Your web site (or web sites) is the focus of your business. It tells people who you are and what your area of interest is. It tells them how to contact you and how to receive periodic information from the site of mutual interest. It is your interface with the world. It is your interface with a special group of people of similar interest. Most important, it provides specific content of interest to the visitor.

The name of your web site will be important. It is your domain name or close to it. It contains keywords that you know people will search for. It is the most important chore you will have when you start a site, so you must not only think things out, you need to make a keyword search to help you find it. You can use Google's external keyword tool for free or one of the many tools available tied into the Google tool.

You will want to know the popularity of the keywords you use in your domain name. How often is it used locally and how often is it used globally? Does it say, “You have found what you are looking for!”

Once you know what the domain name is to be, you go to Godaddy.com or some other domain registering service and you see if the name is available. You will want it to be a .org or .com name, the former for an organization and the later for a business. If the name is not available, say “watchdog”, then is “watch-dog.com” available? Maybe “thewatchdog.com” is available. For a few dollars a year, you make the domain name your property, as secure as a bank vault. Nobody else can use it.

You can retire your domain someday or you can sell it. It is like owning a house or a car. It is yours.

Some don't know what to call their domain name. Many give their domain the name “mynameenterprises.” This tells folks you are doing business under your own name. If you are an affiliate marketer you might have a page called “mynameinteprises.com/datingonline. That is a your landing page for people who are looking for a dating service. On that page you will give them relevent information on dating that may warm them up to clicking on your affiliate link. Following that link will take them to a vendor site that tells them how happy they will be if they will just buy the product or service with its wonderful money-back guarantee.

Fly Old Glory!