The first step toward e-commerce is selecting the name of your site. Your Web address (also called a URL or “domain name”), tells customers who you are and how to find you on the Internet. It is the core of your Internet identity-your online brand. And because no two parties can have the same Web address, your online identity is totally unique.

What’s In a Name?
Quite a lot, actually. Remember that not only does your domain name act as your address on the Web, but it also communicates and reinforces the name of your business to every Web site visitor. It can also be used as part of your e-mail address to reinforce your online identity.

Keep these tips in mind before you choose your domain name:

• Make it memorable. “Amazon.com” is more unique and less limiting than “booksonline.com.”
• Describe your business. Avoid confusion by simply and logically describing your business. “Flowers.com” obviously leads one to believe they can buy flowers on the site. If you are setting up an online presence for an established business, keep the name of your site the same as the name of your business
• Keep it short. The best domain names are those that customers can remember and type into their browsers after seeing or hearing them only once, so complicated strings of words like “onlinecdstore.com” don’t work as well as a simple phrase: “cdnow.com.”

How to Get and Manage Domain Names

Once you’ve decided on your Web identity, the next step is to determine if it is available and then register it with a domain name company or “registrar.” Registering is easy and inexpensive, so do it as soon as you’ve decided on your domain name to make sure you get the name you want.

Many businesses register a number of variations, just in case they want to use them later-or to avoid the risk of competitors obtaining similar names. You also may want to register common misspellings so that customers who type your address incorrectly still find their way to your site instead of receiving an error message. E-commerce businesses most often register a name with “com” as the domain name extension (the letters after the dot; also called a top-level domain, or TLD), but names with “.net” and “.org” (for “organization”) are also common. Other suffixes include “.edu” for schools and universities, “.biz” for small businesses, “.us” for United States based Web sites, and “.info” for resource Web sites. Aditionally, the “.ws” suffix is often used to mean “Web Site”.