The impact your website makes on visitors begins before they even reach it. The address or universal resource locator (URL) used to access your site can attract or deter visitors, depending on how easy it is to remember.

Computers on the internet are identified by an IP address; the set of numbers that identifies the PC or network it’s attached to uniquely online. The most common standard used is IPv4, which uses addresses made up of four blocks of three-decimal figures, separated by dots, eg, 192.168.0.1. In some cases, this has been superseded by IPv6 due to predictions that we’ll soon run out of the earlier form of numerical IP address. An IPv6 address consists of eight blocks of four-hexadecimal characters, separated by colons, eg, 2001:fdb8:85a3:08d3:1 219:8a2e:0370:7354 – even less memorable!

IP addresses are absolutely fine for computers to communicate with one another as they clearly identify the location of the machines concerned. However, they’re not at all useful for people as they just aren’t easy to remember. IT is for this reason why the domain name space was developed. This translates the more familiar domain names like www.bbc.co.uk or www.yahoo.com to IP addresses. Computers running DNS servers provide the translation. Typically, your internet service provider (ISP) provides you with a DNS server alongside your connection, which is assigned to your computer whenever you go online. Then, when you type www.mydomain.co.uk into a web browser or send an email to mailto:someone@mydomain.co.uk, the DNS server then translates the address into an IP address that your PC can understand, so that you connect to the computer you require.

The domain name system is a hierarchy. The world root is the dot, from which all domains are derived. The letters immediately after the last dot indicate the top-level domain or TLD. This may be generic, such as .com, .org, .net or .biz, or it may be country-specific, such as .uk. Country-specific top-level domains consist of the two letters that generally relate to the internationally agreed list of country codes. This would suggest that the UK should use .gb, but the .uk domain had been in use for a number of years and changing all present domain names seemed a needlessly disruptive and confusing task, so .uk still remains the country code top-level domain for both Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

There are hundreds of country code top-level domains, but less than 15 generic top-level domains. There is constant debate about increasing the number of these, but there is a need to keep the number of generic TLDs to a manageable number. This is so that most people have some idea of what the top-level domain means. If the number of codes increases dramatically, it becomes much harder for people to remember what they are.

You’ll often find a second-level domain below a top-level domain. The most common second-level domain encountered in Britain is .co.uk, but any domain can be divided into a subdomain by placing a dot and a string of letters in front of the domain name. Thus some companies offer domains ending .uk.com, which are subdomains of the privately owned domain uk.com.

Top-level domains are managed by registries. The registry in charge of the .uk domain is Nominet, which you can find at www.nominet.org.uk. The registry in charge of .com and .net generic domains is managed by the US company VeriSign (www.verisign.com/information-services/naming-services/com-net-registry/index.html). You don’t need to go to the registry to get your domain name registered; any ISP that’s accredited by the registry concerned can sell registrations. The prices charged and services offered vary widely, so it pays to shop around.

The chief executive of Nominet, Lesley Cowley, has some advice for people taking their first steps into buying domain names. "Use the same caution that you would when buying any other product or service," she says. "Know what you are buying. Read the small print. Find out what support is available. Buying anything without checking these details is irresponsible."

Most web hosts or ISPs that offer domain-name registration provide a web-based look-up form, which you can use to check if the domain name that you’re interested in is available. For example, if you wanted to buy a domain from Fasthosts, browse to www.fasthosts.co.uk/domains. From there, enter the name you would like to use under the Register Your Domain search box and click Check. You’ll be shown which domains are available that include the words that you’ve chosen. The search checks all popular top-level domains and also tries some combinations of common words with your chosen name to give you a choice should your desired name be taken. If you choose to, there is nothing stopping you from going ahead and buying from here.

Even if you feel that a memorable domain name isn’t important to your business, it’s a good idea to consider the impact that a decent URL makes on your position in search rankings. Carefully selected domain names and a sensible URL strategy can help improve a site’s search-engine optimisation. The web address is one of the first items that a search-engine spider will crawl upon. If your URL includes useful keywords that describe what’s on the page, your chances of higher placement are increased.

Country-based top-level domains are designed to be sold only to residents of the countries that they represent. So if you live in the UK, buying a French domain name ending in .fr isn’t possible. However, as each country’s top-level domain is managed by a different registry, rules on this issue can vary. In some cases, it may be possible to lease a domain name via a third party registered in the country itself, but if you don’t have a presence in that country, it goes against the spirit of country-specific top-level domains. The domain name indicates where the website is administered. For international business, using a generic top-level domain and publishing the site in the language of your target audience is probably more important. It’s a good idea to consider translating your domain name into different languages to improve search-engine optimisation for foreign language searches.

Often, those who use the internet as an integral part of their business make the URL part, or all, of the company name. Examples include price-comparison services like uSwitch.com and Confused.com. Services that help you to find online goods often include the web address as the company name, like Shopping.com. Others that specialise in particular areas use clear URLs that describe the service provided clearly and concisely. It’s not at all difficult to guess what you’d go to www.find-dvd.co.uk for. This combination of keywords cleverly provides a domain name that’s easy to remember, as well as having something that will be placed highly in a search engine.

Selecting a domain name for your business is an important decision. It is definitely worth spending quite some time considering the options available to you. Fasthosts surveyed 615 small businesses throughout September and October 2007 to find out common practices. The survey found that the average business spent between six and 12 hours selecting a domain name and a staggering 41 per cent did so in under an hour. Few asked for a second opinion and only ten per cent considered the long-term effect that its web address could have on its business.

A little more effort spent selecting an e ective domain name could pay dividends in the long run, and it’s worth bearing a number of points in mind when making the decision. In most cases, a company’s domain name should include the company name or reflect the nature of the business. It’s well worth considering different top-level domains. Most businesses only consider .com and .co.uk, but .net, .org or .me.uk could be just as effective. Short and snappy domain names are much easier for people to remember and are less likely to be spelled incorrectly.

It’s also important to consider a company domain name as an extension of its brand. Use the same process of consultation that you’d use for other elements of branding like logo design. Be sure to avoid words or phrases that occur in other businesses’ trademarks, as this could lead to disputes or even legal action. And de nitely get second and third opinions about your proposed domain name.

Many companies consider their domain names to be holding them back, or suspect that a change in domain name would help to improve business. However, concerns about the cost of making changes often prevents them from taking action. While domain names form part of web addresses and company email addresses, they aren’t difficult to change and it’s pretty easy to run two or more domain names alongside one another using web and email forwarding. It’s never too late to make necessary changes to a registration.

Domain-name selection is often overlooked and yet it has a significant impact on the effectiveness of a website. Mark Jeffries, CTO Fasthosts Internet Ltd, has advice for anyone considering buying a corporate domain. "Businesses should consider all available options before purchasing their primary domain name," he said recently. "A web address is often bought in haste at the start of a business project. Every UK business must recognise the lasting impact that a domain name can have on sales and image, and business owners shouldn’t delay making necessary changes".

Jeffries is keen to point out the benefits of considering wider options when it comes to domain suffixes too. "It’s often the case today that the best available domains belong to less obvious suffixes, and it is always advisable to seek external opinion on what a domain could suggest about your business".