Choosing an appropriate domain name is very important to people retaining the name of your site in their mind. Some initial basic questions to consider are:
- What is the name of your business?
- Does the domain name you want make sense?
- Keywords in your name?
- Short and sweet
Consider the name of your business. Try to choose about 5-10 variations of your domain name that would work for you. Remember that you want to keep your domain name as short as possible so that it is easy for people to remember. Keeping that in mind, you also should try to include keywords that people may look for in searching for what you are selling or trying to get across. For example, if you sell automotive tools, you may want to consider trying to get a domain name such as*:
- www.automotivetools.com
- www.toolsforautos.com
- www.joesautotools.com
- www.autotools.com
- www.cartools.com
You get the basic premise here, right?
Do a search of the internet through www.dogpile.com or www.google.com for the domain name you want to see if anyone has a similar business name to what you are offering with a similar domain name. If you find similar businesses, you may want to consider a different domain name to ensure that your company has distinction from that business if you are in the same type of business, not to mention you don't want to infringe on any trademark registrations they may have.
When you begin to search for your domain name, make sure you are prepared to buy at that time. Do not go searching for domain names, then expect to go back a few weeks or months later and find it still available. Nine times out of ten, if you do not reserve it when you check it, it will be gone the next time you look. There are people out there called "cyber squatters" who will buy up domain names simply to sell it later on at a higher price. Though this is not an ethical practice, it is not illegal, so be prepared to buy it if you really want the name and it is available.
There are lots of domain extensions available now, some of which are:
- .com
- .net
- .org
- .biz
- .info
- .gov
- .us (and other extensions for other countries around the world)
Choosing which exension you need (or want) is up to you, really. Orgs are usually reserved for non-profit types of organizations, but is not restricted. Govs are restricted to governmental/municipal sites only. So if your domain name is not available in .com, you may want to consider .net, .biz or .info as an alternative.
A couple of good places to register your domain name are:
- www.godaddy.com
- www.dotearth.com
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