Great care must be exercised while choosing a domain name because this becomes your gateway to the net. A good domain name may attract a lot of traffic while an irrelevant domain name can end up getting ignored by potential customers.
The most outstanding domain names are those that are made of three to 6 characters. They are easy to remember, and easy to type. Long and complicated names run the danger of getting spelt wrongly. The customer instead of reaching your site may end up on another site.
The domain name should be related to your line of business. For instance, if you are dealing with electrical goods like bulbs or wires then the domain name should be built around wires or bulbs. There is no point in naming your site as water or air. It can only prove to be misleading.
There is no harm in using the name of your company as the domain name provided it is well known. This makes it easy for your customers to locate your website. But if you are starting a new company, then you should select a domain name that best describes your company.
Avoid hyphens in a domain name because they are hard to remember or pronounce. Also, you must keep in mind the fact that domain names without a hyphen enjoy a higher resale value as compared to those that have a hyphen.
Some people use numbers in domain names. This can be a good policy if it makes a domain name easy to remember. However, it should be avoided when it is used phonetically. For instance actors4you.com can only confuse people.
You should never register a domain name that infringes a trademark. This can lead to costly legal battles, which you may even lose.
Another thing that you should do is to register the domain name yourself. Don't get your domain name registered through your web host, even if he offers this as a free service. There have been scores of cases where the hosting company has registered the domain in its own name.
This can create problems for you later, especially when you want to change your web host. Your host may refuse to transfer your domain name, or may demand a fee. You can, of course, report him to the International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers but it will only lead to unnecessary tension and running around.