One of the essentials, if you want a successful online presence, is to choose a good domain name. You want to choose a domain name that will allow you to accomplish these two main things:

1. Express the purpose of your Web site.
2. Provide marketing for your Web site.

When choosing your domain name, it is important to take the above factors into consideration. This will help you choose a domain name that is informative and functional - as well as being easy to remember.

Expressing the purpose of your Web site

You want people to be able to easily discover what you are all about. If you are interested in having a personal Web site to share news of your family, something like www.yourfamilyname.com is appropriate. If you are selling distinctive handbags, something like www.handbags.com might be the way to go.

In addition to the name of your Web site showing others what your purpose is, there are suffixes added to the end of a Web address. Endings like .com, .net, .biz, .org and others tell you about the Web site as well. If you decide to go with .biz you are deliberately expressing yourself as a business. The .org suffix describes you as a non-profit organization or a charity. When you see a Web address that has a .gov at the end, you know that it is an official US government Web site.

Marketing your Web site

Your domain name also serves as a marketing tool. An easy to use domain name sticks in the mind and can help customers find you easily. If you plan to do offline advertising (through radio, TV, newspaper, fliers or community boards), it is important to make sure that your domain name fits into the advertisement, and that it is easy to remember when the person goes to find you online.

Another way that you market your Web site with the domain name is through search engines. Search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN Search use special protocols that search for keywords and phrases. It is important that your domain name match the content on your Web site, and that it contains at least one of the keywords people are likely to use when they look for your product or service.

When people are looking for news on you, using www.firstnamelastname.com can ensure that your Web site comes up higher in the search engine rankings. Additionally, a domain name like www.designerhandbags.com will show up in the search engine rankings for people look for specially designed bags higher than a mere www.handbags.com would place. Consider how your domain name will work with your overall search engine optimization (SEO) strategy. You want your domain name to fit into the big picture of your Web site.

Finding alternatives to your desired domain name

In some cases, you may find that your desired domain name is taken. This means that you need to find an alternative name. Some people do this by using a different ending. Instead of handbags.com, perhaps the business will go with handbags.net or handbags.biz.

Another tactic is to add more description. Maybe you can go with uniquehandbags.com or handmadebags.com or affordablehandbags.com. You can also add hyphens: hand-bags.com, designer-handbags.com or numbers: 50handbags.com, #1handbags.com.

Consider alternatives before you register your domain name so that you are prepared with a few backups, just in case your first or second (or third or fourth) choice for a domain name is already taken.

A few things to remember about choosing a domain name

Ultimately, you want a domain name that will work well for you. Here are some characteristics of a good domain name (including some that were mentioned above):

• Easy to remember.
• Descriptive of what your Web site is about.
• Contains keywords.
• Works with the SEO plan for your entire Web site.
• Has the appropriate ending.
• Can be easily used in an offline marketing campaign.

Choosing a domain name should be a matter of careful thought. After all, it does represent your online home.