Domain names are unique identifiers on the Net. You need to get a domain name if you're serious about making your business successful. Having your own domain instead of an extension of someone else's, gives your site better credibility, recognition, and visibility with the search engines and directories.

The length can be up to 63 characters, although the shorter the better. You may use dashes if it helps readability. Generally, don't use dashes if your name has only two words in it.

Domain names include the Top Level Domain (TLD). The most popular TLDs are .com, .org, .net.
.com represents companies or for profit organizations. Most personal Web sites also use this extension.
.net generally represents Internet Service Providers.
.org represents non-profit organizations or groups.

Though these are general guidelines, you may use any of these extensions when registering your name. If you want to make sure no one else can benefit from it, you can register all variations.

Choosing domain names

This is very important step in the entire process of building a Web site, and it can also be one of the most difficult. The right selection can make the difference between a successful Web site and one that fails to attract any visitors. It may seem that nearly all "good" names have been registered. This doesn't mean, however, that there's nothing left, you just have to be a bit more creative.

Here are some tips for choosing domain names:

Keep the length between 5-20 characters if possible.

Try to base it on a common phrase, that's easy to spell and easy to remember.

The generic TLD .com is by far the most marketable, and thus the most valuable domain.

Check for domain name availability

The next step is to find out whether or not "your" name has been registered. Prepare to be disappointed. You'd be surprised at how many people share your idea.

To check availability of your domain name and get suggestions if your domain name is already taken, visit Register.com.

Website Hosting

There are many Web hosting services that will allow you to put your website on one of their servers for a fee. These servers are always connected to the Internet, so your website is always available.

Choosing a reliable, yet cheap website hosting can be one of the most important decisions you make for your online business and is not something that should be taken lightly. Hosting providers offer you different types of packages...

• Free hosting is for fun. If you want to experiment with a site or put up a small, personal site for the fun of it, a free package will suffice. See Free Website Hosting.
• Shared hosting is suitable in most cases. A few tens of sites are housed on one server. Choose it if you are serious about doing some business and want to have a professional website.
• Dedicated hosting is typically used for sites that need to handle a high level of traffic, need a higher degree of security, or sites that run their own customized software. Choose it if you want to be the only user of that physical machine.

Web hosting services offer you the wide range of features. Be sure to focus on the essentials that are required to launch your website. Will you use all the nice extras? It's a good idea to choose an initially cheap website hosting and expand your plan as and when your site grows.

For example, you may not need a database solution now, but you may need one in the future. So, when choosing a host, keep in mind your possible future needs, and whether it will be able to accommodate them.

The two companies we recommend to our clients are 1X Hosting and Host My Site.