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Starting an online home business requires dedication and investment. If you are serious about starting your own online home business and have done some research, then you should know that having your own domain name and website will be a long term investment and much more beneficial for your online business. Here are some tips when considering a domain name and also on the registration process.

The Do's
Relevancy is one of the most important factors when trying to decide on a domain name. With an offline business people can walk past your shop and see through your window what you have to offer. On the internet, the only thing people can link to your online business is your domain name, so think of a name that tells you market what you are all about.

You need to brainstorm for relevant catchy names. This can be a difficult job especially as most of the common domain names are now taken. Here are some guidelines you can take when brainstorming for your domain name. Here we use an example product "children" books by John Smith"

• Names related to the product of your business e.g. childrensbooks
• Names related to the creator of the product of your business e.g. Smithschildrensbooks
• Names related to the broad category of your product e.g. booksforchildren
• Names related to the audience your are marketing e.g. booksforpreschool

It is a general rule that your domain name should contain your keywords and should also be short, catchy and easy to remember.

Since your preferred domain name might probably already be taken, it is best to have a few potential domain names ready. Sometimes you can add two of your keywords together or you can choose to add your own name into it so it" easy to remember e.g. johnschildrenbooks. Another way to go around it is to add the words "the" or "my" at the start, like "thebookshop" or "site" or "shop" at the end, such as "childrensbookshop" or even adding the letters "i" or "e" at the start such as "ebusiness"

The Don'ts
The following are usually discouraged when choosing a domain name:

• Hyphenate names - e.g. "my-childrens-book-shop.com is a lot harder to remember. In addition on a verbal context people would not generally spell out the hyphen when talking to friends about the website.
• Short domain names are of greater advantage, the longer the domain name or the more words are incorporated in it then the more confusing and difficult it could be to remember.
• Try purchasing .com domains. This is the most popular form of domain name and is the default setting in most people" head. Other forms of domain names are a lot less popular and are sometimes forgotten.

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