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Im a little confused, you can get free hosting everywhere, tripod, web1000, yahoo but they will have pop-ups and advertising everywhere. Godaddy is a great place to get hosting as is many other places.
The domain needs to be easy to type in and not terribly long, the examples you gave would be fine.
are you thinking of getting a company name that you can also use as a -com domain name ? ...that would be best i think.
personally, i would go the extreme and come up with a name no one has used before and build your brand with it.
as for getting a name that may cause confusion because the same name already exists without a "online" or "wear" tail to the name.....risky business, you may end up getting seued when you start making money with it.
Im a little confused, you can get free hosting everywhere, tripod, web1000, yahoo but they will have pop-ups and advertising everywhere. Godaddy is a great place to get hosting as is many other places.
The domain needs to be easy to type in and not terribly long, the examples you gave would be fine.
I think she meant free as in "available"
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The domain needs to be easy to type in and not terribly long, the examples you gave would be fine.
It depends on where your traffic is going to come from. If you have a loyal following it does not matter as much in my opinion.
I make my money online, though not through t-shirt sales, and I buy domain names based on search engine optimization.
If you are selling band t-shirts and the company name is nextime tees. I would try to get bandtshirts.com. so that if someone is searching for band t-shirts, the keywords are in your domain name.
try to make your domain name the exact same as your brand name. avoid numbers and letters like 2cute4u.com. make sure it is a dot com! dot net, org etc should be bought up if you plan to blow up! make them redirect to your primary dot com. avoid THEbrand.com or brandSTORE.com or brandONLINE.com etc. if you can't secure brand.com, you are probably violating somebody else's trademark...
do you trademark research before you pick a brand name. hire a trademark attorney to review your research and submit a federal application if you get the green light. don't wait to hear back to launch, they take 12-18 months and if you're up and running when they review your application, it helps your case depending how you filed. if you plan to ship internationally, look into possible madrid protocol conflicts.
__________________ i am not a businessman
i am a business, man
try to make your domain name the exact same as your brand name. avoid numbers and letters like 2cute4u.com. make sure it is a dot com! dot net, org etc should be bought up if you plan to blow up! make them redirect to your primary dot com. avoid THEbrand.com or brandSTORE.com or brandONLINE.com etc. if you can't secure brand.com, you are probably violating somebody else's trademark...
do you trademark research before you pick a brand name. hire a trademark attorney to review your research and submit a federal application if you get the green light. don't wait to hear back to launch, they take 12-18 months and if you're up and running when they review your application, it helps your case depending how you filed. if you plan to ship internationally, look into possible madrid protocol conflicts.
I am in Canada... so do I search for trademark availability in Canada? Is it possible to do that online for free? Or is a lawyer necessary right from the get-go? If so... am I looking at big bucks for a search?
i can only speak on american trademark laws. as far as cost goes, weigh the possible costs of trademark infringement against the cost of doing it the right way in the first place. also consider the cost of changing your brand name midstream if you are successfully sued.
in the US, i paid my attorney $500 to help me research my brand name. i filed the federal application myself (another $275). my lawyer also helped me write my operating agreement to register my limited liability company to shield my finances from potential lawsuits. you run a big risk setting up as a sole proprietor because you can be sued for more than your company's worth. an LLC will shield your personal assets.
if you are just setting up a little cafepress shop, ignore everything i said. if you are building a brand name that will be sold and shipped worldwide, do your homework.
__________________ i am not a businessman
i am a business, man
Domain name question 
