What's in a domain name?

Choosing a domain name can be a real exercise frustration, but it is one of the most important decisions you will make when getting your business online.

Why is it so hard, you ask? Well, for starters, almost every word in the English language (and I'm willing to bet most other languages ​​too), has been adopted in most common domains. If you make widgets, you'll almost certainly find that 'widget.com' was purchased in the days when dinosaurs roamed the web.

To make matters worse, there are many companies out there with the same acronym of your business', it is likely that yours is gone too now. If you're IBM, and can spend big money to be paid in dollars for the premium for your domain, or sue for the rights to it, you're out of luck there too.

So what are you left with? Your complete commercial name is a good start, but with hundreds of thousands of companies operating throughout the world, you may very well find that problematic.

So how can you get your foot in the proverbial cyber-door? Here are some tips that I personally found useful in the past:

- Start with the trade name. If you are lucky, it might actually still be available. If so, buy now for each country there will probably never operate inside there is nothing worse than preparing to expand into a new market, only to find that they must operate under a completely different domain name in that country.

- Try some of the new TLDs. If you are a television studio, for example, you can record 'MyTVShow.tv' for the next series. Originally, there were seven top-level domains, ie. Com,. Edu,. Gov,. Int,. Mil,. Net, and. Org. Over time, however, most were created. In addition to country-specific domains, you might consider. Aero. Biz,. Coop. Info,. Int jobs. Museum. Behalf. Pro. Travel, if any of these support your business objectives.

- Create a new word and market well enough to build brand identity. This is a more expensive choice, because it takes a while 'for people to start remembering your name. That said, once you do, you associate your business with a unique identity. It worked for Google, why not for you?

- Try combinations of words. Even these are notoriously difficult to find without the owner, but if you are a manufacturer of widgets, and 'widget-makers.com' is available, maybe you are lucky.

Of course, as with many things, is often wise to consult experts. If the site has been developed by a professional web development, should be able to advise you from experience what pitfalls to avoid, and how to best market your business for maximum exposure on the Internet .......