The number one question to ask when starting a business, whether on the Web or in a traditional setting, is why would people want to buy the product or service. Somewhere in the world, one can find people selling anything so why would people come to you? Are you selling something unique, do you make or market something that no one can find anywhere else or would find it almost impossible to find elsewhere? Do you sell your product at a lower price then anyone else? Maybe your prices are competitive with other businesses but you offer superior service. Perhaps you have the ability to offer unique services that no one else can or will duplicate. Do you have some other advantage over other companies? The next thing to consider once you have settled on a product or service to market is a name. Names are very important especially when starting a business on the Internet. The Web address or URL (Universal Resource Locator) of a Web page is an important part of becoming a popular place for surfers to shop. There are two ways in which an URL for a business Web page can de done: registering you own second level domain or being listed under some one else's domain name. A URL is made of several parts. First, there is the root level domain: com, org, net, tm. The root level domain can be many things; com, org, and net are the only root level domain names not associated with a two-letter country code. Any other domain name will be associated with a country: us, United States; de, Germany; tm, Turkmenistan. Some business names will lend themselves to easily become a second level domain name, that is the name before the root level domain name. Major brand names are easy to do such as www.microsoft.com, www.ibm.com. When people look on the Web for a certain company it is easy to try www.companyname.com but what should one type when the company name is Bob's House of Flowering Plants? That is why one should choose easily remembered or recognized...
