Here is our next installment on how to get started on the Internet with Internet Marketing. If you have gotten a clear idea on what niche you want to be in, you can go searching for a good domain name.

What is a good domain name?

There are basically 2 kinds of domain names you could go for.

1. A brandable domain

This is usually a very short and catchy domain. In many cases it does not mean anything but it is easy to remember and it builds up a brand.  Most bigger companies will have a brandable domain name. Famous examples are of course Yahoo and Google.

Of course it would be great to register a one word domain name that is catchy and DOES mean something, but then be be prepared to spend a lot! These domain names were picked up a long time ago and may be very expensive. These kind of domains are good if you can promote your brand well, but be sure to pick the right name. It needs to be easy to pronouce and not sound too weird.

A brandable domain name should be

• Short
• Memorable
• Easy to pronounce
• Easy to spell
• Not too similar to competing domain names
• Not a violation of someone else’s trademark

2. A descriptive domain

This domain has some kind of meaning. It could include some of your keywords and it may give a person a direct understanding of what your business is all about. These domains are good for SEO (search engine optimization) purposes and may help to promote your business. An example of this is one of my own domains escalawebstrategy.com (although this is a combination of brand and meaning as escala is my brand) or SEOmoz.com, a resource site for SEO.

If you don’t want to spend a lot of money for a one word descriptive domain you will need to go for a short phrase. A good place to start looking for a domain name is Namecheap or GoDaddy. Domains are very cheap here and you can search a domain by keyword and get lots of domain suggestions.

Buying a domain

Buying a domain is easy! My suggestion would be to go to Namecheap as the registration process is easy and they are very cheap. All you need to do is provide your contact details, pay and that’s it for the moment. Make sure you keep your registration information though! Many people forget to keep these records and it can sometimes be very tedious to get access to your domain if you have forgotten all details. You will need access to your domain when you are going to setup your site and email.

Don’t postpone buying your domain for too long. If you have a good idea for a domain, check if it’s available  and if it is buy it. US9.69 will not break the bank balance! Even though you may change your mind later you would still not want to risk someone else registering your domain before you. You can always point your unused domains to your new website or sell them on later on. I was able to sell one of my domains for well over $1250 (and if I had been a bit more clever in negotiating, probably for a lot more), so you may even turn discovering profitable domain names into your new online business!

Applying a domain

When you want to start using your domain for you email and website you will need to point the domain to the correct nameservers. This is very easy to do in Namecheap but let’s not worry about that for now. Once registered your domain is safe at the register and you can now start thinking about how to create your website. We will talk about that in our next post.