Envisioning the Business - How to Start a Home-based Computer Repair Business - page 28

you expected, and that obtaining your EIN is rewarding and relatively instantaneous. Once
it's registered to you, it's yours.
Finding a Domain Name
So it's time to make a decision—you need a domain name that relates to your business
name. You may have something clever in mind, but you're going to want a domain name
to go with that catchy business name that you've registered with the IRS, and ideally these
will match for several helpful reasons.
First, if you want to be found on the Internet, you have to have a website. If you have a web-
site, you have to have a domain name. For example, Google's domain name is Google.com.
Your domain name will carry throughout your entire business marketing plan and will be
key to creating a brand that will stick in your customers' minds. The tricky part will be
aligning your business name with your domain name, so act fast and lock down your de-
cision! There are domain-name registrars, and typically a domain name can be secured
for less than $10 per year, if it's available. If you don't have any experience with domain
names, you might find it difficult to come up with something that's not already taken.
Spend some time checking with a registrar and searching for available domain names on-
line. You can also type a potential name into your web browser's search bar and find that
there's no website behind it, or that there's an error message. This doesn't necessarily mean
that the name is available. Here are some possibilities:
1. The domain name is available.
2. The owner is designing the site but hasn't posted it yet. 3. The owner purchased the name
for future use. 4. The owner bought the name, hoping to resell it at a profit.
Unless you get lucky or have a unique domain name, you will most likely spend some time
finding the perfect available match. This is step one to starting your business entity, and
the key is to remember that this is a difficult thing to change in the future so don't pick
something that's limiting or that ties the business to one particular product. Basically, you
want a name with these characteristics:
n A Short Name. The maximum allowed size is sixty-three characters, but keep the name
as short as possible. That's easier to type and remember for your customers.
n A Memorable Name. Names with special characters like hyphens and underscores are
harder to describe to customers over the phone. Visitors aren't as used to them either and