Picking a domain name.

1. Keep it simple, make it descriptive of your business, use your business name. Avoid hyphens- and underscores_. Who’s going to remember where to put them anyway unless of course you decide to use your phone number for a domain name.
2. Use an ICANN accredited registrar. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN at www.icann.org) has a listing of registrars and so does InterNIC—Public Information Regarding Internet Domain Name Registration Services. (internic.com). You can go to internic.com/whois.html and do a search to see if the domain name you want is already taken or not or you can go to your favorite registrar and do a whois search. A whois search will give you domain name registration information. Basically it’s the same info as internic.com/whois.html.
3. What is a registrar? These are usually retail domain name companies and are accredited by ICANN or and/or by a national ccTLD(country code top level domain) authority to register domain names.
4. A Word To The Wise: Be ware of registrars who offer hosting with a free domain name or hosting companies that offer a free domain name when you sign up for their services. Some companies offer a free domain, but register it in their name and not yours. There are even web design and marketing companies that offer a free domain and when the domain is registered, it is under that company’s name making it legally their domain name, not yours. If you decide you want to take your site to someone else to do the work on it, you may end up paying more than the domain is worth in order for you to gain control of your domain. Check to make sure the domain is registered in your name and no one else’s. Your best bet is to go ahead and pay for the domain registration yourself to be sure it is registered in your name as the legal owner.
5. Once you register your domain, make sure you keep it current and renew it when it is time. Your domain registrar will contact you when it is time to renew. Of course, there are also unscrupulous registrars out there who find out when domains are getting ready to expire and either send you an email or a snail mail notice that your domain is coming up for renewal. They will try to get you to register your name with them in order to get your business. Many times their snail mail comes disguised as an invoice or statement, but says something to the effect that the statement or invoice is just a solicitation for business and not an actual invoice. Read the fine print. Basically, what you would be doing is transferring your domain from one registrar to another. So, be sure you know who your registrar is and how much they charge for renewal. Some of these other companies may be charging more than you are currently paying.
6. Keeping up with your domain name. What happens if I forget or neglect to renew my domain? The registrar has up to 45 days to decide to delete the domain name and usually will hold it for 30 days. This is called a redemption period. During this time you can renew it, but you will usually be charged a redemption fee that includes your regular renewal fee and this redemption fee can be as much as $150 to $200 depending on the registrar. If this domain goes unrenewed and gets deleted by the registrar after 45 days, it is then available to the public to register. So anyone can snatch it up. So my point? Make sure you renew your domain before the renewal date when you receive notice that it is time to renew with your registrar.