Any new website venture online will include a domain name. Sometimes the domain is purchased from a domain broker - someone who specializes in reselling domain names. The majority of the time, however, it will be registered through a domain registrar. No matter how it is purchased, in all cases, the domain name (or names) for a website should be carefully considered. The basis of the marketing for the website will be the domain name chosen.

Choosing a domain name can be daunting. Research the subject (after all, you're the type of marketer who researches, right?) and you'll be hit with a landslide of opinions, most contradictory. There are, however, two points that everyone agrees on:

Each domain name consists of two parts - the Mid Level Domain (MLD), and the Top Level Domain (TLD). The Mid Level Domain is the Ford in Ford.com, the Concrete-Home in Concrete-Home.com. This part of the domain name can consist of up to 63 characters in .com, .net, or .org domains. Only letters, numbers, or hyphens are permitted; no underbars, exclamation marks or periods. The Top Level Domain refers to the .com, .net, or .org part of the web address. There are also country code Top Level Domains (ccTLD's) such as .ca for Canada, .fr for France, or .us for the United States. In most cases, you will need to reside in that particular country if you wish to purchase a ccTLD.

Let me tell you a true story. A friend of my who likes to collect domain names was describing a few that he had acquired. While he has a wide range of domains in various categories, these particular domains were all related to web hosting.

This ruling means that traditional property protections can now be legally applied to domain names. Further, the ruling firmly establishes that domain names are valuable properties and shows that old-fashioned property laws also apply to the registration of web addresses.

When it comes to getting people to your web site, you've probably relied on search engine optimization as the Holy Grail. No doubt, search engines are the number one way people find web sites. But "guessing a URL" (otherwise known as direct navigation) may be tied as the most popular way people find web sites, according to a recent study by Internet marketing powerhouse DoubleClick and data from WebSideStory's StatMarket, makers of the popular HitBox tracking service.

In my business development consulting practice, I teach others about the tremendous importance of communicating credibility. To a prospect that is receiving your marketing materials for the first time, your company may have little or no believability because you may well be totally unknown to your prospect. Along with the increasing population of new online businesses, the hypercompetitive nature of the Internet will make credibility an even more important issue.

For starters, don´t think of your domain name as simply a title for your business or web site. You should think of it as a headline - something that appeals directly to the wants, needs, and desires of your target market.

To Be or Not To Be, The Domain Question To be, or not to be: that is Domain question. Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of slow, free servers, Or to take arms against a sea of wannabees,

Doing a Google search for 1-800-GET-RICH returns several spoof articles using the toll free number to make light of get rich quick schemes. Seems as well suited to a casino as to satire, since gambling represents the ultimate get rich quick scheme.