How to Choose an Appropriate Domain Name

A domain name is the address which people will type in their browser so as to get to your website . It is very important that you choose a domain name which has the following characteristics:

a) It is something related to your website-
e.g. If your site is something related to medicine, a good domain name would be www.medicine.com
If the domain name is something which people can correlate to the content on your website, the person will remember your website better and be able to visit your site again with greater ease.

b) It should be short and simple-
domain names which are large and complicated are almost never remembered by people, thus if a person who wants to visit your site again would not be able to do so with ease, and that is not good. So it is important that a domain name is short and simple. e.g. A domain name for a site of a person called john ballack should not be www.mynameisjohnballack.com(too lengthy) or even www.j0hnballack.com (you probably don't see it but the 0 in j0hn is actually a numerical number and hence it is too complicated). A good domain name would be www.johnballack.com

c) What should it be? .com .info .edu .co
The domain name that you choose can have many extensions such as .com or .edu or .org or .net or .info . These extensions are very important nowadays. Since .com is the most popular exension, it is a good choice if you can get it. However, due to its popularity, most .com domain names have been taken, or they are very high priced. Due to these reasons it is better now to get a cheaper domain name of the other extensions like .net .org .edu or even .info. Again, you should choose an extension which people can correlate with your site- e.g. if your site is an educational site you should get a .edu extension.

d) Check for availability.
it is important that you check whether the domain name you want is available or not. Instructions on how to check for availability will be given in a later article on "domain name registration". In short though, you have to use a Whois tool to check for availability of domain names.

NOTE- KEEP ATLEAST THREE OR FOUR ALTERNATIVE DOMAIN NAMES IN YOUR MIND SO THAT EVEN IF YOU DONT GET ONE YOU CAN TRY ANOTHER.
ALSO IF THE DOMAIN NAME YOU LIKE IS AVAILABLE REGISTER IT BEFORE SOMEONE ELSE TAKES IT.

Think of domain names as virtual property, a good name can be sold by you anywhere between 10$ - 1000$. Although, it is rare that a person would buy a domain name which is that expensive, it is possible especially if your website becomes popular.