Most online businesses would probably consider their domain name to be quite important and with good reason. Before searching a specific term i.e. ‘clothes shop,’ customers may simply type in the URL; ‘clothesshop.com,’ because it makes sense. Now, if that URL is already taken especially for start-ups, then that's something to consider in itself.

It's a good idea to make sure the domain name is available when coming up with a name for your brand, or at least make sure that you’ll be able to acquire it. You can’t forget that products have their own brands, so think about how you can apply this to domain names. For example, you would expect Apple to own iPad.com, considering the huge announcement about the device the company made this year, but someone else has that domain.

You need to make sure you cover every variation of your brand in terms of domain names. This means getting all variations possible; get typos, different extensions, country codes and use 301 redirects on misspells of key brands (including singular/plural versions).

When it comes to domain names for different products, it's best to build sub-sites around these with their own content, which can help drive links and improves SEO value and traffic.

It’s more difficult to get the .com on the end of your company name and you have to face the fact it just isn’t possible. As an alternative; try to find a different aspect of your brand to centre your domain around. Think about unique key phrases within your company's slogan - you may find an opportunity there.

Finally, domains should be easy to remember, not too long, easy to spell, relevant to your brand, and avoid complicating characters such as hyphens. The key rule to a successful domain name is simplicity, although there are always exceptions to the rule.