Choosing the right domain is really important. It is possible to change this down the line, but once your customers know where you are, they'll come looking for you - and we don't want to lose them in cyberspace!
Domains are usually the name of your business (www.smithscars.co.za), your name (www.johnsmith.com), or something descriptive like (www.bargain-cars-here.com).
Here are a few tips on choosing a Domain:
1) Make it easy to read!

• You should match your domain to the needs of the business depending on where you will be advertising it.
  
• If you are already running a business and you advertise 'off the page' or to put it more simply - if you are planning to write down the name of your business anywhere - you need this to be easy to type. You might run a cafe or flower stall and want to post leaflets advertising your business. Think about whether you will be advertising in newspapers or the yellow pages in the future, and make your domain easy to type. It sounds simple, but there have been so many occasions when I've just given up accessing a website because my fingers won't seem to type in the URL correctly!
  
• Always try to avoid underscores (_) for domains. When you are telling people over the phone about your site, people get confused about what underscores are, and written down they are easy to miss - especially when made into a click through link (with the line underneath) http://www.name_business.com
  It just looks like there's a letter missing... avoid underscores!
  
• I tend to pick domains that are all one word because they are easier to type into your browser. If you can purchase a domain that is just one word, yet a descriptive word for your site, you're onto a winner! However, there are times when a hyphen would have really helped - look at these unfortunate examples:
• • An exchange for experts: www.expertsexchange.com

  • Find a therapist: www.therapistfinder.com
    

• Don't say I didn't warn you!

2) Make it relevant

• There should always be a reason for your domain, that matches your site content. You can use your name, but it would be much better to use something that your visitors can associate with your content.
  
• If you have an existing business, you can use this as your domain. If you are creating an interest site, make the domain relevant to that. For example if your site focuses on trumpets and where to buy them, why not call it buytrumpets.co.za? This will work well for my next tip

3) Think about keywords

• You might already know that keywords are those words that you type into your search engine to find a relevant site. Sometimes sites will appear high up on Google rankings if the user's keywords appear in the domain name.
  
• What does all this mean?
• 
  
  • Well, coming high up on Google under relevant search terms means more visitors to your site, and potentially extra cash for you!
    
  • Unfortunately life is never simple, and this isn't an exact science. You can just help your site's rankings, by being descriptive with your domain. For example, your site might be about growing and selling roses (now there's an idea!) People looking for cheap roses might type in 'bargain roses, and you could call your site bargainroses.com.
• 
  
• Don't get too worried about this now... you should just be aware of the terms people will use to search for a site with content like yours. I'll go through an effective way to get your site found by Google that is a complete no brainer in another article!

Hopefully you are well equipped to choose your domain now. .. don't get too bogged down with it - you've got your easy website to build... and that's the exciting part!

Buying your Domain

It's best to buy your domain from the company that you will be using to build and host your website. It is possible to swap later, or 'point' your domain to a website hosted at another company, but this is a bit of a faf. We're trying to keep things simple!

But if you do want to buy your desired domain today (before someone snaps it up, and you do not want to make use of our service) here's just a small selection of the companies you can buy from:
- http://www.123-reg.co.uk
- http:// www.names.co.uk
- http://www.telivo.com
- http://www.africaregistry.com
- http://www.imaginet.co.za/product/domains