(A) BASIC RULES
• Use only letters, numbers, or hyphen ("-")
• Cannot begin or end with a hyphen
• Cannot exceed 67 characters total
• Domain names are not case sensitive
• Domain names cannot include spaces
• Domain name cannot include special characters (eg: &, *, (, + , etc...)
 
(B) CHOOSE AN EXTENSION FOR YOUR DOMAIN
  • .com, .net or .org
  • check all 3 extensions for domain availability
    example: www.fionaderek.com might have been taken by somebody else already, but www.fionaderek.net can still be available
 
(C) TIPS
  (a) Make your domain name easy to remember
  • make it short and sweet
  example 1: www.FionaDerek.com instead of www.FionaChanandDerekChung.com
example 2: www.KanLau.com instead of www.KanTaiWing-LauWingSi.com
example 3: www.dec12.com instead of www.12122002fdw.com
 
  (b) Make your domain easy to type
  • avoid numbers & letters that look alike
• avoid using too many hypens
    example 1: avoid www.f-i-o-n-a.com (don't double your visiter's typing time by adding hyphen between letters)
example 2: avoid www.o0o0o.com (people can easily get mistaken by the letter "o" and the number "0")
example 2: avoid www.lI1ll1I.com (people can easily get mistaken by the letter "L" and the number "1" and the letter "I")
 
  (c) Make your domain name means what it does
  • you can make your domain most beautiful by using meaningful words
    example 1: www.happyfiona.com, www.FionaChan.com (for Fiona's personal website)
example 2: www.FionaOnlineDiary.com, www.FionaPhotoDiary.net (for Fiona's online diary website)
example 3: www.fionaderek.com (for Fiona & Derek's wedding website)