Register your domain name before you start your site so you will be able to match your content to the name, not the other way around. You will be lucky to set up your site first and then get a name that matches it perfectly. If you get the chance to find a good name that is not already taken, register it before someone else does.

When you come up with a name, share it with the other people near you. Ask your family and friends what they think of your domain name. If you get too many questions on what the name means or people stumble over saying it aloud, you might need a new name.

Choose a website name that is the same as your domain name. This way, people will think of your site and know where to go. Think of about.com, their name is the same as their domain name. There will be no mistaking them for anybody else. If you have a product and a domain name that are not the same, get domain names for both the product and the domain. This way, you will be able to point customers to either site depending on whether they know you by your product or your domain. You might want to corner the market on your name by snapping up hyphenated and misspelled versions of your domain names as well.

Choose a specific name for your business. If you sell Tony the Tiger dolls, you would want your sight to be tonythetigerdolls.com and not a generic name like dolls.com. The more specific you are, the more easily your customers will find you.

You can choose a name of up to 67 characters. This does not mean you should use all 67 of the letters in your domain name. While a short name may be easier to remember, it is difficult to get short names anymore. You will have to be creative to think of one that is not already used. If you can come up with a short name, use it.

Hyphenated names have the disadvantage of being difficult to type. People have to look for the hyphen key because they do not use it all the time. In addition, if a person does not type the hyphens, they could end up at your competitor’s site. It also takes too long to say the hyphens when you are talking about your site. However, if you are determined to get a name and the only way you can get it is to add the hyphens, chances are it is available because somebody else did not want to use the hyphens.

Suppose you can get domain site name you want with the only problem being that you have to add “a” or “the” to the beginning or you have to pluralize a word? Take it if you will remember to promote the full name of your site. Remember that it is easy to forget the article word and the plural version so again, people may be looking for you and still land on your competitor’s site.

If you cannot get a .com extension and you have to use a .net or .org, use the full name in all of your promotions. If you do not, people will assume it is a .com address.

Add a keyword in your domain name. Choose a word that you think people will use as they search for your content or products. Make a compound word with your keyword to devise a new domain name.

Did you remember all that? Now, go out and name that domain.