The Melbourne Cup has been run and won (by the French) for another year and we now return to our working lives and focus on our job, in the lead up to Christmas. For those of you starting a business or getting online for the first time, there is a lot to think about. Launching a website is a job that requires considerable planning. And the first requirement once you move forward is organising a domain name. This may sound simple, but a lot more should go into the domain selection process than most people realise. Some tips to consider are:

Choose a domain that reflects your business
- The domain name should be relevant to your website content. There's no point giving off an impression that has nothing to do with what your business is about. It's one thing to get a person to your website but if you don't have what they're looking for, they won't stay.

Choose a domain that contains your sites keywords-
Google and the other search engines place considerable importance on keywords and having them in your domain name is a bonus. If you are a personal trainer and your business name is Hardman PT, it is much better picking hardmanpersonaltraining.com.au rather than hardmanpt.com.au

Choose a domain that is easy to remember
- If someone can't remember your domain name, they aren't going to look up your site. However if you select a domain that sticks in their head, it's likely they will check it out. So make your domain name memorable. This is a good reason for making sure your domain name isn't too long either.

Choose the best domain extension
- There are so many domain extensions out there these days, but it is amazing how many people naturally go to enter .com when typing in a domain (or .com.au for an Australian site). Having a .net or .net.au or .biz can result in losing customers to companies with the .com equivalent. If the name you want is taken in the .com.au, maybe think of another name where it IS available

Avoid using numbers in your domain
- Although it may seem harmless enough, having a number in your domain name will make things very frustrating. When telling someone the domain, you will constantly be telling the person "oh and it's 2 the number 2. Keep it simple!

So before jumping online and registering a domain name, consider all these factors, to ensure your domain will help you grow the business effectively.