Establishing Your Online Domain

If you're serious about doing business on the Net you need to register a domain name. A domain name represents your company and is your URL. The letters URL stand for Uniform Resource Locator. For example, Amazon's domain name is amazon.com and Wal-Mart's domain name is wal-mart.com. The URL is the site address that appears in the address window of your browser such as www.MyEcommerceSuccess.com. It's the way you find websites on the Net.

A domain name is included with every Yahoo! Merchant Solutions package. Yahoo! will register and renew your domain name for free. If you already have a domain name, you can redelegate your existing domain and use it with your Merchant Solutions account. Note: This is not a registrar transfer. You will need to continue paying renewal fees with your current registrar. If you do not already have a domain name, you can register for one when you signup for a Merchant Solutions account.

When the brick and mortar company Barnes & Noble went online they acquired a domain name. At first they used the long domain name barnesandnoble.com, then shortened it to bn.com and finally obtained books.com. That, by the way, was some coup. The books.com domain name was the property of another online bookstore. Barnes & Noble wanted it, so they bought the bookstore!

This raises a problem for you. Many of the most popular .com domain names have been taken. You will probably find that someone has already registered your business name or business type. Creating a unique domain name could be quite a challenge. That is, unless you have the deep pockets of a Barnes & Noble to buy an already assigned domain name. The fact is that grabbing a great domain name that reflects your business type or even your business name is getting harder to do. You can also bypass the .com extension and register .net, .org, .us, .info, .name, .biz, .de, .tv, .co.uk, .cc, and .bz, but they are not as popular with users and may cause confusion when they enter your domain name with a .com rather than another extension.

Finally, when choosing a domain name, keep it short and memorable. A long domain name with too many letters or with hyphens is hard to remember. Also, make it easy to spell. Lastly, try to choose a name that relates to your core business or business name.

Caution: Register Your Misspelled and Alternative Domain Name

Why lose potential customers because they misspelled your URL? Register the obvious misspellings of your domain name and redirect them back to your site. Also register alternative spellings of your name. To further protect yourself, you might consider registering your domain name not only as a .com, but also as a .net, .org, or even a .tv.

Where to Start

First, find out whether that nifty domain name you thought up is available. To do that, head over to Yahoo! Small Business at smallbusiness.yahoo.com/merchant/ (see Figure 4.1).

Figure 4.1. Yahoo! Small Business will walk you through the process of choosing and registering a domain name for your business. It will also suggest other names if the one you want is already taken.

When you arrive at Yahoo! Small Business site, you see a "Find a domain" search box. Type in the domain you would like to use and see whether the name is available.

After a quick search, Yahoo! Small Business will tell you whether that domain name is taken or not. Be prepared to try several variations on your domain name until you find one that has not been registered. If the domain name is taken, a list of suggested domain names will be displayed along with the other domain name extensions such as .net, .org, .biz, .info, and .us. Because you are setting up a business on the Net, the extension you will likely use is the .com one. The .org extension is for organizations such as the United Way, and .net is for networks on the Internet. You can search as many names as you likeit's free. After you find the domain name you want and it's available, you can proceed to register the domain name.

Here's the Process to Follow

1.	Once you find an available domain name, click the Continue with This Domain button.
2.	A page will come up asking which Merchant Solutions plan you would like to choose. Once you select the plan, click the Choose button.
3.	Sign in with your Yahoo! ID. If you do not have one, you can create one by clicking the Create One Now link.
4.	Yahoo! will then take you through a series of forms asking for your personal, company, and payment information. You can also register for additional domain names and point them to your store. All of your domains can be easily managed in the Domain Control Panel with just one Yahoo! ID. To register for additional domain names, go to smallbusiness.yahoo.com or you can do it in the Domain Control Panel.

Caution: Be Sure You Are the Administrative Contact

You will be asked to name both an administrative and technical contact when you apply for a domain name. It is very important that you name yourself, not an employee, as the administrative contact. The administrative contact is the only one who can make changes to your domain registration. Don't be caught having to chase down someone who no longer works for your company to make future changes to your registration.

Now that you know the reasons to plan your business, have chosen a unique name, and have established a legal identity, it's time to look at the necessary elements of your business plan.