The quickest way to getting eyeballs on your business these days is by establishing an online presence and central to establishing a powerful online presence is choosing a domain name that will attract the right customers.

Somehow, there hasn’t been enough emphasis placed on choosing a domain name that attracts the right customers, so allow me to expound on this subject with some tips you can put to immediate use for your next website or blog.

1. Choose A Descriptive Domain

What your website offers should be clear from the domain name. Don’t make your potential visitors guess at what they’ll find on your website.

For example, if your name is Veronica Smith and you own a hair salon, get a domain like veronicashairsalon.com instead of veronicasmith.com. Unless you’re famous, or want to become that way, your own name isn’t the best option as your domain.

Keep it as short as possible as well. It’s easier for your customers to remember and they’re less likely to make typing errors when they enter it in their web browser.

2. Get A Domain That Includes Your Keywords

It’s becoming increasingly important for business owners to have their websites indexed and ranked well in search engines like Google.com, MSN.com and Yahoo.com. And it helps this cause tremendously if you have a keyword-rich domain name. The reason for this is simple: Your potential customers search using specific keyword phrases to find what they’re looking for.

Spending the time to research your keywords and find a domain that uses them, while still meeting the first criteria (descriptive, short as possible) is well worth the time.

There are plenty of other things you’ll need to do to get good rankings in the search engines, but your domain name sets the foundation for everything else. Also, avoid using dashes in your domain even if it makes it easier to find a keyword-rich name. Hyphens are believed to hurt your rankings in some search engines.

3. Do You Really Need .com?

Well, the answer is yes and no. There’s no reason you can’t use a different extension like .net or .biz if that’s the only way you can get the domain you want. It’s not the best choice however, because everybody thinks in terms of .com. If your site uses something else, it’s going to be an uphill battle to get people to recognize your site. If someone else already owns the .com version, they’re going to get a lot of free traffic thanks to your marketing.

How would you feel if you spend time and money marketing your website and some of those people wound up on your competitor’s customer list instead?

If you’re setting up a website for specific types of organizations, a non-profit group for example which should use .org, the best way to go is to stick with .com.

So, don’t rush headlong into purchasing a domain name without first taking the time to research keyword phrases that would be a perfect match for your product or service. You can perform this much needed research at websites such as www.wordtracker.com, www.keywordtumbler.com and www.goodkeywords.com. It requires some effort, but acquiring the keyword phrases that are used by prospects and incorporating them into your domain name will pay off handsomely for years to come.

Most network adapters within servers and computers are assigned a unique address known as an IP address. An IPv4 ip address is a address written as four numbers separated by periods. Each number can have a value between zero and 255, so your dedicated server or home computer address format would look somewhat like this 172.16.3.44. You can find out what your ip address is by typing ipconfig at the command prompt (Start, Run, ipconfig) on a Windows Server and by typing ifconfig on a Linux Server. You can use the same command on your home Windows or Linux system to determine your static dedicated ip.

When you browse for websites on the internet your browser communicates with web servers via their IP address. Methods have been devised to assign human readable names or hostnames to ip addresses. On a local windows or linux computer this translation can be accommodated in what’s called a host file. On most windows systems the hosts file is located in c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\ directory; on Linux or Unix servers the hosts file is commonly stored in the /etc directory.

Have you ever been to 3111 World Dr. in Orlando Florida? Do you know where that is? You may be able to figure out what location I am talking about but wouldn’t it be easier if I said have you ever been to Disney Magic Kingdom? That is essentially name resolution 3111 World Dr. Orlando, Florida 32830 is equivalent to the IP address and Disney Magic Kingdom is equivalent to a hostname. The server space or website hosting is equivalent to the land that the theme park sits on. So when you register for a domain name you get the name but you also must rent or purchase some “land” or server space for your website to reside. Likewise if you rent or buy the server space but do not register a domain name or an address, no one will know how to get to your website.

A hostfile will contain lines that look like this: 192.168.20.34 www.npsis.com which basically says that the ip address 192.168.20.34 corresponds to the hosname or webserver www.npsis.com. Hostfiles are used for name translation for a small number of computers.

For hostname to IP translation on the internet the DNS (Domain Name System) is commonly used. When you type www.npsis.com or the name of your website design store or the website name of your company, your computer contacts a DNS server to find out what IP address goes with the domain name or URL that you entered. Whether you are setting up website on a webserver or an email server you need a domain name.

If you are selecting a domain name or website name for your business it is to your advantage to select a domain name that is easy to remember and if possible reflects what your business or service is (ex. tomsgarage.com). You can also register multiple domain names and have your website design store optimize your web pages for those keywords. Then you can have multiple domain names point to your web site. So you could have tomsgarage.com, bestlocalgarage.com, and wefixcars.com all point to your website.

Domain names are typically done on a first come, first serve basis so if you have an idea for a good name you should register it before it is taken by someone else. There are many people and businesses who register and buy the most desirable domain names and resell them; this is usually for a higher cost than the original purchase price.

Have you hired a web design store or individual web design consultant? Make absolutely sure that you own your website address and not them. By purchasing your domain name yourself, you protect yourself from negligent people and predators looking to take advantage of the fact that you might not know better.

If you have always been curious as to what it takes to make money from the Internet, especially through buying domain names an using them as investments, you will be pleased to know that this is one of the most exciting and fun ways to generate profits from the Internet today.

All websites begin with a domain name, which is why any form of business based on the Internet evolves around the particular domain name it carries. With a good domain name, people will trust your products and services more easily, as they are confident of your ability to navigate the Internet, simply because you have a well-chosen domain name.

This also affects traditional brick and mortar businesses, as they would normally need a domain name that matches their brand or company name. If you happen to run a business, you should immediately purchase a domain name that matches the your company’s name, or product range. If you find that someone else has already taken it, you might be too late in finding a domain name that gives your company credibility on the Internet.

You can also generate profits from domain names, simply by buying as many domain names as you can possibly afford. The reason for doing this, is so you can own as many domain names as possible, with the hope of selling them in future for a sizeable sum of money. You will also find that buying one domain name is relatively inexpensive and cheap, however, once you begin to buy domain names in large numbers, they might cost much more. This method works because more and more companies are beginning to register for a domain name online, and if you own enough domain names, you can be certain that companies will begin to approach you, offering to buy over some of the domain names you own.

Another way to determine the value of a domain name is to check how frequently it is searched for on all major search engines. A lot of companies today, build websites with domain names that are highly searched for on the Internet, thereby meeting the needs of everyone who might be searching for that particular term, with a query in mind. Often, these domain names with high search value can bring in a lot of profits for the individual who owns it, provided he/she is able to give it the necessary exposure.

Some others also run affiliate programs from different domain names, which is why buying domain name is very important to them. With a good domain name, these affiliate websites will be able to garner the reputation that is needed to increase profits and business opportunity.

Domain names that are in high demand will also ensure you huge returns, especially when there is a growing number of people who are looking to buy a particular domain name. This is why individuals who are dealing in domain names, often make extremely good returns from reselling domain names.

With these tips, you should be able to generate a constant flow of profit and income from domain names. All you need is a little ingenuity, to give you the edge over others in this field, giving you profits simply by dealing in domain names.