Historically there has always been a very liquid market in premium domain names, with even some secondary domains proving popular in the market place, but have times now changed?

Over the years the business community has been full of stories about innocent webmasters being sued for domains which bear a slight resemblance to a major corporation, with many of these actions seemingly over the top for the money involved. However, there does seem to be a vast difference of opinion as to whether similar or trademarked names in domain names will ever be pursued through the courts. But is it safe to buy a domain which contains any element of a trademark name?

For those who have not come across "WhoIs" before, it is the central database which shows who owns each website on the internet, and offers some basic details so that you may contact them or their service provider. While you would think that the details on "WhoIs" would be changed automatically when you buy a domain name, this is not always the case.

There are an uncountable number of property development shows currently on the TV. From Channel 4's ‘Property Ladder' to the BBC's ‘Homes Under The Hammers' - we are being bombarded with ideas of how to turn a profit with property. We are told that the booming property market means that you can buy a house now, keep tenants in it and then sell it a decade or two down the line for a small fortune. That's the pension sorted then.

It looks so simple when you see that you can get a web host and your name registered at the same time. Many web hosting companies offer to register your domain name for you when you do business with their company. It might sound like a good idea at the time because of the convenience of getting everything done at once but is it really?

If you are trying to find a domain name for your website and you are just not having any luck with any rabbits out of your hat, you might want to consider buying a parked domain name. A parked domain name is domain that is already owned by someone. A parked domain may be the undeveloped site of its owner who is still working on the site or a parked domain owned by someone who has registered the site for selling it to somebody else.

Register your domain name before you start your site so you will be able to match your content to the name, not the other way around. You will be lucky to set up your site first and then get a name that matches it perfectly. If you get the chance to find a good name that is not already taken, register it before someone else does.

The governments of most of the world's countries have specialised domain extensions, for example, the UK has .gov.uk and the USA has .gov. This differentiates them from unofficial sites and acts as an instant, clear reassurance that visitors are on the relevant governmental website. In this way, they know that the information they read will be relevant and accurate, and any data they submit will go directly to where it is meant to be. It is now being argued that a special extension should be created for banks and building societies to provide the same reassurance for their customers.

What is the first step in creating a website for your company; setting up web hosting, hiring a designer, writing a press release or developing content? It's a tricky one but, in truth, it is none of these. There is one thing that must certainly come before all else. If you wish to start a website you must first select a domain.

To the web hosting industry, a domain name registration operation is vital in the race to attract as many customer as possible, but why do they work so well together?