7 Steps to E-Business Launch(Part 3)

5. Obtain a Domain Name
The next stage is to secure a domain name. I can place this study under my http://www.joyfulheart.com domain as a subdirectory, but feel that I can market it more effectively with its own memorable domain name and identity. The downside is that I might confuse people who are getting to know my Joyfulheart.com domain. Al Ries and Jack Trout talk about the dangers of "brand extension" in their 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing (though I'm not fully convinced). But I'm not deciding to market under Jesuswalk.com for that reason. If I own the domain name, people who hear of the service will be able to find it on the web without any search engine, just by typing in http://jesuswalk.com.
-------- www.e-shops-list.com ----- Convenience you can never imagine ---- online store list -----
I check the Network Solutions' WhoIs directory (http://www.networksolutions.com/cgi-bin/whois/whois) to see if jesuswalk.com is available. It is taken, though the .net and .org possibilities are available, as well as jesus-walk.com. I advise against getting hyphenated and .net and .org domain names, since they're inevitably confused with the company that holds the unhyphenated dot.com domain. In my case, I contact the owner of http://jesuswalk.com and am fortunate to negotiate the sale and transfer of the domain name, which had been purchased for possible future use.
I am convinced that securing the appropriate domain name for your business is worth much more than the $70 (or less) that it costs from the registration service.