What are the rules for creating a Domain Name?

A domain name can be up to 67 characters long -- including the characters used to identify the Top Level Domain (.NET, .COM, .ORG, etc.). Domain names are not case sensitive. When entering the Domain Name you want, do not include "www" or "http." You should, however, put .com, .org, .net, at the end of the Domain Name.  "www." and "http://www" are not considered to be part of your Web Address.

If your first choice is not available, consider looking up the same name with a slight variation, or a different ending. But consider the competition. If yourname.com is not available, try yourname.net, but if yourname.com is for an adult web site and you run a Christian Book store, a customer typing in the wrong address name will be in for a surprise.

The only valid characters for a domain name are letters, numbers and a hyphen "-". Other special characters like the underscore "_" or an exclamation mark "!" are NOT permitted.

".com"
".org"
".net"
".info"
".biz"
".us"
".nu"
".bz"
".cc"

Anyone may register Web Addresses in COM, NET, and ORG. In fact, the best way to protect the uniqueness of your online identity and brands is to register or reserve Web Addresses in all of the top level domains.