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Even before you launch your website, you can (and should) begin to use your domain name. Why? Because it is the world's cheapest advertising tool and an excellent way to brand your business.

How? By using your domain name in your email address and in your signature file. If your email address reads yourname@aol.com or you@bell.com - you are branding the name of your Internet Service Provider. Why should you do it? Your ISP doesn't pay you for it. Indeed, you pay THEM a monthly fee!!!

You have a choice
Quite likely you were not aware that you do have a choice here. Instead of advertising Earthlink, GTE, BellSouth, or AOL, you can advertise and brand your own business and your own name.

In case you didn't know, here is how it works. For example, my own service provider is home.com -- but my e-mail program is configured so, that the address I use in my "from" field says "wanda@loska.com" because loska.com is my own portal site. How does it work? My web host provides a forwarding service. That means, any message sent to wanda@loska.com is forwarded to my *home.com* account.

Your address will never change
Here is another benefit for using your own domain name in e-mail address: it will never change! For example at the beginning of my Internet adventure I used Bell South and my e-mail extension was bellsouth.net -- when their service quality went down so much that I decided to move to Mindspring, it didn't create any problem because none of my clients, readers, friends even knew about the change. The address I was using all the time - wanda@loska.com - stayed the same. And it will stay the same as long as I want to regardless who is my service provider.

By the way, I changed recently again -- from Mindspring to cable- -based Home - and my official e-mail extension is @home.com but YOU didn't need to be notified, because I can be reached same way as before. Even people I met on the Internet years ago, can get in touch with me easily.

It REALLY doesn't cost much
With domain name registration's cost as low as $9.95 per year, and with web hosting fees around $10-30 per month -- can you afford NOT to do it? I don't think so! To register a domain name, you might want to use a cool tool at http://BuyDomains.com -- it allows you to search for the domain names containing your specific key words. Excellent time saving device!

What is an effective domain name?
Many people will tell you that all *good* domain names are taken -- I don't think so. Look beyond the obvious and when choosing a name keep these few points in mind:

• Select a name that is easy to pronounce and easy to spell. Make sure that it spells the SAME way as it sounds. Remember that you will want to use your domain name often in your spoken language!
  
• Make it as short as possible -- you will want that it fits your sign riders and business cards!
  
• Avoid hyphens, numbers and abbreviations to prevent future confusion -- unless registering both versions. For example, I registered both domain names: EMailMarketingTips.com and E-MailMarketingTips.com
  
• Chances are that the name you really want is not available as .com anymore. If so, select another, less perfect name, but try to get dot-com before you opt for .net or .org
  
• Make it as short as possible. Yes, virtually all one word domain names with dot-com extension are taken, but don't give up too easily on two-word names. There are still many great ones available.
  
• Three, or even four-word domain names can be good too *IF* they are not too long. If it is easy to pronounce and under six syllables, most likely it is fine.