Choosing an appropriate domain name for your web site is one of first and most critical decisions you'll have to make on road to Internet success.

What Makes A Great Domain Name?

Is it punchy, sticks in mind, is short and fits your product/service? Does it begin with a letter closer to beginning of alphabet, instead of towards end? If so, and it's not taken, you may have a winner!

However, with more than 60,000 new domain names being registered each month, many of short, memorable, two-word names have already been snapped up. But don't despair: there are other ways to win at domain game.

Expired or 'On-Hold' Domain Names

Every day, domain names come up for renewal. And every day, owners let them slip away. Why? Either they've gone out of business, or simply forget to renew. You can use free web sites to monitor these domains, and you may get lucky. As a bonus, your new name may come with built-in traffic!

Just be aware: many people are actively searching for good domain names to buy and sell, at a profit. For example, one domain, http://www.business.com, sold for millions! So be warned: if you see a name you want, don't wait - grab it.

I've successfully used lists posted on following two sites: http://deleteddomains.com and http://www.dailyexpireddomains.com. You'll soon notice that some names are available immediately, while some are 'on hold.'

That's what happened to many unfortunate online business owners, lately. Specifically, a stunning controversy has emerged, which all Internet marketers and business owners should pay very close attention to. If you own an online business, be extra careful.

VeriSign, online security company, is now not only a domain name registrar but also company that runs master domain database (.com's, .net's and .org's). It's a responsibility once held by Network Solutions (since acquired by Verisign) conferred to them by ICANN. Is this monopoly a good thing? Apparently not.

If you neglect to pay your mortgage, for example, you lose your home. But this only happens after you've received several "past due" notices from bank and still failed to make your payment on time. (That's OK, since your physical address never changes.)

Similarly, most domain name registrars will notify you by email when it's time to renew. But what happens if your email address is wrong? What happens if your postal address has changed? What happens if you're on vacation away from your computer? And what happens if you simply overlooked notification?

If so, you're probably out of luck.

According to Janet Kornblum in a USA TODAY article, you can lose your "digital home" without ever getting an eviction notice. Says Kornblum, "What if you just came home from work, one night, and found new owners sitting in dining room, eating your food?"

That was case with a few business owners whose domain names, which were registered through VeriSign, expired and were quickly snapped up by other people, putting original owner right out of business in a blink of an eye! VeriSign is not only one, too. Some registrars fail to even send a single renewal notice!

(One lawyer became aware -- when it was too late -- that his URL for his law practice website lead to a porn site. Not only did he lose all that business and traffic, but he also had to deal with a much bigger loss: his good name, and not just name itself.)