rice range. Diamonds.com recently sold for 7.5 million dollars. Best advice -- build a brand name and then point generic/descriptive names to the main website address.

2. Come up with a naming strategy.

Go to a directory such as Yahoo.com or dmoz.org and look up competitors in your field. Examine the most common naming methods they use (i.e. proper names, key attributes, metaphors, etc.). If you discover your industry heavily utilizes one form of naming, avoid it and use another. If half of the companies are using the evocative theme of

Naming an Internet based business or start-up can be a daunting task. Do you follow the zany likes of Google and Yahoo, or do you go the more literal route of Hotels.com and Cars.com? Do you need to have the exact matching domain name as your brick-and-mortar business? And just how important is the .com vs. the .net? With so many choices to make and directions to go, let's start with the basics.

1. Decide if you are building a business or a brand.

I mention this since many online entrepreneurs are focused on short-term goals. They want to get their site up fast, get ranked high and start making money. This all sounds good but it leaves a business vulnerable in a number of ways. Short term thinking usually leads to literal names that will (supposedly) rank well with the search engines. In addition, literal/functional names are thought to better inform visitors about what products and services are provided.

While descriptive names do convey a sense of what you do, they fall short in creating an identity, a sense of how you do what you do. So you end up in a sea of sound-alike companies. LendingTree.com (a metaphor) is much more memorable than e-loan.com, loansfast.com or loan-place.com. Amazon.com (another metaphor) brings richer imagery to mind than BooksAMillion.com.

Unless you own a primary domain name with a lot of natural type-in traffic, descriptive names usually fall flat in the long run. You may make a decent living, but it would be difficult to grow a long lasting company called MensDressShoes.com. It would always sound generic and descriptive and would rely heavily on the ever-changing algorithms of the search engines. Most descriptive names rely on web surfers typing the search term into the web address box as a .com, hoping to find a relevant company. But what if this changes and consumers turn more and more to using search engines? What if the search engines change their valuation of having keywords in the domain name? You have then built a company that relies on the unpredictable nature of Internet search engines to make you profitable.

Having said all that, even if you wanted a generic short word, it's probably now beyond most businesses' price range. Diamonds.com recently sold for 7.5 million dollars. Best advice -- build a brand name and then point generic/descriptive names to the main website address.

2. Come up with a naming strategy.

Go to a directory such as Yahoo.com or dmoz.org and look up competitors in your field. Examine the most common naming methods they use (i.e. proper names, key attributes, metaphors, etc.). If you discover your industry heavily utilizes one form of naming, avoid it and use another. If half of the companies are using the evocative theme of d

o get their site up fast, get ranked high and start making money. This all sounds good but it leaves a business vulnerable in a number of ways. Short term thinking usually leads to literal names that will (supposedly) rank well with the search engines. In addition, literal/functional names are thought to better inform visitors about what products and services are provided.

While descriptive names do convey a sense of what you do, they fall short in creating an identity, a sense of how you do what you do. So you end up in a sea of sound-alike companies. LendingTree.com (a metaphor) is much more memorable than e-loan.com, loansfast.com or loan-place.com. Amazon.com (another metaphor) brings richer imagery to mind than BooksAMillion.com.

Unless you own a primary domain name with a lot of natural type-in traffic, descriptive names usually fall flat in the long run. You may make a decent living, but it would be difficult to grow a long lasting company called MensDressShoes.com. It would always sound generic and descriptive and would rely heavily on the ever-changing algorithms of the search engines. Most descriptive names rely on web surfers typing the search term into the web address box as a .com, hoping to find a relevant company. But what if this changes and consumers turn more and more to using search engines? What if the search engines change their valuation of having keywords in the domain name? You have then built a company that relies on the unpredictable nature of Internet search engines to make you profitable.

Having said all that, even if you wanted a generic short word, it's probably now beyond most businesses' price range. Diamonds.com recently sold for 7.5 million dollars. Best advice -- build a brand name and then point generic/descriptive names to the main website address.

2. Come up with a naming strategy.

Go to a directory such as Yahoo.com or dmoz.org and look up competitors in your field. Examine the most common naming methods they use (i.e. proper names, key attributes, metaphors, etc.). If you discover your industry heavily utilizes one form of naming, avoid it and use another. If half of the companies are using the evocative theme of

ompanies. LendingTree.com (a metaphor) is much more memorable than e-loan.com, loansfast.com or loan-place.com. Amazon.com (another metaphor) brings richer imagery to mind than BooksAMillion.com.

