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We’re coming up on the end of this year and the beginning of 2010. This is a time when a lot of people start to consider what they want to do in the new year and setting goals, both business and personal. A few of you may be looking at setting up your first website for the new year. So, how do you pick a domain name?

When it comes to building a website, your domain name could make it or break it. A catchy domain name can help people remember who you are and easily find you to give them what they’re looking for. By contrast, a bad domain name can make your website hard to find, so they’ll find someone else or give up trying. Here are some quick and easy tips to help you pick the name that’s best for you.

Here are some do’s to remember when picking your name:

- Make it easy to remember. If people remember a website, they’re more likely to go to it. Our brains process tons of information in a day, and most of it we forget. Just because someone’s friend tells them about a great website, doesn’t mean they’re going to remember the name when they get home to check it out.

- Make it related to your site. When you start choosing your domain name, the best place to start is with a few keywords related to your topic. Take these keywords and try to turn them into a name. While you might be able to find an awesome catchy word or phrase, if it’s not related to your topic, people aren’t going to remember it.

- Make it easy to type. There are certain letters that are just harder to type than others. While it may not make the biggest difference, try to avoid letters like q and p. And avoid difficult combinations. If it doubt, have a friend who isn’t the best typist try to get to the sites. If one takes a lot longer or is harder for them, it’s probably best to throw out that option.

Domain name don’ts – try to avoid these common domain name mistakes:

- Names that are hard to spell.

- Misspellings. If you misspell a common word, people are probably not going to spell your domain name right. Correct spellings are easier to remember. If they don’t get it on the first try, they may try again, but more likely they’ll either find another site with the correct spelling, or simply give up.

- Names including numbers. While it might be clever, it’s hard for people to remember, and it’s hard to spread the site name by word of mouth.

- Names that are too close to a popular website. Sure, you might get the traffic from misspellings, but that’s not going to be enough to sustain a quality website.

If you’re stuck finding a good name, try going to a site that sells domain names and entering your keywords. Often, sites will help you find related names that are available, that way, you don’t have to worry about trying to buy a name that is already taken from someone who doesn’t want to give it up.