Domain names are unique identifiers, addresses that direct people to your online presence. The cost of domains have plummeted over the years with anyone able to register their own dot-com domain for less than £10, something that has meant there is a serious rush to grab the best domains before anyone else snaps them up.

Some people buy domains and never have any intention of using them, sitting on the domain hoping that someone would buy it off of them for a much higher price than originally bought for. Others snap up domains that are relevant to their business, nickname or their full name, so that they can ensure other people can’t have their website mistaken for their own. But then again, some just buy domains and completely forget about them, renewing them just in case they decide to use them in the future.

For those people who have bought their domain but have no idea how to use it, we have compiled a list of really cool things you can do with your domain (in some cases needing hosting too) that will enable you to have some fun, become more organised and publicise yourself or your business.

1. Create A Personal/Family Email Address

When you register your domain, you also have the ability to setup email addresses on that domain. Your registrar will give you different options with how to handle email but one very useful tip is to combine your email with calendars, websites and other applications by harnessing the power of a Google Apps account.

What is Google Apps?

A Google Apps account allows you to tie your domain into Google’s suite of tools, accessing them from all over the globe without any software installed. This is especially useful for large families, organisations and business as you are able to use the service to collaborate and plan workloads and events.

Say you register matt@mydomainname.com, you will be able to add the rest of your family to the apps account, keeping all of your emails and data secure, even removing people when they don’t need it anymore.

All that is needed to set an account up is to fill in a few forms and make a few changes with your registrar as to where your email will be handed. Google Apps is free for personal and small business use and is a great way to get into handling your own email, calendar and documents remotely.

2. Use Your Domain As A URL Shortener

If you use Twitter or any other social networking site, you maybe familiar with URL shorteners. These tools exist to help people post long web addresses when character limits are in force. There are a huge number of third party URL shorteners on the web but many people are now waking up to the idea that they can be in complete control of their own URL shorteners, maintaining their own data and giving them the opportunity to share their website content on Twitter or Facebook.

There are quite a few services that allow you to use your own domain to shorten URL’s and some do require your own web host to be able to successfully set them up:

• awe.sm – is a hosted URL shortening service that creates tiny links for easier sharing on Twitter, in emails or via Instant Messenger. It provides detailed statistics for your shared links, integrates with Google Analytics and allows multiple users. The service also offers an API to integrate with other applications.
• Yourls – this PHP script allows you to run your own URL shortener, a la TinyURL. You can make it private or public, and a WordPress plugin makes integration with your WordPress blog (and Twitter) a snap.
• Shorty – Shorty is a simple tool for creating shorter, human- readable links from long URLs. You install Shorty on your server, so the links you create with it never go away. You can also manage your links and see how often people click on them.

For more URL shortening services, check the links here and here.

3. Create Your Own Website or Blog

As the internet has grown, it has become easier and easier to setup your own website or blog with numerous services allowing you to register with them in a number of seconds. Here, people are able to write about what is passionate to them, show off their photos and portfolios.

Setting up a website is easy, there are quite a few free services available that will allow you to register your website and then point your domain name to. Some of these include:

• Blogger – A blog service provided by Google. The service is ranked number seven of all websites on the internet.
• Wordpress – This blogging service is available as a pre-hosted or user hosted service. Users can download Wordpress files and install them on their own server with their domain name or have Wordpress host the service and then tie in their domain name.
• LiveJournal – Livejournal is a virtual community where Internet users can keep a blog, journal or diary. Widely thought to be the first proper blogging service.
• Posterous – This service is aiming to revolutionise blogging by changing how users publish their content. Users can simply email text, photos, videos and music to their blog and Posterous takes car of the rest.

All of these services allow you to get up and running with a website very quickly. They all allow you to use your domain name with their services, giving that added sense of personality.

4. Run Adverts On Your Domain And Make Money

Did you know you could make money just by running Google adverts on your spare domain? Well, you can and setting it up is really quite easy, all courtesy of Google Adsense For Domains.

Lets see what Google say about it all:

AdSense for domains allows publishers with undeveloped domains to help users by providing relevant information including ads, links and search results.

With AdSense for domains, users can find relevant information rather than see empty pages or "page not found" errors. To ensure positive user experience and the quality of our network, these sites are monitored for policy compliance and prohibited from using text and images designed to confuse users.

AdSense for domains provides advertisers with additional opportunities to find their customers, and ads on these pages convert well. In addition, we regularly receive requests from advertisers who have found domains to be an effective way to reach their users.

To setup Google Adsense for domains, simply click here.

Conclusion

There are numerous different things you can do with your own domain, we have chosen to highlight just four. These suggestions will allow you to make money, organise your home and work life and promote yourself on the web.

Do you have any other suggestions that you think might make this list? Why not add them in the comments?