With more and more individuals and businesses surfing the internet for products, services and information, its becoming more evident every day that in order to be taken seriously in the business world, you need to build your identity on the World Wide Web. The first step in this somewhat tedious process is to register your domain name.

Primarily, there are three major steps within this process, the first of which is finding a reputable registrar to work with. Fly-by-night operations fill the web with many empty promises, so be sure to check the credibility of your chosen registrar before ordering. The Better Business Bureau is just one means of checking into a company. Customer references are another. There are plenty of domain name registrars out there for you to research, so dont allow one bad apple to spoil the bunch.

There are many different types of domain registrars that exist on the net. You will find many that are pricey, as well as many that are very cheap. Do your homework on the company at hand, making sure that youre not buying more than you need to keep the cost down. One caveat- if the price is too cheap, customer service might not be their forte. The best registrars have a balance of good customer service and affordable pricing.

Next on the agenda is deciding on an extension for your domain name. You will have many options: .com for a global commercial site.org for a global organization (typically non-profit), or your countrys extension- .us for the United States.ca for Canada.uk for the United Kingdom, etc. Most reputable registrars offer all of the common domain name extensions, but double check that your registrar offers the extension you need.

The final step is the choice of other services offered by your registrar of choice, including web hosting your site, email services directed to your new domain name (yourname@yoursite.com), as well as building blocks for you to add to your site as your company grows. A quality registrars web site will be able to assist you with picking out the appropriate services, as well as the proper amount of these services, to best fill your company needs.

While shopping for the ideal company to register your own domain name can be painstaking work, the end result of your efforts will be the representation of you and your business on the World Wide Web.