If you’re starting up a new business there’s every chance that you’ll need to have a website designed and therefore will need to buy a domain name. After all, in today’s world, nearly every business has a website as a means of reaching out to their respective markets.

Once you’ve decided on the products or services you wish to sell, you’ll then need to decide which market/s you wish to target. Now that you’ve got that sorted, you’ll need to start thinking about your company name. Normally this would incorporate a name that reflects the products or services you offer, an industry-related expression or even a clever play on words. It’s highly recommended that you register your company name.

In order to get a website up and running, you will need to buy a domain name. Ideally you would do this once you’ve decided on your company name. You’ll have to do a search first to see if it’s available. You may find that the domain name you would like is already taken but in many instances, the domain name is 'parked', rather than in full use on the internet. In this case, there is the option to approach the owners of the domain name and request that they sell them to you. If the domain name is one that is likely to be in hot demand (ie. supplements.com), then you may have to pay a big price to get it. It’s recommended that you are 100% certain of your website address before you buy a domain name and that you’re not likely to want to change it later on.

Aside from your business, you may also wish to buy a domain name for variations of your company name. So for instance if your company is onetwothree.co.nz, you may also like to secure 123.co.nz and redirect this to the onetwothree.co.nz domain. That way if you had any visitors who thought that your domain name was the numeric version, they would still be directed to your site. This may not be so easy or could be costly if the variations of your domain name are highly popular or common, so do bear this in mind.

With your company name and domain name decided, it’s time to get onto creating a website. In order to do this you’ll need to acquire the services of a website designer and developer. They’ll listen to your ideas and goals and work within your budget to create a website that is tailored to your needs and the needs of your visitors/clients.