The very first step to establishing any kind of an online presence for your business is, of course, to choose your web address. This is referred to as a domain name. Domain name registration should be done carefully, since there are various important elements of internet marketing which should be taken into account at this point. Consider these five helpful tips.

Shorter is better

While your domain name should, ideally, be either your company's name or a specialized keyword that you're looking to rank in the SERPS with, you should always try to keep it short. There's no hard and fast rule with regards to the length of the domain name, though most registrars place a limit which is less than the global maximum of 63 characters. Keeping it short and simple will help your visitors remember the address upon discovering your website.

Choosing the Top-Level Domain (TLD)

The top-level domain is the final part of the web address. The most common is ".com", although almost every country and territory in the world has its own TLD and there are many others which are open to anyone for registration. Most business and money-making websites should stick to the .com suffix. You should only use the TLD for your country if the content of your site is only relevant to others within your country, or your business is a local one.

Do not use Trademarked Names

Some newbies to the world of internet business and marketing are tempted to register a domain name which contains the name or variation of the name of a well-known business, brand, or product. You should never use trademarked names, not only because it's unethical; it can also get you some unwanted attention from the law. This dishonest and illegal way of drawing more traffic to your website is commonly referred to as "cybersquatting" and could place you in hot waters.

Protect your Business by Registering Multiple Domains 

Any serious web-based business should consider registering multiple domains. This helps to protect your brand name and prevent other businesses from taking a web address similar to your own. It's also a good idea to register a version of your domain name under different extensions, such as a .net version of the site. Many companies also register domain names with deliberate spelling errors. When a visitor makes a common spelling mistake when typing your web address, they'll still be redirected to your main site instead. For example, when people enter "gooogle.com", they still end up at Google.

Use letters, numbers and dashes

In general, domain names can only contain standard latin letters, numbers, and dashes. No domain names can contain spaces and, for the most part, cannot contain symbols. While multilingual domain names are now available for countries to localize web addresses in their native languages, these are still not particularly common since most web users are used to the old standards and restrictions. One last thought to remember is that domain names are not case sensitive.

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