A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step. C Lao Tzu

When starting an online presence, the first and most important step you will have to take is to register your own domain name. In the online world, your domain name serves two purposes C name and address. Your domain name can serve as your site name. It will also direct your visitors to the contents of your site or someone elses. Hence, it is very important that you choose one properly.

If you are planning to launch a personal web site or one for your business, choosing a domain name like yourname.com or yourbusiness.com would be the logical step. However, there will be instances when the domain of your choice isnt available and you will have to pick another one. In doing so, please take note of the simple guidelines below.

If you already have a theme for your site, it would help if the domain name contains words that are related to the sites content. This makes it easier for you to market your site. Potential visitors will know what theyre getting into when clicking a link to your site.

You may also choose domain names that are short and easy to remember. A domain that is short and can be told in a few syllables will be easy to remember. It also helps if the name has a twist or if it sounds rather funny. Good examples of short domain names include one-word internet giants like Google, Amazon and Ebay.

You may also choose simple, ordinary words like business, computers or laptops. Although a number of these domains have already been registered, be on the lookout as they could easily bring in instant traffic for any site. This will be very useful if you are going to use any of those PPC programs for parked pages or even selling the domain name in the future. As an example, business.com was sold a few years ago for millions of dollars!

Remember that these days getting your own domain name no longer costs an arm and a leg. Gone are the days when companies would charge you 30 dollars or more. You now have a choice of sites that can register your domain names for less than ten dollars and still provide you with lots of free stuff. Some companies are even offering domain names at peanut prices if coupled by other purchases like web hosting. Of course, this is great news for anyone considering building a web site or purchasing a domain name as an investment.