First of all I want to congratulate you for making the decision to establish an online presence for you or your company, you can do it! You can get your very own website up and running within 48 hours. The very first step for your DIY website is to register a domain name, in this guide I will explain and will show you in a video presentation how to register your first domain, in the video presentation you will also learn how to link your domain name to your hosting account. Make sure you register a domain name while reading this article, take action, you neglect on that step, you will never get a website established! Please keep on reading the article after you watch the video as below the video you will learn very important information on how to properly pick a domain.
Step 1 – Choose a domain name:
Stick with .com- .com is the most widely accepted extension in the world. People associate site names with the .com extension.
One possible spelling – Your domain name should be easy to remember, many people can not spell, so in short the name should be “What they hear is what they type without much thought”. The easier your domain is to type the more people will visit your site.
Keep it short – The shorter the name the easier it is to remember. The easier to remember, easier to share with others.
Commercial appeal – will your domain look good on a billboard, business card, commercial, will it sound good on a radio ad?
No hypens
Brandable – think “google”,”bing”,”aol”,”yahoo” – for small businesses I believe there should be a story behind the name, don’t be a digger tho, get things done, keep it simple. (The goal is to take action!)
Copyright issues – avoid headaches in future! A copyright infringement will cost you: time, money and HEALTH! Head over to: http://www.copyright.gov/records/cohm.html make sure the name you have in mind is not in the list.
Check availability – Type in your domain name in domain search box (see image below), I recommend to use namecheap.
Namecheap Domain Availability check
Step 2 – Choose your registrar:
I recommend to register a domain name at Namecheap, my favorite registrar, why?:
TRUSTED REGISTRAR! – Namecheap is one of the largest domain sellers – 2,000,000+ domains managed, 500,000+ customers!
24/7 support via online chat – they will hold your hand during the registration process!
The registration process is straightforward
Reasonable pricing – Did you know that you can get your domain registered for less than 10 bucks???
User friendly domain management interface – Know how to use your smartphone, Facebook?, Registering a domain name is EASIER.
Free Whoisguard – your name, postal address, email address, phone and fax numbers shall be kept confidential.
Paypal is accepted – PayPal acts like a digital wallet where you can securely store all your payment options, such as your bank account and credit card. When you want to make a payment, you don’t have to pull out your credit card or type your billing info every time. Don’t have a paypal account? By all means, go ahead and open one NOW! http://www.paypal.com
To register your domain now – click here
Now that you got your domain registered the next step is to buy hosting for your website. Here is a detailed guide on the best hosting provider, click here.
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Feel free to ask questions in the comments section below, I will gladly answer all your questions.
