Picking a domain name

4) Hyphens. There have been misunderstandings about whether to use hyphens in a web name. First of all, the domain name you give out to the public must not have hyphens, as people don’t type hyphens in when searching. The web name without hyphens is the web name that everyone will type in the address bar of their Internet browser.

The reason that some people say that you should have a web name with hyphens is to force the search engines to see keywords in your web name so that your web site does better in search engine results. The bigger search engines can now see individual words without hyphens, however, smaller search engines may not and even the bigger ones may see a word differently than you want. So instead you can register alternate domains with the hyphens and make them point to your main site.

5) Extensions. Domain names are available with various extensions some most common ones are .Net, .com, .org .If it's really important to you, you can register domain names in several extensions, however, for most firms only the extension is important. If you feel that you need to use org, you should also register your name in the .com extension as well as .net

the COM extension is similar to 1-800 for telephone numbers. Most people automatically dial 1-800 even when they see 1-888. Likewise, Additionally, many people including myself simply type in the domain name without anything behind it giving you all variations.

6) Top Level Domain vs. Sub-Level Domains. A sub level domain is a second level domain under a first level domain name. You must have your own domain name. Do not under any circumstances use a free hosting service, since free hosting services will only give you a sub level domain will always start with there name first leaving you out of the search engines. No one will ever remember it and it's sort of like handwriting your own letterhead. Which is very unprofessional.

7) Ethics for Domain Names. Some such as law firms must have a website name which should be used as an address, not a trade name which is prohibited. Advertise your web site name as an address, a means for people to find your web site, not a trade name. Like a 1800 telephone number, some web site domain names can violate legal ethics. Make sure that your web site name avoids use of certain words, which could create a potentially incorrect expectation in the mind of the consumer or violate one of the other ethics rules.