The name should be relevant to your business, but try to avoid being too specific. Don't limit your self to what you may eventually want to sell or offer. Web domain names do not have to be specific sounding though. Monster.com and Ebay are two of the biggest and most successful web brands in the world. Google and Yahoo are two more.

.com is still the desirable suffix to web site names. This is generally true, if you are looking to "brand" your company and really use the domain name itself to help sell your business. However, if you are looking to largely affiliate with others, the .com is less important and you really don't need to drive yourself crazy with the perfect domain name or ending.

Look for certain Business Opportunities to posssibly assist in your domain choice. You should not overly commit to a very specialized name. You may change direction and you want some connection with your business model and your web site name.

How To Choose The Best Domain Name

In this article we are going to look at the thought process you should go thru to choose your domain name.

First of all let's define what a domain name is.

A unique name that represents each computer on the Internet. (Some machines do have more than one domain name.) The DNS converts the domain name requested by an Internet user into an IP address.

The Domain Name System (DNS) helps users to find their way around the Internet. Every computer on the Internet has a unique address – just like a telephone number – which is a rather complicated string of numbers. It is called its "IP address" (IP stands for "Internet Protocol").

But it is hard to remember everyone's IP address. The DNS makes it easier by allowing a familiar string of letters (the "domain name") to be used instead of the arcane IP address. So instead of typing 64.65.51.245 , you can type www.team-schuman.com. It is a "mnemonic" device that makes addresses easier to remember.

So what makes the best internet domain name?

First of all don't pick a name that has nothing to do with your Web site. If you are selling flowers don't pick a name like apples.com. Picking an oddball name makes no sense and it will just confuse your audience.

Don't make your new domain name too long. The longer it is the harder it becomes to remember. Can you remember myflowers.com or lookatmyflowerswebsite.com?

Short names are not the way to go either. It is to your benefit to try and buy a domain name that has a few keywords that relate to the topic of you Web site when possible.

Keyword placement when choosing your domain name is helpful as your site develops a higher placement with the search engines. Having the name jeffsflowers.com will do better with a search engine than jeffssite.com. With jeffsflowers.com you know I have a flower website where with jeffssite.com you don't know what kind of Web site I have.

When registering your domain name in some cases you will need to determine if you want to use hyphens in the name itself. Personally I have found this to be a great way to get a domain name that otherwise my not be available. The domain name myflowers.com might already be taken whereas the name my-flowers.com might be available.

Everything I have read says try to get a .com domain name first before going to a .net or .org etc. As more and more domain names are taken this becomes harder to do and I think you are better off getting a keyword rich domain name like my-flowers.org than you are to buy a .com domain name like jeffssite.com.

Is buying a cheap domain name a bad idea? Absolutely not. I do it all of the time. I get all of my domain names here: http://www.godaddy.com

Then I transfer them to my hosting company here: http://www.team-schuman.com/host4profit.

I can buy a domain name for less than $10 from Godaddy.com and transfer it for free to Host4Profit. This saves me $20 on buying it from the hosting company itself. A domain name is a domain name and you might as well save a little money where you can.

Finding out what names are available is very easy to do. Let's use Godaddy.com as an example.

Go here: http://www.godaddy.com Click on the icon for Domain Names Enter a domain name and see if it is available They will come back with a list of available names Decide what one you want and buy it One last thing to consider. Protect your name by registering multiple extensions (.net, .org, etc.) This deters people from copying your name. For example, if you own my-flowers.com you can also register my-flowers.net and any other extension that's available. As you build up traffic to your site if someone types in an version other than the .com version you can forward it to your .com site and not lose any traffic.

In closing it is important to spend a little time when choosing the best domain name for your website. Try and get some keywords in your domain name. Don't stop at choosing just a .com version and save a little money by buying a cheap domain name whenever possible as long as it still contains some keywords.

Copyright 2004 Jeff Schuman
www.sites-plus.com

Books on Website domains:

Domain Names: How to Choose & Protect a Great Name for Your Website - This book explains in plain English how to choose, register and protect a domain name that works. Written both for those shepherding an existing business onto the Web and those launching an e-commerce start-up, it explains how to: * check on the availability of a domain name and register it * check the trademark status of a domain name * register a domain name electronically with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office * determine your rights as the owner of a domain name * proceed if a desirable domain name has already been snagged

Build Your Own ASP.NET Website Using C# & VB.NET (Build Your Own) - A tutorial style book for absolute beginners that walks readers through an introduction to databases and programming concepts and then shows them how to build practical applications using Microsoft's technology.

Max Hits: Building and Promoting Successful Websites - This is a hip book that looks at all the details involved in making a Web site. It's well written, well designed, well coded, and gets lots of attention from search bots. And it clues readers in to some of the coolest sites existing on the Web today. It may just be the pat on the fanny you need to get off to a good start with your own Web site.

Web Hosting and other services are not required when reserving a domain name. Some registration companies will offer free or cheap domains in exchange for web hosting services. Many of these companies will set you up with emails and other services. You can always add email accounts later, after you choose your web host.