No longer is your business name the first contact and impression a potential customer gets of you. Frequently visitors will stumble across your site as a result of an Internet search. Consequently consumers are just as likely to land on a product page as your main, introductory page.

This means the name you choose must be memorable. Once a consumer finally does learn the name there should be no forgetting it. A name that is remembered can be searched for even if the site URL can't be remembered. That means the customer has a better chance of returning to you in the future.

A unique name becomes incredibly important. A relatively generic name such as 'Baby Clothes Store' is going to have a great deal of competition in the search engines and is likely to appear very low within search rankings. A more unique alternative such as combining your own name with something catchy will give far better search engine results because of the lack of competition for those particular search terms.

It also means that your product names need to be as memorable and unique as possible so a previous customer can revisit your store. A child's car renamed as a luxury ‘dollmobile' may help the product stick in the minds of consumers.

There are also issues of available domain names to take into consideration. Twenty years ago you could give your business the same name as a similar store in the next city, knowing your location made you unique. Selling online changes those dynamics.

This means you will need a domain name that in some way represents your business name, and there is going to be far more competition for domain names worldwide than for store names within your own town. How should you choose your domain name and what should you do if the name that you choose is already taken?

The initial step is to check whether your primary choice is available. If it isn't then variations will be needed. You may try another top-level domain. For instance you might consider using the .net version of the domain instead of the .com (if available), but this still presents competition issues.

You may actually benefit from the successful advertising of the competing business, but you may also lose out to them if your customers should happen to stumble across their site at a later date instead of yours. The customer may believe they are actually purchasing from you.

Perhaps a better alternative would be to adjust your business name to help you find a domain name that is more unique. Some people may add random letters or numbers to the domain name, and though this may work for some, there are lots of spam sites that use similar domain strategies. It could risk giving your site a bad reputation before you even begin.