Domain names should be short and snappy, memorable, hard to misspell and related to your company name or core business.

Such a name will make it easier for people to find and remember your site, add a bit of credibility to your company and help reinforce your name and branding.

Unfortunately, seeing as almost every possible short name has long been snapped up, you're going to have to get imaginative and this may involve renaming your company, dreaming up a particularly daft name or being lumbered with lengthy moniker.

Be careful with how your name looks and sounds and consider its international meanings - www.cheapfags.com has entirely different meanings in the US and UK!

Try to avoid dashes in your name, although they can be useful: if I'd decided to call this book "Hits! Hits!", I may well have gone for a domain name of www.hitshits.com, which, if you think about it, may well be open to a different interpretation. Calling it www.hits-hits.com would have made the name much clearer.