It starts like this: You dream up a list of possible names for your company. You run them through a domain search engine only to find all your dot com selections are already taken.

So you face a choice. Do you settle for a domain name that doesn't really turn your crank but is available with prized .com extension? Or do you say 'damn torpedoes' and go with a .net, .org or other suffix and hope your clientele will remember it and appreciate what a rebel you are?

For starters, regardless of suffix, best way for traffic to find you is if your domain name reflects nature of your business and is catchy enough to recall without a lot of mental gymnastics. (There are notable big-budget exceptions to this rule).

You want a domain name that is spelled just as it is pronounced so even if your potential clients hear it mentioned in conversation, they can type it in later without confusion. If you can squeeze in one or two delectable search engine keywords, so much better.

If you do wind up using .net, .org or one of 250 country- specific extensions, you need to hammer it home in your promotions. Repeat it often. Accentuate difference.

Jenean Matthews of http://www.vitaherbs.net does all that plus supplements her online marketing with free gifts like pens printed with her URL. Does she ever worry that she missed .com bandwagon?

Not a bit. She predicts that, with advent of new technologies, typed-in URLs will eventually become a thing of past anyway.

Your domain name is same as "www.yoursitename.com". It's also known as your URL or Website Address.

For example, www.webmastercourse.com is my site's domain name or my web address.

The domain name must be registered and approved before you can call it your own. The reason it works this way is because two websites having same domain name cannot reside online at same time. If someone types in www.webmastercourse.com, he/she will go to my website and no one else's.

Registering your domain name and awaiting approval gives registration company opportunity to check with every other company around world to be sure no one else has already applied for your domain name "first."

It normally takes 2 to 3 days to receive confirmation of your domain name.

If you haven't registered your own domain name yet, please take following tips into consideration before doing so.

Your domain name can affect number of repeat visitors to your website.

Here's How:

1. Visitors will only remember your domain name for a future visit if it is easy to remember.

Which of two domain names below would you more likely remember?

http://www.webmastercourse.com/ or http://www.web-designer-training-course-part-1-learn.com/