Choosing the Right Domain Name

First, let's talk about some of the biggest mistakes that people make in choosing a domain name. When you're in business, you want to make sure that people are able to find you on the Internet. So here are a couple of things to avoid when choosing your Internet domain name.

The first is try not to use numbers in your domain name. There are a lot of web sites out on the Internet that use numbers in their domain names, either to save letters or to be "cute." For example, someone might choose a domain name like "www.fun4pets.com" for their pet-related web site. The problem with this domain name is that people have to know whether the "4" in this domain is the number or the words "for" or "four." It's confusing.

Avoid hyphens. It is not advisable to use hyphens in a domain name on your Internet site. They are not easy to remember. When people use hyphens in domain names they presume that the potential customers will remember them, which is quite unlikely. For instance, when customers see a domain name like 'www.fun-for-pets.com' they are most probably going to type 'www.funforpets.com' because it is more logical and definitely makes more sense. Thus, avoid superfluous things.

Now let us consider some things that you should do when looking for a domain name. The first and foremost thing is to always use a '. com' extension for domain names. People are accustomed to typing in the URL to their Internet browser. Use of other extensions like - .net, .org, .biz, .org have the risk that you might send people to another site altogether. But if the name is not available with '.com', then you have to pick another domain.

Next, you want to make sure that your name is easy to spell. There are a lot of bad spellers out there, and if you choose a name that can be misspelled, it will be. For example, if you choose something like "www.specialoccassions.com", you may get any variation of either word, so people may be typing in "www.spechulokashens.com" (and don't laugh - I've seen worse misspellings on the Internet!).

It would also be prudent to keep the domain name short. Two to three words, and under 25 characters, are considered most acceptable. In this way, the chances of mistyped URLs could be avoided. The chances of people making mistakes and missing letters when you give a name to your website such as www.thebestwebsiteevernomatterwhat.com is quite high.

Obviously, these are general guidelines, and there are always going to be exceptions to the rules, but if you keep these in mind when searching for your business' domain, you will have a better chance that people will find your new web site, and your business will thrive on the Internet.