Expanding your business to the internet is not as simple as you might believe. It is not just a case of designing a web page, posting it on the net and hey presto! you have a successful on-line business and "my, how the money rolls in". Like all business expansions, planning is important and you need to approach the project with the same vigour that you used to set up your business in the first place.
To put an internet presence in perspective you need to be as serious about it as you would opening another branch of your business. This in effect is what you are doing although the costs are considerably lower. Notwithstanding this, there are still matters to consider like the internet equivalents of rent, shop layout, POS, location and shop name or URL of a particular Web site. This is also how you describe the name that is at the right of the @ sign in an Internet address. For example, netlingo.com is the domain name of this Internet dictionary. There is an organization called InterNIC that registers domain names for a small fee and keeps people from registering the same name. Most recently, more domain names will be allowed due to new suffixes coming out.
In the internet this is referred to as the Domain Name
Having your own domain name means that people will always be able to stay in touch with you... For example, without a domain, if you change your dial-up ISP, you will lose contact with some customers because your email address changes.
With your own domain name, it doesn't matter which dial-up ISP you use, because you continue to check mail@yourdomainname.com - nothing gets lost!
Still not sure that you should get your business on-line? Then read this article by Janice D Byer
Read more about choosing Domain Names