The perfect domain name.

One of the most basic, yet most critical steps in the process of building an e-business or a personal website is to select and register a domain that will serve as the home of the business on the Internet.

In addition to being the – usually – lasting home for an online entity, a domain name very much serves to define the profile of that entity. Many e-businesses are known simply by their domain name – so-called dot.com businesses.

So, finding the perfect domain name for your website is an important step in your quest for success. Ideally, the domain name should reflect the nature of your business/website – if your business is carrying a certain message, the domain name can reflect that, too. The perfect domain also is easy for customers to remember, short enough to quickly type into a Web browser, and distinct enough to help you create a unique identity for your store.

Ultimately, you may register a domain for your business simply because you like it. However, the following are some of the factors that combine to define the quality/value of a domain name. These are issues that you may want to consider when zeroing in on the perfect domain name for your business.

• Keep it short - a short domain name is easier for your visitors to remember and easier for them to type into the address bar. Believe it or not, but, internet users are lazy.
• Keywords - A domain name should include relevant keywords if possible. If your website is about cheap digital cameras and you use the words cheap, digital and camera as keywords, then try to use the keywords in your domain name. In this case, "cheap digital cameras.com", would be the perfect domain name.

Top-Level Domains

The .com top-level domain (TLD) remains the most popular extension for businesses on the Internet. This means that .com (which means commercial) names are relatively harder to find than less popular extensions – such as .net, .org, .ws or .biz.

My opinion is "Big Deal". If you can get the domain name that you want using .net or another extention, then do it.

Current trends

Domains that contain words or phrases that are particularly en vogue may catch potential customers’ attention. However, such domains may lose their value as current trends change.

Daryl Putnam - Pro-dezign.com