How do you expect to be found by people who don't know the name of your business? There are three categories of domain names to be chosen in order to make your domain name work for your website. I'll explain each category and why you need one from each of them.

We'll start with the old standby: your business name. YourBusinessName.com is great for printing on business cards and letterhead, vehicle signage and banners. This is the one that people will use IF THEY HAVE IT IN FRONT OF THEM. However, most people get stuck on using only this domain name. I'll tell you why this is such a bad idea: most business cards get thrown away - why do you think they're so cheap? Letters and invoices get filed. Your business domain name just won't be in front of the people you want it to be when you need it to be.

Dot net or dot com? For the name of your business usually it doesn't matter unless it's a well-known brand. Remember, this is the one people will have in front of them when they go online. You could even try one of the lesser used extensions like .info, .us, .biz or .tv if it works with your business name.

Next is the most basic, yet underused type of domain name - "Your Name". I don't mean your business name, I mean YOUR name. A good reason to get YourName.com is to prevent someone else from using it. Even if your name doesn't mean anything to anyone yet, we're certainly hoping it will eventually as you gain attention. If you write and submit articles, press releases, contribute to blog posts or forums, you most likely sign your name not your business name. See, already you're gaining notoriety.

Belong to a networking group or Chamber of Commerce? As you get involved in those organizations, people may not remember your business name (because you don't use it to introduce yourself, do you?), but will likely remember your name. They may not always have your business card available, but will remember working with you. They may just do a search for your name to see what pops up. If your business or articles are among the search results, you've just accomplished the goal of this domain name.

If you give seminars or participate in other speaking engagements, your name is stickier than your business name. Are you in real estate? Your name is on every yard sign you set out, not the name of your business. There are many other industries where that will apply as well.

So what if someone already has YourName.com? Then find a domain name that contains your name and add a word or phrase onto it that is pertinent to what you do. Jane Smith has a cooking utensil web site called Cooking Stuff Online, so she could use janesmithcooking.com. Hyphenated domains work too: janesmith-cooking.com. This one should be a dot com if at all possible because that's what people try first when searching almost anything.

The third type of domain is the keyword domain, and is undoubtedly the most important. Search engines give weight to a web site called frenchloprabbitpets.com that is about, and sells, French Lop Rabbits because the keyphrases for the web site are contained in the domain name. Most web directories will list links by category and allow you to search for a type of business, such as Pets. The goal here is to be found in searches of your keyphrase, type of business and product or service. The obvious thing to not do with keyword domains is try to use them for something they are not: sausages.com won't do you any good if you site is not about sausages!