Your domain name will be essential for clients to find your website quickly and easily on the Internet.
You may want to use your business name for your domain name to ensure clients can recognize your company or brand online. However at times you may find that the name you have chosen is not available, in which case you may want to consider choosing a key word or phrase that represents your business or product.

Purchasing your domain name now, even if you are not yet ready to build your website can prevent the risk of your name being registered by a competitor.

Finally remember to use multiple extensions to protect your online brand, prevent cyber-squatting and make it easier for clients to find your website, you may want to consider registering one domain name with multiple extensions (like co.nz .com, .net, .biz ).

Where to start with domain names.
Choosing the right domain name is essential to your online branding and marketing. Having a domain name that is easy to remember and represents your brand is imperative to ensure people find you on the web. Your domain name is one way for people to identify you and differentiate you from your competitors.

People find websites many different ways but most often they will:

a) Have seen your URL advertised somewhere

b) Searched on a search engine and seen your site listed

c) Guessed your URL based on your company name

You will have noticed that there are a variety of domain names available. .com, .net and .org are example of top-level domain names. There are also country level domain names like .co.uk or .co.nz.

There are different regulations attached to different levels of domain names. This will be discussed further in Legal issues with domain names.

A top-level domain name is increasingly hard to secure so you may have difficulty registering your business name with .com as the domain. In Australia, regulation has ensured that your domain name must be derived from your business name, making it easier for you to register a name that accurately represents your business.

You can find out if your chosen domain name is still available here. You can also apply for your domain name online.

The recent release of new domains .biz and .info has created a new opportunity to secure a top-level domain name.

When choosing your domain name you need to take into consideration some important factors such as:

1. Descriptiveness.
Does the domain name describe your business or the products you sell?

2. Marketability.
Can the domain name be easily marketed to your targeted audience and within your industry?

3. Memorability.
Will people easily remember your name?

4. Extension (.com, .co.nz, .org etc)
Are you using the right extension to represent your company online?

5. Length (use of multiple words)
Is the domain name too long to be typed easily?

6. Spelling (use of abbreviations, hyphens etc)
Would people have problems spelling your domain name?

7. Resemblance.
Is your name too similar to a competitor's domain name?

These are only some of the issues you need to consider when buying your domain name.
Contact one of our experienced consultants on 0800 366 2469 to discuss the best available option.