You're ready to establish a new Web presence and you know the first step is to find a domain name. You probably want more than just a domain name you can live with - you want a domain name that means something to your business and to your customers. You want a domain name that is distinct from your competitors, but easy to find!

Although it may seem that all the good names are gone, you can still get a great name for your website by using a little creativity and by gaining a bit more knowledge. Here are some tips to help you find your way to a better - available - domain name for your Web site.

Make it Memorable
Your first task is to come up with a domain name that is memorable and easy to spell. Short and sweet is the key here. Consider domain names with descriptive words that are meaningful to your customers and include the names of your business and your products. Brainstorming tools are provided by domain name registrars (companies authorized by ICAAN to register domain names) to help you search for and find a memorable name.  .

If you operate in a local business consider adding your city or state locality to your domain name. For example, "Bagels.com" maybe taken, but "Virginiabagels.com" or "DCbagels.com" may be available. Adding your locality to your domain name not only helps you get the name you want, but may also lead customers to your local business.

Check Your Spelling
The characters that are available for use in your unique domain name are: abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz-0123456789. Try to avoid confusion when choosing your domain name and resist the temptation for deliberate misspellings: '2' for 'to' and '4' for 'for', etc. You want your customers to easily remember and type in your name exactly as you've registered it.

Hyphens can be helpful, but you cannot use one to begin or end your domain name. Be warned, although the use of hyphens can be tempting to get the name you want, it is very easy for people to forget to type the hyphens and thereby end up at an entirely different Web site.

Test Different Name Combinations
Once you have a shortlist of available name choices, test the response on your friends, relatives and clients. Can you easily pronounce the name over the phone? Can your test group say and spell the name correctly? Use the people you know to help you rule out names that are confusing or that get lost in translation.

Domain names have two parts: your "unique name" followed by a "dot extension" (.com, .net, .org, etc.). Adding different extensions to your name makes it an entirely new domain name. Take a few minutes to search the Internet for sites with the same domain name you want to register, but with a different extension. For example, if you register a .net extension and the .com version of that name belongs to an embarrassing Web site or a competitor, how will you feel when your customers find the .com site by accident?

Register Your Domain Name ASAP
Once you find the domain name you want - register it now! With almost 500,000 domain names registered daily, the name you find today may not be available tomorrow. With the Internet business growing at such a rapid speed there is plenty of competition left for the remaining great names. It's worth registering all your top choices immediately.

Register Multiple Extensions and Variations
Most business owners will register their domain name with one or all three of the most popular extensions: .com, .net, and .org. For example, if you're registering janesbagels.com, you may want to protect your brand name by registering janesbagels.net, janesbagels.biz, etc.

Additionally, the combined ".us.com" extension can be a great way to get the domain name you truly want that is no longer available as a ".com" extension. The .us.com extension also tells your customers that your business resides in, or is focused within the United States.

While registering your new domain name, consider all the misspellings of that name and register those, too. This way, if a customer accidentally types the wrong name into their Web browser they will still find your website. You don't need to host a site for each of the domains you register; instead, you can set up Web forwarding which will automatically re-route traffic from each of the additional domains you registered to your one main website.

Don't Give Up!
If all else fails and you absolutely must have a domain name that is taken, there are a number of services available to help you obtain it. For example, a domain registration company can help you place an offer to purchase the name from the current holder. Other options include placing a backorder to register the name if it expires, or using a keyword alert system that notifies you when domain names you want become available. For more information on the domain name aftermarket, read "Yikes! My Domain Name is Taken -What Do I Do?"