Picking a Domain Name	Visited: 1603 Not rated Rate: Select 1 - Terrible 2 - Poor 3 - Average 4 - Good 5 - Outstanding
by Vishal P. Rao June 22, 2003

When it comes to choosing your web site's domain name, you need to keep a few things in mind:

1) Your domain name should relate directly to the product or service you provide. Avoid picking a name that is vague or misrepresents your company.

2) Your domain name should be easy to remember. Keep the name as short as possible, but do not use unconventional spellings or add hyphens just to secure a version of the name you want.

3) Your domain name should be simplistic. Do not pick words which may be difficult to spell or which have multiple spellings. Also, select words and phrases that are common and easy to pronounce, especially if you are aiming your business toward the general public.

4) Your domain name should be a .com address whenever possible. Avoid selecting the less common extensions which cost more to register and which will be largely unfamiliar to your clients.

Once you do select a domain name, you should consider registering other variations of the name. That way if someone uses the wrong extension or adds a hyphen, he or she still end up right where you want them.

Here are some good places to register your domain:

http://www.godaddy.com (Recommended)
http://www.networksolutions.com