Name your domain and register it
One of the most important things you can do for your Web site to ensure higher placement in the search engines and an easier way for people to find you is to register your own domain name.
One of the most important things you can do for your Web site to ensure higher placement in the search engines and an easier way for people to find you is to register your own domain name.
What this means is that instead of using someone else’s domain name, like you do when you join a free hosting service, you will use your own. You can choose any word or series of words that you like and use it after the http:// in the URL with a .com or .net, or something else, at the end as long as it is still available.
You can also purchase these domain names for someone else which means that you can use them as gifts. If you know someone who has a Web site that they are really involved in and you want to get them something for their birthday, anniversary, holiday or just to say “I love you” then this can be a great gift for them.
Picking A Name For Your Site
Choosing a domain name for your Web site is one of the most important things you can do for it. Not only should the name you choose be descriptive of what your site entails but it should also be easy for people to remember so they can come back to it easily.
If possible choose a name that will also serve as a keyword for your site so it will show up higher in search engines when people are looking for sites like yours. For example, if your site is about cats then cats.com is probably your best bet for a domain name but if that one is taken you might want to try allaboutcats.com, ilovecats.com, catscatscats or something like that.
Availability and Registering
Finding out if a particular domain name is available is easy. First go to InterNIC and choose a company. There are so many of them these days that you may want to look through them first to see who has the best deals. After you choose the company you can begin your search for the perfect domain name.
On the company’s main page there will be a search box. Type your first choice into the box and click on “Search”. You will now receive a message telling you whether the domain name is available or not. Just for fun I typed in “catscatscats” from my example above and was notified that “catscatscats.org” and “catscatscats.com” are both taken but “catscatscats.net” is available.
If your first choice is not available keep trying different names until you find one you like that is available. Now click on “Register” and fill out the form. Now you are on your way to owning your own domain name.
Pricing & Perks
In case you are wondering if and how much this will all cost you I am here to tell you that it will indeed cost you. This is by no means a free service. Prices with the different companies can vary quite a bit. You can also get discounts by buying more than one domain or by buying your domain(s) for more than one year. The prices aren’t too bad though. Most places charge in the range of $19.95 to $31.95 per year. Of course if you look around you may find higher and lower prices.
When you register your domain name you may also purchase other perks. Some of these companies will offer you things like email addresses to go along with your new domain name and Web site forwarding. Web site forwarding is where they will attach your new domain name to your existing Web site so it will automatically bring people to your site without you having to move the whole site. Of course, these perks will cost you extra with some of the companies and are included in the price with others. So be careful, read the fine print, and look around at more than one place before you buy.
Hosting Your New Domain Name
If you don’t already have a Web site but want to build one or you just decided not to pay extra for the site forwarding then you will need a place to host your site. This is where you have many choices.
First of all you could go with a “free” hosting service. The hosting may be free but the domain parking may not be. You will have to check with each one to see what, if anything, they charge.
This may be the way for you to go because it is simple and the hosting provider handles all the dirty work for you. Some of them even offer domain registration so you can register your domain right from their site instead of going through one of those registering companies I mentioned earlier.
You could go with a low cost hosting service. There may be good reasons to choose to pay for your hosting and only you know what those reasons are if you need them. It may be that your site is going to be extremely large and no free site will host you. Then you will have to pay.
You could purchase your own server or host your site on your own computer. This takes a lot of work and a lot of time but some people do choose to go this route. You will always have to leave the server or computer on, perform constant routine maintenance on it and keep the hardware and software updated. You will also be leaving yourself open to the possibility of virus’.
No matter which way you decide to go just make sure you weigh all the possibilities first so you don’t have to go back and move your site later. It really is a big hassle to move hundreds of files to a new server and you don’t ever want to have to do that. Good luck!
By Linda Roeder
Source: About.com
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