Choosing and Registering a Domain Name

Before launching a commercial Web site on the Internet, you will need to choose and register a domain name. The domain name is the base of the alphanumeric address, called the uniform resource locator (URL), where visitors locate your Web site on the World Wide Web. For example, www.microsoft.com is Microsoft Corporation’s URL, and microsoft.com is its domain name. Your domain name might be your name, the name of your company, a word or phrase that represents what your company does, or any string of letters and numbers you desire.

When choosing a domain name, it is prudent to look for a name that will be easy for people to remember and easy for people to spell. Domain names that spell common words are good choices. Your domain name might be made up of more than one word, in which case you must decide to run the words together as one string, or to separate them with other characters; underscores are common word separators. Remember, though, that if you need to spell the name out over the phone, you will appreciate something short and simple!