Check right NOW to see if the domain name you want is available. Enter it below:

www. .com .org .net

Getting a domain name is vital to a successful online strategy. It makes you look professional, differentiates you from the crowd and makes you easier to find. If you are serious about your online business you won't even give it a second thought - you'll just get yourself one.

Plus, they've never been cheaper. At US$60 for a two years registration, Webnic Registrars offers a great price.

What's even better is that if you need to, the latest rules, allow for up to 67 characters in a dot.com domain name. So when you are at Webnic Registrars by all means keep searching for the right domain. We recommend that when you find it - you snatch it up quick, because who knows how long it will be available.

UnclaimedDomains.com - The world's greatest domain names... FREE! Are you ready for the biggest secret on the web? Each and every week, thousands of people have their valuable .com names repossessed because of nonpayment of their domain registration fee. If InterNIC, the registration authority, doesn't receive payment by a certain date, they repossess the domain name and return it to the pool of available names. Because UnclaimedDomains.com has exclusive, insider access to these newly-expired names, and our members are the only people on the Internet who get to see them!

You focus ought to be to get yourself a "dot.com" address. This is internationally recognised as a global address - even though it is a US domain. If you want another countries domain, like "dot.com.au" for Australia, you are so much better off having the international US "dot.com" AS WELL. So get the "dot.com" one first. Then get any local country domains that you want, and even the "dot.net", "dot.org" addresses as well.

If your budget allows for only one domain - get the "dot.com".

If your budget is unlimited get all of them.

One more point, make sure that your domain name is unique and secure. Reserving your Domain Name does not guarantee that the name will be free of trademark conflicts. If your Domain Name matches a registered trademark, the owner of that trademark has the power to take the Domain Name away from you. Don’t let this happen to your business. You can search for exact trademarks online with nameprotect.com US$35

Useful tips when choosing a domain name:

2. Keep it as short and simple as possible
The key criteria for any URL are that it be short, easy to spell, and understandable. There are still plenty of untried letter combinations out there.

3. Avoid clichés
The Net is saturated with names that use cyber-, net-, -tech, digi-, sys-, etc; by using these names you may end up inadvertently reducing the life of your domain name.

4. Avoid the.com
You don't need to highlight the fact that you are a Web based company, because pretty soon all companies will be Web based, either that or they will be out of business. So you don't need to include the.com in your actual company name. It may work against you in the long term.

5. Avoid the descriptive
A descriptive name lets you own a space on the Internet. It's a great short-term strategy for building brand recognition fast, and it capitalizes on search engine-driven random inquiries for your product or service. Calendars.com is clever for online calendars, but what happens when they want to get into diaries and stationary? Descriptive is limiting, and limiting is bad.

6. Create a unique personality
Ask.com could have left it at that. A Web Site devoted to answering questions is a masterstroke in itself. Yet the builders of this brand went further, and imbued it with the avuncular, dignified, and human character of Jeeves. Although Jeeves is little more than a digital hook on which to hang a brand personality, it works. It resonates, it's distinctive, and it sticks in the mind.

7. Go for unexpected combinations
Coined associative, coined descriptive, and possibly real arbitrary names represent the best bet for future domain-name availability. Unexpected combinations of real words evoke an image immediately, providing a stronger foundation for brand building. Fogdog means nothing to most people, so online, it means everything its owners want it to mean.

8. Reinvent a real word
Using a real word in its traditional sense is limiting. But using it to mean something completely different? Now we're talking. It's not exactly a new tactic: What does apple have to do with technology or shell to do with petroleum? Bear in mind, however, that you'll have to work especially hard at building consumer expectations if your name has nothing to do with your product.

9. Make up new words
Sometimes there just isn't the Internet room available; all the best words in the category are taken, with only uninspiring or limiting words left. In such cases, creating a new word may be the answer. Expedia isn't in the dictionary, but with a bit of brand-building support, it can easily become recognized as a site to aid the business traveler. It's an invented word, but with the right marketing support, people get it.

10. Ensure that your brand promise equates with your ability to deliver
That's the best overall advice we can give. Any site with a memorable and differentiated name will pull in browses. But if the content or architecture disappoints or your follow-up service fails to deliver, then no amount of memorability will help you.

Full credit to Clay Timon, Chairman and CEO of Landor Associates for writing these 10 points.