Unless you own a primary domain name with a lot of natural type-in traffic, descriptive names usually fall flat in the long run. You may make a decent living, but it would be difficult to grow a long lasting company called MensDressShoes.com. It would always sound generic and descriptive and would rely heavily on the ever-changing algorithms of the search engines. Most descriptive names rely on web surfers typing the search term into the web address box as a .com, hoping to find a relevant company. But what if this changes and consumers turn more and more to using search engines? What if the search engines change their valuation of having keywords in the domain name? You have then built a company that relies on the unpredictable nature of Internet search engines to make you profitable.

Having said all that, even if you wanted a generic short word, it's probably now beyond most businesses' price range. Diamonds.com recently sold for 7.5 million dollars. Best advice -- build a brand name and then point generic/descriptive names to the main website address.

2. Come up with a naming strategy.

Go to a directory such as Yahoo.com or dmoz.org and look up competitors in your field. Examine the most common naming methods they use (i.e. proper names, key attributes, metaphors, etc.). If you discover your industry heavily utilizes one form of naming, avoid it and use another. If half of the companies are using the evocative theme of

rch engines. Most descriptive names rely on web surfers typing the search term into the web address box as a .com, hoping to find a relevant company. But what if this changes and consumers turn more and more to using search engines? What if the search engines change their valuation of having keywords in the domain name? You have then built a company that relies on the unpredictable nature of Internet search engines to make you profitable.

Having said all that, even if you wanted a generic short word, it's probably now beyond most businesses' price range. Diamonds.com recently sold for 7.5 million dollars. Best advice -- build a brand name and then point generic/descriptive names to the main website address.

2. Come up with a naming strategy.

Go to a directory such as Yahoo.com or dmoz.org and look up competitors in your field. Examine the most common naming methods they use (i.e. proper names, key attributes, metaphors, etc.). If you discover your industry heavily utilizes one form of naming, avoid it and use another. If half of the companies are using the evocative theme of

rice range. Diamonds.com recently sold for 7.5 million dollars. Best advice -- build a brand name and then point generic/descriptive names to the main website address.

2. Come up with a naming strategy.

Go to a directory such as Yahoo.com or dmoz.org and look up competitors in your field. Examine the most common naming methods they use (i.e. proper names, key attributes, metaphors, etc.). If you discover your industry heavily utilizes one form of naming, avoid it and use another. If half of the companies are using the evocative theme of discovery (i.e. Internet Explorer, Netscape, Safari, etc.), then try something different such as an analogy (i.e. Firefox). Map out a list of your competitors' names and see how your names compare against them. Consider such naming techniques as:

• Focusing on a key attribute (Priceline.com)

• Focusing on a key attribute (Priceline.com)

• Adding a suffix (Travelocity.com)

• Creating an invented name (Expedia.com)

• Utilizing an evocative word (Orbitz.com)

• Mixing words in new combinations (HotWire.com)

The more strategies you employ, the more naming options you will have at your disposal. Be careful of misspelled names since they will create one more obstacle when it comes to finding your domain name. Some companies can manage this because they have large budgets (i.e. Cingular.com); but as much as possible, focus on names that can be clearly stated, understood and spelled.

3. Search to see if the names on your list are available.

A great place to start is DomainTools.com. They will not only allow you to look up a domain name to see if it's available, but they also have a link for domain suggestions when the desired domain in not available. While these suggestions are not always the most creative, they may spark some additional ideas. Plus they show related names that are for sale or at auction on other sites. Another good site is BuyDomains.com. Unlike DomainTools.com, which simply lists whether domains are available or not, BuyDomains.com actually owns its own inventory of over 675,000 names. They will not be available for the $6.95 that GoDaddy.com would charge for an unregistered name, but they do have a good supply of names for between $2,000 to $4,000. Considering the importance of a good domain name, this is relatively inexpensive. In addition to BuyDomains.com, there are sites such as Afternic.com and Sedo.com that also offer a wide selection of domain names, many of which are searchable by category.

You can also broaden your opportunities by adding a good prefix or suffix. Avoid the trite "online" or "cyber" endings. In the case of my naming company, I added the intensifier "Pure to the light bulb filament "