed your preferred domain right out from under you.

.com .us .net .org .biz .info .ws .com .us .biz .info .net .org .ws .name .tv .cc  .be  .uk

Domain Registrars

In the early years of the web, one company had a monopoly on domain registration, and domains cost $70 per year to register. Since that monopoly ended, many additional companies have entered the domain registration market, and the cost for registering domains has dropped dramatically.

At ICANN-accredited registrars such as GoDaddy , you can register a domain name for just a few dollars. With domains being so inexpensive to register, it can make sense to register additional domains and point them to your main web site, if for no other reason than to keep your competitors from registering and using them. In particular, you should consider registering the .net and .org versions of your .com domain, and possibly hyphenated versions of your non-hyphenated domain. That way, you can keep your competitors from using those similar domains, and anyone who accidentally types the wrong version into their browser will still end up at your site.