How should you choose your domain name?

As a service to our clients, we offer reliable, affordable domain name registration services:

A domain name is one of the most important aspects of your web presence.

It's important because:

Clients must easily find you and your business on the web.
Clients must easily remember your choosen domain name.
Prospects must find you and your business when they are looking for your service or products.
Your site is a part of your company's branding strategy.
Search engines must find all the key elements mentioned to link the domain name to you and your products or services.

Here are a few hints to choosing your domain name:

Avoid using abbreviations in your web site name.
If possible purchase a '.com' domain name extension.
Don't purchase a '.org' extension unless you are a non-profit business or organization.
Don't use a '-' (dash) in your domain name.
Use your business name in the URL if possible.
If you are a one-man (or woman!) shop, purchase your own name as an additional domain name if it is available.
If you do purchase your own name as a domain name, make sure that it's points to your main site.
If your business name is already taken, focus on your products or services instead.
Don't choose a long domain name; people can't remember it!
If possible, include what you do as a part of your domain name.
Have fun! Your web site can have multiple domain names!

Personally, I have multiple domain names for my business and personal use. Along time ago when the web was just getting started I purchased my own name (Sue Foss) as a domain name. I wanted a convenient and easy way to locate me so I posted my resume. It stills hold my resume today.

When I started this business and determined my business name, I purchased all available versions of Cedar Valley Group. Yes, that's right. I purchased '.com', '.net'. '.us' and '.org'. After a quick search on the web, I noticed that there were other areas of the country that were also called "Cedar Valley". So to ensure that none of the other groups could cause confusion, I went purchased all the domain extension I could. Shortly after that I meet someone at a networking group in the area who was selling flowers, and doing auto repair and selling used cars and had tried to purchase the Cedar Valley Group domain name, but it was NOT available! Whew! I lucked out!

Now if you forget my business name, but know my name, you will find me. If you search on Cedar Valley, you will find me. If you are looking for SEO services, you will find me!

So have fun with your domain name or names! Your business could reap all kinds of benefits!