Now that you are already working on your site design and its overall appearance and feel, have you chosen how to name the website ?

Starting a successful online business requires several important tasks to do, one of the most important among them is choosing a right domain name. The domain name identifies your website just as your name identifies you. To be successful you need people to remember your name so that they can find you easily.
So what is a domain name? Specifically, domain name is an alphanumeric unique name that fingers individual web sites on the Net. It can be up to 67 characters, that can be 26 English letters, numerals 0-9 and hyphens (-).
Note: domain name can contain several hyphens, but can not begin with one.
Domain names have extentions or TLD (Top Level Domain). These are based on the type of organization they are associated with.
Common extentions include:

.org     nonprofit organization
.net     commercial network
.edu     educational institutions
.gov     government agencies
.mil     military
.com     commercial business

There also are additional domain extentions: biz, bz, info, tv etc.

It is a common knowledge that the best domain names are long ago sold, but don’t get upset right away better be creative.

First of all remember that your domain name should be:
- short,
- memorable,
- related to your business,
- hard to misspell

Shorter domain names are easier to type and remember and the possibility of a mistake made is far less, but every rule has an exception. Some long domains can be easier to remember. For example ltspck.com is set of unrelated letters and is difficult to remember, but LayoutsPack.com that stands for ltspck.com is much easier to remember .

You should also consider hyphened names. Along with some disadvantages there are great cons in them. Disadvantages of hyphened domains are:
- Hyphens can be easily forgot when typing a name.
- When a person recommends your website verbally he/she most likely will omit the hyphens in your domain.

Along with these minuses are great pluses:
- Search engines can better distinguish keywords in your domain name
- Your desired non-hyphened name can no longer be available, but the hyphened one most likely will be there. In this way you can get your desired domain name.

Now make a list of the preferred word combinations and start searching for the availability of these domain names. And don’t get upset if the first ones won’t be available. Remember to be creative and success will come to you!

What are the main issues YOU follow when choosing a domain name?

Related posts:

1. How To Choose A Winning Domain Name For Your Website
2. Will Your New Website Be Successful?
3. 4 mistakes you should avoid when owning a commercial website
4. Designing Successful Non-Profit Website For Your Organization