Choosing a Domain Name

You should take some time with this decision. Your first step should be to write your ideas down. You probably want your company name as your domain, but it's possible that it has already been taken by another company or individual.

To find out, go to Internic's Who Is Registry and do a search. If it's not taken, great! Go ahead and register "yourcompanyname.com". If it is taken, you may be tempted to try your company name with a .net, .org or one of the other available extensions. Don't do it. You are a business, you should use a .com extension. If you don't, web viewers will be confused.

OK, your company name is already taken. What to do? Write down your company's main functions. Is there some combination of words that you can combine to come up with a good domain name? Maybe you sell specialty widgets. Is SpecialtyWidgets.com available? Some things to keep in mind when combining words for a domain. Your combination of words may already be taken and you think, "How about using a hyphen in the domain to separate the words"? Try not to do that, either. People will not remember the hyphen and have problems finding your site. They will certainly find the site without the hyphen, though. If you use a combination like SpecialtyWidgets.com, you can capitalize the first letter in each word when using it on your business cards, printed materials and your email address to help people see where one word ends and the next starts. It's much easier to remember SpecialtyWidgets.com than it is to remember Specialty Dash Widgets.com.

You also do not want your domain to be too long. Remember - you will be typing and writing it out when people ask for your web address. You will also have email addresses using the domain. Try to keep it short and memorable. Here's a chance to use your creativity!