Choosing the right domain name is an important part of planning your website, and it sometimes takes a bit of fancy dancing to find the right name because so many domains have already been purchased.

Here are some suggestions:

1. For a business, always choose a dot com.
Supposing you have a business named Awful Toys and you want the name AwfulToys.com, but that name is not available. You may be tempted to buy AwfulToys.info  or AwfulToys.us (or any of the other extensions that are available). This is not a good idea.

People’s ears are tuned to hear websites referred to as.com and they are less likely to remember a .info or.us address. If you tell them to go to AwfulToys.info even if they have been there once, they are more likely to remember it as AwfulToys.com, thus going to your competitor’s site.

A better choice would be AwfulToysOnline.com, GreatAwfulToys.com, or AwfulToysNewJersey.com (or whatever location is appropriate).

If you run a nonprofit, a .org is appropriate. However, if available, it’s also a good idea to purchase the .com

2. Avoid hyphens.
Using the example above, you might be tempted to buy Awful-Toys.com. Here again, people are likely to forget to include the hyphen and visit your competitors site. Also, it’s a bit clumsy to have to say out loud, “www dot awful hypen toys.com” when sharing your domain with others.

3. Keep the domain name as short as possible.
Short names are easier to remember and for people to type — or tap on their tablet device.

4. If you’re going to use an odd spelling, get a second domain with the typical spelling.
For example, Flickr.com is a popular photo sharing website. They were smart enough to get the domain name Flicker.com because a lot of people will remember it that way. (You can have more than one domain name pointing to the same site.)

5. Use a registrar service such as GoDaddy.com to find a name.
You can enter your desired domain name and if it’s not available you will be given suggestions that might work for you. When I was publicizing a teleclass called Live Fear Free In the New Economy, LiveFearFree.com was taken, but LiveFearFreeNow.com was suggested. That’s the one I purchased.

6. If it’s available, register your personal name.
If you have a common name, the domain is probably not available.

Remember that domain names have to be renewed every year. You can purchase them for multiple years or set your domain registration account to automatically renew so you don’t inadvertently lose the domain name.