Your domain name must be used to establish your identity in some way. Try to register your company name if possible, or a name that identifies your product or service.

Try to select a name that is short, easy to spell, and easy to remember. Another alternative is to use a short phrase. The name should give a clear impression of "who" or "what" is being marketed.

Keep in mind that virtually every name in the English language is already registered. You may need to find a variation such as "myspotlight.com" or perhaps minor spelling variation if it will be easy to remember. One very common variation is the use of the letter "z" instead of and "s". When you apply for registration of a name, if the name you want is not available, a number of possible variations will be offered to you.

If your name is not available as a .com, the first impulse is to register as .net or .org instead. This may not be a good idea. The ".com" name extension is intended for "commercial", ".net" for internet or communications services, and ".org" is for, you guessed it, organizations.

Though up till now just anybody has been allowed to register under these other extensions, the day may come when the rules actually get enforced, and you lose the name that you spent countless hours and dollars to promote and establish. If you REALLY want that short, sweet name, one alternative is to register as ".ws", or ".shop" if you are a product retailer.

Right now. Even if you aren't ready to use it.

Seriously. Thousands of names are being registered daily. Your name may be here today, gone tomorrow. And there are plenty of "cybersquatters" out there registering 2,000 or more "good names" or words at a time, just to sell them for big bucks when somebody comes along and wants that name. "Business.com" was recently sold for 7.5 million dollars, so you see what's going on here.

When I first got the idea to create my web site (and that's all it was at the time, was an idea), I wanted to call it "deals" or something that projects the same idea. Of course, I knew that there wasn't a chance in a million that "deals" would be available, so I figured I would try a deliberate misspelling - "deelz". I did a name search and found that "deelz.com" was actually available! And it might even be a BETTER name to use than "deals" because the funky spelling would probably make it easier to remember than the proper spelling. What Luck! But here's where I went wrong……

To avoid the expense of name "parking" (usually about $1.00 to $5.00, sometimes free), and the later (small) hassle of name transfer, I decided not to register the name until I had a webhost, so I could get registered and hosted at the same time. It's a good idea to do this, but while I was spending just a few days shopping around for the right hosting plan at the right price, somebody else had registered the name I wanted! Now I had to come up with something else! Fortunately, "deelzonline" was still available as an acceptable alternative.

Usually the simpler name variations like this are also no longer available either, so I was very lucky after all. But don't count on luck. If the name you want is available, GRAB IT NOW. Even if you aren't ready to use it. Even if you don't need it for a week, a month, even a year. As I said earlier, the cost of the name spread out over time is only pennies a day. Buy it now and you'll be glad you did.