How to choose a domain name
A practical guide to domain name registration.
If you are new to web site development the whole process of choosing and then registering a domain name for your web site can seem to be daunting. But is is really easy. Domain names need to be registered by an accredited domain name registrar, but your web hosting provider can take care of that for you.
You will need to select a domain name and a Top Level Domain (TLD). Each country has its own TLD or Top Level Domain, but unless the visitors you like to attract are restricted to your country, you may be better of just using one of the International TLDs, such as .com or .net. You can find a list of international TLDs at ICANN, but my advice is to look for a .com TLD first (unless you are looking for a personal email domain). If the domain name you want is already taken in the .com TLD, you can choose one of the others with .net my favorite. Don't go for any of the relatively unknown TLDs, unless you have a specific reason to choose that TLD.
Registering your domain name.
So, how do you choose and register a domain name for your web site. Let's start with registering a domain name. Most web hosting providers now throw in a free domain name, so there is no need for you to find a separate domain name registrar for your first domain. And by the time you start on your second web site, you will know a lot more about domains. But even then, unless you really want the cheapest domains, you can just stay with your web hosting provider and avoid the extra overhead of using a seperate domain registrar.
Now we solved the registration issue, we will need to discuss choosing your domain name. If you are sure about the topic of your web site, you can choose a domain name related to the keywords you have chosen. But don't make it too long or too complex. Having your keywords in the domain name may help a little with your Search Engine optimisation, but more importantly it can help with your branding. Think will my visitors remember this name when they want to visit me the next time? Of course you can choose a name that does not contain any of your site's keywords as well, if you thinks it is distinctive enough and easy to remember. If you want to know which names not to choose, have a look at a list of so called dead domains (domains that were not renewed). Many of them are just too complex to remember.
Domain name generators.
If the first domain name that you had in mind is no longer available (And that's very likely), you'll need a good tool that helps you generate variants of your initial domain name and indicate whether these domain names are already registered. A powerful tool, but for me a bit too complicated, can be found at Makewords.com. I prefer the simpler Nameboy, but found it is not always correct when it tells you a domain name is still available. Better use Better Whois to double check.