To help your website flourish, pick a domain that:

• is easy for Web users to remember and find
• suggests the nature of your product or service
• serves as a strong trademark so competitors won’t be able to use a business name or domain name similar to it, and
• is free of legal conflicts with trademarks belonging to other businesses.

What makes a good domain name?

1. Good extension - If a person is surfing around looking for a site, and they know its name, most people will try .com. So, for the web site owner who wants their site to be found, the rule is: if at all possible, get a .com name.
2. Short - Less than 7 characters, ideally. A simple name will roll off the tongue more easily in conversation, look more professional, and have less chance of being mis-typed. A simple name is not only short, but uses fewer letters to make up a word. Example: NISSAN (4 different letters in a 6 letter word) is more simple than DATSUN (6 different letters for a 6 letter word).
3. Speakable and easy to spell - Make sure it passes the phone test: if you were to say the domain name of your website to a friend over the phone would your friend be able to spell it correctly the first time without your having to spell it for them? If not, you’ve failed the phone test and should likely try a different domain name. Also, be careful about double letters. Take CyberRodeo, for example. Their domain uses a double R, as you might expect, but there is an uncertainty there. The two R’s together look a bit strange if written without capitalization, and a good name will not force the user to assume anything about the name. If you must have a double letter, the best solution is to buy both versions of the domain. Avoid using numbers and dashes in your domain name.
4. Descriptive - A good site or business name will be suggestive of its category. In most cases it’s important for a person to be able to get some sort of sense what the website is about just by hearing the domain name. Of course that logic doesn’t work for sites like ebay, amazon, ivillage, etc, but then again you likely don’t have a multi-million dollar budget to help you brand your name and teach people what it means.
5. Avoid Common or Bland Names - using a common name like house.com or shoes.com should be avoided at all costs. Most short names like that are not available anymore so it should be an easy rule to obey. The reasoning behind this advice is that these words are too general and don’t engage your memory. If amazon.com had used books.com it would have only meant books in 5% of the world where people are English speakers. Now when people think books, they think amazon.com, a name that is memorable and original.

Domain Scams

When shopping for a domain, it is also important to keep an eye open for domain name scams. The surging popularity of domain name affiliate programs has created countless "fly by night" operations; dozens of domain name resellers worldwide cease operations every month, often leaving the administrative status of the domains they leave behind up in the air. Making a purchase from a reseller is not a bad decision, but make sure to research the company’s history and credentials. There are less than 170 ICANN-accredited registrars (that is, non-resellers) for .com, .net and .org domains worldwide; a full list is available at: http://www.icann.org/registrars/accredited-list.html Domain names are typically categorized by their extension, which is their identifying code. The three most popular types of Top Level Domains (TLDs), which are domains that are not associated with a country, are:

• .COM: Short for .commercial. Domain names with the .com extension are by far the most popular, and can be purchased by any individual or business. .
• .NET: Short for .network, this domain extension was originally designed to be used by technical Web sites. However, domains using this extension can be registered by anyone.
• .ORG: Short for .organization. Originally designated for non-profit firms and any other organizations that did not fit under the .com or .net extension, any individual or business may now register a .org domain name.

Country Level Domains

Domain names can also be assigned using country extensions. Each country has its own domain extension; Canada, for example, is .ca, while Japan has been assigned .jp. Most countries have specific rules surrounding exactly who can register domains using their extension and for what purpose; it’s therefore important to look before you leap.

Alternative Domains

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the organization responsible for the administration of TLDs worldwide, recently approved several new extensions that are not specific to any country. These are:

• .areo
• .biz
• .coop
• .info
• .museum
• .name
• .pro

Each has been designed for a specific use, and is accompanied by certain restrictions. You can find more information about these TLDs here: Now that you know the basics, spend some time doing random searches for available domain names at http://www.netsol.com/, or try a domain generator like http://www.nameboy.com.