Businesses are fooling themselves if they think they can continue to conduct business without a website.  This is because in today's age, having a website makes many think a company is 'official.'  But a website by itself doesn't mean anything without a decent domain name.

In the olden days of the Internet, domain name registration was handled by Network Solutions.  However, after a while, the government decided that it wasn't fair for one company to have sole control over the domain name market.  Therefore, it opened up the business to other companies.

A domain name consists of three levels.  The first level is the word or phrase that makes up the initial domain name.  The second part of the domain name is the extension.  Examples of common extensions include .com, .net or .org.  The third portion of the domain name, called a third level domain name is an optional part.  Like the first level domain name, it consists of a word or phrase to describe whatever webpage it is pointing to.

Do you think buying something as simple as a domain name means that industry is free from scams?  If you do think again, since everyday hundreds of people get milked out of their money thinking they are going to get a perfect domain name.  Granted, fraudulent domain name companies haven't received as much press as 'work-at-home' companies or other businesses of that nature, but they are still just as deviant.

When it comes to search engine keywords, there are some that are potential gold mines that are being ignored.  These are ones in which a word or phrase is accidentally misspelled.  Usually, the search engine will link to results that contain the correct spelling, but it will still show any websites associated with the misspelled keyword.  If one of these websites catches the eye of a surfer, they may visit it.

Selling domain names can be quite profitable for webmasters.  This is particularly the case if the webmaster sells a domain name that has an existing line of traffic.  In these situations domain names can generate thousands of dollars for their webmasters.  There have even been domain name names that allowed webmasters to collect millions in profit.

A webmaster increases their chances of getting a high search engine listing by including a popular keyword in their domain name.  However, if a keyword is too popular, including it in a domain name means nothing, even if the website it's pointing to is also optimized.  This is why most Internet marketing gurus suggest that domain names as well as their corresponding websites use more specific keywords that aren't as competitive.

When it comes to domain name extensions, most people are familiar with .com.  Because of this the average webmaster is scrambling to get the perfect .com domain name.  Some may even forego registering a potential goldmine of a domain name in favor of getting a less popular .com.  Yet, there are dozens of other domain names available, some of which have gained popularity despite not being a .com.

With normal spoofing a scammer tries to get personal information by sending fraudulent emails masquerading as an official website an individual might be working with.  While some fall for the deception, many know better since the domain name in the email doesn't resemble the domain name they usually use to access whatever site.  However, what happens if a domain name looks exactly like an official website?

You think of a perfect domain name.  It contains a keyword that is found in search engines, has no trademark issues and is memorable for website visitors.  You try to register your domain name with a domain name company.  It appears to be taken.  So, you put a hyphen in it.  That version of your domain name is not taken, but should you go on and invest in it?