A domain can be likened to a street address of your home. If you give someone your street address, all they do is look in a map book and there it is, easy to find and just as easy to get to. Likewise, when a potential visitor opens up a browser such as Internet Explorer or FireFox, all they have to do to find your website is type in your address (domain) and there it is. Easy peasy.

A few simple rules:

You cannot use a domain that already exists, and no one will be able to use yours. You can, however use the same name with a different suffix after the dot.

For example: the domains, www.corporation.co.uk, www.corporation.net and www.corporation.com can all be used and owned by different companies.

If you are planning to extend your client base far and wide, it might be a good idea to buy a few versions of your chosen domain to corner the market for future use. If your business becomes a huge success, people are just ready and waiting to cash in by buying the domain themselves, and selling you your desired address at a vastly inflated price.

A word on suffixes...

There are all sorts of different suffixes available these days, and with domains being so cheap, you can afford to purchase quite a number of them without breaking the bank. Suffixes can usually be distinguished by country although there are a few "type" suffixes as well.

For instance:

.co.uk, .co.za and .co.us are examples of domains registered within specific countries 
.org addresses are only for non-commercial organisations
.biz can be used for businesses.
Obviously .com is still the most popular type of suffix and is almost always the first suffix that a visitor will type when trying to access your site, so if your domain is available with a .com suffix, get it!

Remember that regardless of your suffix, your domain can still be found on world wide searches, but obviously the more specific your domain is to your business, the better.

Ok, so how do you go about choosing and getting a domain? The next few lessons will go through everything you need to know about domains and what you need to keep in mind when choosing a domain for your website.

Click 'Next' to move onto the next lesson - Choosing Your Domain Name