Tips for picking a great domain name

How a strategy for creating your Web address can pay off

Technology wizards have made it easier than ever for a small business to get on the Web. With services such as Microsoft Office Live Small Business, for example, you can have a full-featured Web site up and running in a couple hours.

What remains a challenge, however, is coming up with a good domain name—the Internet identifier that not only serves as your Web site address, but says a lot about your business.

For example, if you owned and operated an adventure travel company called Adventure Works, you might settle for using adventureworks.com as your domain name. But if Adventure Works actually specializes in sailing trips off the coast of Zanzibar, then another name might really serve you better—and drive the right search engine traffic your way.

So think carefully when choosing your domain name. It not only points people to your Web site, but it becomes powerful part of your business identity and brand. And also be prepared to have more than one idea for a name. There's a good chance your first name choice is not available because another person has already claimed it.

Here are some things to consider when selecting or buying a domain name—starting with an explanation of how the domain name selection game works.

How you get a domain name

For you to own a domain name, you need to get it registered. So the process of selecting a name includes working with an authorized domain registrar. Registrars take the form of Web sites that can search the domain name database for you and see if the name you want is available. If it is, you can usually fill out an online form, pay a modest fee, and become the name owner.

There is no shortage of domain registrars on the Web, and prices for the service have come down dramatically in recent years. Office Live Small Business will help you search for your domain name, and handle both the registration and annual renewal process. Additionally, you may want to have several different domain names, all pointing to your Web site, so you can broaden your reach for people searching on the Web.

What if the domain name database search shows that somebody else already owns the name you want? You might be able to purchase the name from the owner. The database search will show the current owner's contact information. Many people have registered catchy or interesting domain names for the sole purpose of selling them to another person or business, not for creating a Web site.

Strategies for picking your name

If you are keen to create your own unique domain name rather than buy one, then you'll need to have some names in mind before you visit the domain registrar.

Internet marketing expert Dr. Ralph Wilson (www. wilsonweb.com) suggests a couple ways to think up domain names. One is to gather a group of friends to brainstorm a list of 100 potential names to check out. "Bring a thesaurus," Wilson adds.

Wilson also gives these general pointers for choosing a domain name:

• Keep it short. A long domain name may be descriptive of your business, but it will be harder to remember and type into a Web browser.
• Put two words together. Combinations of short words often work well. For example, you could add "city" or "planet" as a second word to make it sound like your business includes a wide range of products or services.
• Make it easy to spell. If the name is tricky to spell, people will enter your Web address wrong or you'll have to spell it for them whenever you mention it. Avoid using hyphens and dashes for that reason, too.
• Use the .com or .net extensions. There are now many alternatives to using .com and .net extensions in your domain name, but avoid them if possible. The others—such as .us, .biz, .info, .tv—are largely unfamiliar to people. If you confine your business to a specific country, go ahead and use that country's extension.
• Think about keywords. If you want search engines to drive traffic to your Web site, be sure that your domain has one or more of your principal keywords to help you get a good ranking on those search terms.

Wilson thinks it worthwhile to attempt to work some part of your business name into your domain name if possible. If you're creating a new business you might want to create a name that works for both.

Tips for buying a domain name

Buying your domain from another owner is also a practical method of securing a domain name. "Don't be afraid to spend $400 or $500 to get what you want. There are a lot of good names out there," says Wilson.

The easiest way to purchase a domain is to hire an online broker who can appraise and anonymously negotiate a deal between you and the seller. The brokerage services can include running the payment through an escrow service and the domain transfer.

Last word: When you are securing or buying domain names, you may want to buy more than one. Consider buying a name with the keywords that capture "type-in traffic." Type-in traffic refers to users who type in keywords in the address bar of their Web browser instead of using a keyword search on a search engine. Also consider buying the domain names that are variations on your Web site domain name or are a misspelled version of it. You can redirect users to your site with these additional names.