First off, let’s start out with a question. What is a domain? When we’re talking about a domain, we’re actually talking about what is technically a top-level domain (TLD). In Google’s website, the TLD is google . com. In hometown.aol.com/catspawpress/Dzine.html, the TLD is aol.com.

So when I say that as a business or organization, you should have your own domain, I’m really saying you should have your own top-level domain.

Let’s go through some of the reasons now that you should have your own domain:

1. It demonstrates permanency. Regardless of the nature of your business, having a site hosted by AngelFire or AOL or any of the free hosts makes web surfers cringe. If you’re not willing to spring for the domain name, are you really going to be around that long?

It’s the same thing as having a permanent office. Whether it’s actually true or not, it causes people to attribute more permanency to your business.

2. It’s affordable. Really affordable. If you bought a website address in the late 90’s or so, you had to pay $75 or more per year for a domain. While this was still reasonable for many organizations, for smaller businesses, it simply wasn’t worth the money.

Now, however, domains can be purchased for much less. As little as $7 a year, in fact. Some places charge a little bit more for the convenience of having your domain name and hosting with the same company, but it’s still a fraction of what it used to be. (And I’ve found having the domain name and hosting with the same company is well worth the few extra dollars.)

3. You can use the domain for your email address. Let’s face it, webdesigner165768 @ yahoo.com (not a real address) does not look nearly as professional as tim @ tandswebdesign . com. And while free web based email is certainly useful for many things, it should not be used for businesses. To a certain degree, this goes back to the issue of perceived permanency.

In fact, there is more permanency in that your email address will never have to change. Even if you switch hosts, your domain name stays the same.

4. It’s easier to remember. www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/7116 is a lot harder to remember than something like www.google.com

5. It will rank a lot higher in search engines. A lot higher.

6. No one else can claim it. I’ve talked to a realtor who had this problem. Another realtor in her area actually had the same name as her, and purchased a domain with that name. The realtor I spoke with lost several clients who mistakenly went to the other realtor, then ended up just using her.

Even if you’re not quite ready to get a website, you should go ahead and buy a domain for your business. It’s really easy to do, and you can “park” your domain. This means a temporary page will be displayed that says something like “website coming soon.” Then, at least no one else can stake their claim on it.