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You have finally admitted it would be fun to have your own business. Going on-line makes a ton of sense. You have a few ideas floating around about what your direction will be.

What are you going to name your web-site?

There are several places you can go to purchase a domain name (that’s your web-site name). I use GoDaddy for my domain name purchases and even bundle names from time to time. Yes, they are that cheap!

When you arrive at a site like GoDaddy, you are able to enter any number of names and they will let you know if the name is available. If you ask about a .com and it is not available, they will let you know if .ca or .net or some other variation is available.

Which names will you search for?

If you are sure about what you are doing you might want to find a name that will tell everyone what you are doing. handcraftedsilverjewelry.com is pretty clear. Something that a lot of people don’t realize is that you can present a name like this in a more readable fashion: HandCraftedSilverJewelry.com is easier to read and your readers will be redirected just fine with the capitals.

Some names are a little too general: fromcoasttocoast.com or FromCoastToCoast.com tells your reader very little so you will really have to market your niche.

Unusual names are sometimes attractive because they are memorable. autoknowbetter.com or AutoKnowBetter.com may be a great play on words as long as people remember how to spell it. If they then want to tell someone else about it, the chances for mis-spelling increase. And mis-spelled domain names never get the reader to the right spot!

Sometimes you think a longer name describes your business better and you want to make it easier to read so you insert dashes: pitter-patter-purple-penguins.com might be quite marketable but again there is the matter of spelling it out for people and word of mouth advertising. If your potential customer does not remember the dashes then again, their potential will never be realized for your business.

One other idea people have, thinking they can piggy back on a brand name, is to adapt a web-site name: KokaKola.com. I am not sure if there would be legal issues with this but most clients will think you are a poor imitation and not bother dropping by.

You will notice that many marketers choose their own name for their domain name. I was fortunate: there are not a lot of Agnes Knowles’ out there and it was easy to buy my name. While I also bought the .com of my name I chose to go with the .ca for my working site as the content around my niche was Canadian. If your name has already been purchased, you might try inserting a middle initial: AgnesMKnowles.com or just AMKnowles.com. Sometimes there is just no way you can find any variation of your name so you are then back to the drawing board.

There is an advantage of going with your own name. You can build any sort of business in any direction when it is your name. You can change your niche or your attitude; anything is possible because it is a direct reflection of you. I don’t recommend having several different opportunities or products under your one name (unless they are closely related) or your visitors will just get confused about what you are offering. As my business coach says – a confused buyer leaves! Especially starting out stay laser-focused, you will have opportunity to expand a little as your following grows.

So there you have it. There are all sorts of possibilities for a domain name. The good news is that they are pretty inexpensive, mostly under $20 so you can purchase several and poll your friends and family about the best one. Some domain names do come in with a hefty price tag so you really have to want it – personally I can’t imagine one name being the only workable name for your business. I looked at one with a price tag of $64,000. This told me the idea was a good one, but I would have to find a variation that would work just as well.

Good luck with this stage of your business development. While it can have a few frustrations, it is actually a very fun part of your building process.

If you already have a domain name, I’d love to hear why you chose it. Leave a message in the comment section below!

To your success!!