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I guess you could call this something of a sponsored post but if you’re considering the creation of a web site of any kind this is something that you really have to think about.

These are just a few things to consider when registering a new domain name, whether it is for a multinational enterprise or just forwarding to your hosted blog.
Tubu Domains (click image above) is a great registration service with awesome support, pricing and free stuff. Check them out.
(email [email protected] and they’ll set you up with special pricing

Don’t get conned

There is no need to pay more than $10 for an available .com (personally I don’t think people should be charged crazy money for ‘unavailable’ domains either)
Domains names are registered and charged for on a yearly basis. you can pre-pay for your domain for up to 10 years in advance in some cases.

Think long and hard

Your domain name is going to represent you globally for a long time. Your domain name says a lot about you as a person and as a company. Don’t make a quick, brash decision on what you’re going to use.

Research

I can’t really stress this one enough.  Research the name, domain name and variations of it before you register.   Ask an attorney if you need to.
I know of a few cases where a person has registered a domain name, had a site designed and had it running for years before receiving a cease and desist notice because of the name they’re using.
It’s well worth the time and energy.

Keep it short

Not only does it save on printing costs etc. but having a short domain name is great! They’re hard to find but once you have one – keep it! Abbreviate your name/company name if you need to.

Make it Audible

Huh?! well, you’re bound to tell people your web address, right? Either on the phone or in person it’s always good to have a name that is audible. Easy to say, easy to type, easy to write. you don’t want something that you have to spell out time and time again.

Use multiple words

Part of the reason that ‘web 2.0’ words are missing vowels is because they’re simply running out. More than 90% of the words in the English dictionary are used as Domain names. Finding a single name is becomming harder and harder.
You could think up something like "IKillBugs.com" or "GreatCoffee.com" use a couple of words that might describe you or your business, briefly…. keep it short!

Be careful

I was talking to someone the other day who had done some work for a technical institute – I forget what the name was. ‘U(something) Technical Institute’.  My first thought when I heard the name was that someone didn’t think too hard about the name. this abbreviation would be ‘UTI’ which is also a common term for a urinary tract infection.

Register Variants

This is where the Whitehouse went wrong.  If you go to Whitehouse.com (don’t) you’ll find yourself at a porn site.
There are enterprising individuals out there who spot popular domain names and register variants, misspellings, .net, .org etc to drive traffic to other sites to to try and sell them off later.