the name you buy when you first decide the internet is where you want to market yourself.

Do I need a Domain?

Without a domain you rely on other peoples sites to advertise you and your products. This is not a good way to prove you are serious about your business. Neither is hopping onto a FREE website and becoming a sub-domain because they benefit longterm but, most importantly you don't. It only helps them grow their business it doesn't help you build yours. [tip] Don't work off a domain that is part of someone elses business.

Having your own domain is the only way to build an online business so lets consider you have made this decision early on and are now drilling down to your actual needs.

Which Domains should I choose?

You have decided on your strategy, you are going to own a domain but, there is so much choice - what to do? It is far easier than you think. ask yourself this..

• If most of your business is going to be in the UK?, then go for a .co.uk domain and get a .com as well.
• If most of your business is international? then get the .com and get the .co.uk as well

As you can see the sensible decision is to get both if you can because it makes sense to protect your interests now, and in the future - that was easy wasn't it..

[tip]Don't go buying up all the names unless you have a fat wallet. The first two years of domain leasing is cheap, after that the price escalates because by then they believe you have populated the sites and these are giving you business - ergo greater value.

Because the domain companies need to continually expand the ability of the net to grow, and for them to increase their massive incomes to stratospheric proportions you are getting lots of new domain names like .info .biz .org and .me but, these are not so important as the .co.uk and the .com because these are your primary domains [TLD's] Yes, others are included in this top echelon but their importance is less significant than these two.

My name is gone so what shall I call myself?

So, you have decided, but the name of your business is taken.

Unfortunately this is a growing problem with domain names. You might think you had an original idea but, someone else got there first and permutations are all gone too. Well, all is not lost because the name of your business is the name you promote so, it can be totally different to your business name [tip] think of something catchy, that people will remember and have affinity for. Then tie this name to your business in all your marketing and you will soon not know where one ends and the other begins.

• Try to avoid hypens and dots and if you insist on going a wacky route make sure your customers - 'Get It'
• Don't miss-spell unless this is intentional and your business can handle it
• Don't make it too long, the shorter the name the easier it is to type in and remember.
• If they cannot pronounce it they will never remember it

Okay, I have chosen a name - now what?

Well choosing a name usually means committing yourself to buying them. Luckily you can buy both for under £15 so its not a big outlay if things go wrong. There are many companies out there selling names but, be careful to buy them from major names companies. [tip] ENOM or 1&1 are excellent choices and flexible with all the necessary support built in for you to host your domain should you want to manage your own.

You now have your domain name and an identity on the internet, but there is more to be done before you can make that name synonymous with your business and for that you need to talk to a Marketing Guru of which there are many on 4N. The more you market the name of your business alongside the name of your domain the more you will realise that the two work perfectly together, but it takes time, sometimes months if not years. Do not expect people to beat a path to your door.

Look for the second article in this series titled [2] Well! Domain thing is I'm now online aren't I?