Choosing a domain name is vital both for an individual or an organization. It is the first and foremost step to help people reach your site and improve your business prospects. It's an investment to build your brand awareness and spread the word about it.

In simple terms, domain names are the IP addresses that give information about websites on the net. Also known as the URL (universal research locator) or the address of your website, they provide information about various aspects of your business on the net. Having a web domain provides us with an online identity.

Before we can call any of the domain names as our own, we need to complete the registration process of domain. Domain name registration is becoming increasingly difficult these days. This is due to the fact that most of the top level domains have already been registered by existing websites. So, one finds it hard to get a good domain name for one's business.

An important thing to be kept in mind while going for domain registration is that domain names should be short and easy to remember. They should give information about your product or business. Have you ever wondered why you could easily remember names like google, yahoo or myspace? Well, the answer lies in their short and sweet names. So, the rule of thumb while going for domain registration is not to use more than three words in a name.

Many a times, you may get allured by some web hosting companies offering free domain name registration. It's not a good idea. Never get your domain registration from your web host, even if it's for free. The reason is that you may, at some point of time, feel the need to change your web hosting company if you get across an interesting plan or simply to increase your web traffic by going to a dedicated server.

So, it's best to go for a reliable registrar for domain name registration of your business while going for a separate company for web hosting of your site. No doubt, you will need to shell out a few extra bucks for getting domain registration from a separate registrar, but this save you from future troubles.

Before going for the registration of domain, you must invest sufficient time to research prospective registrars by going through various terms. Do not become influenced by offers of discounted domain registrations or you may end up buying expired domains in the bargain.