Your own domain name

If you want to be taken seriously you will need to have your own domain name. If you setup a site with a free online service such as AOL, Geocities or CompuServe, you will have to incorporate their names into your address. An example might be:

www.members.aol.com/mycompany or even www.geocities.com/mexicocity/23423/mycompany.html

These names are referred to as subdomains. It looks far more professional to purchase your own domain name. then your address might be www.mycompany.com. As well as looking better, it is important to get your own domain name for the following reasons:

Its shorter – a short name is always going to be easier to remember than a long name.

Search engines – many search engines most natably Yahoo! Discriminate against sub-domains.

Its permanent – if and when you change your ISP, you will not have to change your domain name if you own it. This is not the case with sub-domains.

Email – when you have a domain name you will also be able to have an email account at that domain name, which means you will be able to setup straightforward email addresses such as sales@yourdomainname.com and so on.

Of course, getting your own domain name costs money. You have to pay a web hosting service to register it. However, with prices starting around $1.99, getting your own domain name is cost effective investment that will benefit your company in the long term. To find the right company for you, just Google as Domain Names or Web Hosting.

Think about the sort of website you will have before deciding on a web hosting company. For instance, if you plan to sell products online, you should ask the company if they have a secure server (one that keeps customers information, such as credit card details, safe) and if they have shopping cart software available, and at what cost.