A domain name is a unique name for a website. It’s also called a URL, meaning it appears in the address bar at the top of your browser. Domains are formally registered under a series of numbers, however, as the average human has difficulty remembering large series of different numbers and because it is also difficult to associate a series of numbers with a particular site, there are domain names.

I wonder how many are registered, here are some recent statistics.

.com – 64,222,598

.net – 9,071,818

.org – 5,655,512

.info – 3,986,868

.biz – 1,609,429

.us – 1,193,471

As you can see, there are many names, millions in fact. .com is the most popular, which means that it is very difficult to get the domain name you want without it running out. Even the.biz and.us are in the million plus. Additionally, con.us is associated with being a United States website that may limit your international flavor or international market potential. One that is not mentioned here is .ws. Originally designated for Western Samoa, this small Pacific country realized that it had little use for an Internet address. You entered into a licensing agreement with Global Domains International to sell this address on the world market and re-market .ws as a website, just as .com stands for commercial, .biz – business.

How much is a domain name worth? Well, previously some have been sold for over $ 100,000. Those days are behind us today that there are more endings available: .org, .biz, etc. However, a two-letter URL costs $ 50,000. How much is a name worth for a company on the Internet? That’s debatable too, but most agree that a website with a bad name won’t perform as well as a great one. Some domains are instantly associated with certain things; for example, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that .ny.com would be in New York City. Take the time when creating a domain name to make sure it is easy to remember, easy to associate with your website, and attractive.

If you’re having a hard time finding the one you want because it’s already in use, .ws is an option you can take. Each domain name is associated with the provider’s package and this prevents domain name speculators from deliberately doing so. It also has the advantage of providing you with an MLM business if you so desire.