Does YOUR website will work with and without the www prefix?

"I don't know. Why does it matter" I hear you say.

Well, here's why it is important.

Many people tend to leave off the www prefix when entering a website address into a browser.

It's a bit like your appendix. It used to be useful, but has outlived its function. After all, everyone knows that .com means a website. You don't need the WWW as an additional identifier. And many people are lazy and leave off the www. anyway. If your webhost has not set up your account to allow for this, your prospective visitor won't reach your website.

They'll get an error message instead, and assume that your site is unavailable. You may think that this is no big deal. But if you set up a website, why take the risk of losing ANY visitors through a simple technical problem?

Try it now - make sure that your website can be reached with and without the www prefix. If it doesn't work without the www, contact your web hosting company and ask them to set up your account so that it does. There should be no charge for doing this. (And if your webhost tells you that it can't be done , then they have just confessed their lack of ability to perform a fairly simple system configuration task.)

Another reason that it is useful to be able to drop the www prefix is for radio, TV, and print advertising.

The WWW takes up 2 seconds of expensive airtime, which could be better used. And if you are running printed advertising, leaving off the www will allow you to have larger text in a fixed width print column, which makes your domain name stand out more.