You can't make a definitive statement these days without having someone turn around and contradict it. In my last column, I echoed my favorite Pittsburgh-heiress-turned-Parisian-hostess, Gertrude Stein, by saying "a domain's a domain's a domain." And suddenly everyone's picking holes.

"No, it's not," said one vocal critic. "My-domain-with-lots-of-hyphens.net isn't worth as much as catchydomain.com."

"You're wrong," said another. "Something ending in .ws or .us just doesn't attract as many eyes as a .com."

"What about Catalog.com," asked another, "where a domain's a domain plus Web hosting, FrontPage extensions, and POP e-mail?"

And that's just what my family and editors had to say. (The actual readership doesn't pull its punches so much.) And the devil of it is that they're all right. Short, catchy, relevant domain names ending in .com are more valuable to their owners because they're easier for visitors to remember. And getting instant Web and e-mail hosting into the bargain is&a bargain.

Once you've settled on a domain name, however, you can register it with any registrar or reseller, whether the domain is available has nothing to do with which registrar you choose. Catalog.com doesn't offer domain names that can't be had at Register.com, for instance. Also, the registration process is the same regardless of which registrar you choose. You should, however, hunt vigilantly for extras offered and, of course, price.

The name game
Picking the right domain is a tricky proposition. All of the good generic domain names are already taken. If you're a technical writer with a company called TechWords, for example, you'll find that techwords.com and tech-words.com are already owned by someone else. You might try grubbing around for .net, .info, or some other extension, but unless you can heavily brand your service as a network or an information source, it won't have the punch of a .com domain. (The New York subway company is a good example of how to brand itself as an information source, as its phenomenally successful mta.info proves. But you probably don't have the luxury of sticking your name in front of millions of commuters' eyes every day.)

Short, catchy, relevant domain names ending in .com are more valuable to their owners because they're easier for visitors to remember.

If your desired domain is already taken, most registrars will offer you alternatives, whether you want them or not. You can keep the domain name and choose another extension such as .cc, .tv, or .ws, or you'll have to pick a different name if you simply must have a .com domain. I plugged the example of techwords into several domain registrars with huge customer bases to see what they offered. Register.com and Dotster came up with my favorite alternatives, with some thesaurus-based free association, such as freewords, and wordsum. Many of the suggestions came out of left field, such as Dotster's freaktech and stealtech, but there are no bad ideas in a brainstorming session.

Other registrars just append random prefixes and suffixes, giving us constructions such as more-techwords and techwordsweb (Domain Direct and DirectNIC were guilty here). eNom.com and Network Solutions filled out word stems with suggestions such as technologywords and techwordsmith. And sadly, many people's favorite registrar, GoDaddy, didn't help in this area at all.

Master of your domain
Once you have registered your domain name, you have to consider what you're going to do with it. Do you want it for a Web site or to direct traffic to another Web site? Do you want it just for e-mail? Or do you just want it to resell later? A domain isn't a Web site, and it's not an e-mail address. A domain is just a claim you stake in cyberspace. It's what you do with the claim that counts. If you want Web pages and e-mail, you need to line up hosting: enter the IP address of a Web hosting company's servers into your domain's A record and edit the MX record with a mail exchange server.

Although domain registration is the same the world over, not all domain registrars are created equal.

Don't know your A and MX records from a hole in the space-time continuum? The good news is that most of us don't need to. Many domain registrars are also hosting companies that can tie your freshly registered domain record to their own servers. Some of the best starter domain hosting options I've found are at Catalog.com and DirectNIC, where for $35 or less per year, you get your domain name plus Web hosting plus e-mail addresses from an à la carte menu of options. The offerings are rudimentary for hard-core Web developers, but they are a low-maintenance way to get started with a domain for the rest of us.

So how should you go about picking a registrar with hosting options? First, list what you want from your domain.

You want a Web site? OK, how complex a site? If your Web pages use custom PERL scripts or special FrontPage features, you'll need support for FrontPage Extensions and your own CGI-BIN. Put them on your list.

You already have a Web site, but you want another domain name going to it? If you have the .com, .net, and .org versions of the same domain or have a popular brand name as well as a company name, for example, you can redirect people who type in your domain names to an existing address. Check that any registrar you're considering offers Web traffic redirection--and doesn't charge extra for it.

Want e-mail addresses? Figure out how many you'll need and write down the number. Then ask yourself if you want to set up separate e-mailboxes (at your domain hosting company and in your e-mail software) or whether you'd prefer to have your mail forwarded to an existing e-mailbox with your ISP. If you need e-mail accounts, make sure your domain host provides enough POP e-mailboxes and offers Web-based mail readers to look into those boxes. Or if your ISP provides those features, check to see if your registrar lets you redirect e-mail.

Once you've listed your needs, shop around among domain registrars to make sure they provide them. Some don't provide these extras, and some do but charge an arm and a leg. And some, such as DirectNIC, Catalog.com, and eNom.com, provide a lot of these features for a reasonable annual fee that includes domain registration. Once you get a shortlist of registrars together, you'll be ready to cherry-pick the best match based on the old classics of price and customer service. Although domain registration is the same the world over, not all domain registrars are created equal.

Think Matt Lake needs more .info in his .net before he mouths off about domains? Don't blame .us, you can .com-municate with him in the TalkBack below.