Your domain name will have a direct influence on how you approach the rest of your business. The best names are simple and descriptive, but aren’t too long or short. Your name should reflect the purpose of your web site.

Descriptive names tend to offer more success because the traffic can see where they are going. If they see: “booksandmore.com” they know they will be visiting a site that sells both books and other materials or services.

It is not recommended to use acronyms as they are simply too confusing today. Staying with the example used above, the acronym for the book web site would be “bam.com.” This could be seen by visitors as “Brenda’s American Memoribilia,” “Baby and More,” or even, “Bistros and Markets.”

There is no “right” or “wrong” domain name and that can confuse potential webmasters. There’s no proven formula for choosing a name. Some webmasters go by results from any of the keyword analyzers online to find the best terms for their business. Some ask friends and families or go through business associates and see what they recommend.

When you look for a domain name, you can choose from a variety of extensions. The most common, as well as what they stand for, are highlighted here:

* .com – Commercial
* .org – Organization
* .biz – Business
* .net – Network
* .info- Information
* .edu- Education**
* .gov- Government**

**These extensions can only be used by established and accredited educational facilities or government branches. They are not available for general use.
The most common extension is “.com.” This is one you should try to purchase if it is available. Most people know the “.com” extension just from television commercials, even if they’ve never surfed the web.

The pressure do build the perfect domain can overwhelm you if you let it. Just remember to do the best you can. If you become convinced that the domain name is a big mistake on your part, you aren’t stuck with it. With the majority of domain names selling for around ten bucks a year, it’s easy to just move onto another, and let the first expire.

If you find you have a domain that you don’t want to waste money on, be cautious! Be certain to verify your site hasn’t been moved to an automated payment system. Many questionable registrar companies have surprised webmasters by slipping those annual domain charges onto their credit card. At this point, they will offer a refund, but you will likely do all the leg work of going between the registrar and your credit card company or bank. That’s a lot of hassle for ten or fifteen dollars.

Your domain name will tell the public a great deal about your company. If at all possible, always buy your domain name before even starting on the actual web site construction. This will make your job far easier.

When you have chosen your domain name, you can register at register your domain at www.idomainsmadesimple.com.

Tags: company, domain name, purchase domain name, web site

This entry was posted on Monday, November 17th, 2008 at 8:00 am and is filed under Dreamweaver: Getting Started. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.