"What Is a Domain Name?"

Just to be clear, a "domain name" is the web address you register for your website - the bit that visitors type in after "www." to get to your site. So the domain name of this site is "businesswebadvice.com".

The domain name of your site will be whatever you register with your chosen domain name registrar (there are a couple of recommendations on the right). And there's nothing to stop you from registering several domain names. They can all point to the same web site (though there is a right and a wrong way to do this - more later).

Domain names come with various extensions. Some are international (.com, .biz, .info, .org) and some are country specific (.co.uk, .de, .fr, etc.).

There's no doubt that .com is the best one to go for if you're targeting a global market. It presents you as an international business, which is what you're going to be. But it's probably a good idea to register your own country-specific domain as well - and if your target market is your own country, your country-specific domain is probably a better choice.

Better still, register both ... and use them for different sites. So, for example, this site has the domain "businesswebadvice.com", but we also run the site "businesswebadvice.co.uk" for readers who want internet marketing advice for the UK.

You will also need a hosting account. That just means that you hire some disc space on a server somewhere (a "server" is just a computer used to store stuff - like a website, for example - that can be accessed from other computers over the internet). But first, let's choose a domain name.

"What Domain Name Should I Choose?"

Let's say that you're running a small restaurant. It's a speciality English restaurant called Bamber's. Your first inclination would probably be to put your website up on the domain "bambers.com". But would that be the best domain for your business?

You should certainly register the domain "bambers.com" - if only to stop anybody else registering it and "cybersquatting" on your name. But it might not be the best domain to use for the website.

But suppose you could register "englishrestaurant.com". That would be a lot better. Why? Because it immediately tells

• people visiting your site - or seeing your site advertised
• search engine "spiders" visiting your site

exactly what you do. "Bambers.com" doesn't tell anybody anything! Register it, certainly, and point it to your website; but use something more revealing as your main domain name.

Web Speak

Now, we've said that "englishrestaurant.com" would be a better domain name because it would tell both people and search engine spiders that we run an English restaurant. Let me translate that sentence into web speak:

"English restaurant" is one of our main "keyword phrases".

And, as you've just seen, that becomes relevant even before we register a domain name!

And from this we can learn a very important lesson ..... one that will make us stand out from the vast majority of sites on the web. It is this:

Keyword research is the very first thing we need to do when putting a web site together.

It is also one of the most important steps we will take. Don't rush it. Take your time, and do it properly (or pay someone to do it for you). It is crucial to your success.

So let's have a look at Keyword Research.