Domain Names - What they DON'T tell you!
Just starting out online? Want to become a super affiliate
? Or want to share your passion about preserves? Maybe drag your offline business into the 21st century to increase your customer base?
While it is relatively simple to create an online presence, it does take some time and there is a minimal cost (usually less than 30/year) to get going. There are free ways as well (such as social media marketing and some blogging sites) but if you're looking for a dedicated website, you'll need a domain name and a hosting account.
The wisest and cheapest way to get things moving is to pick a subject (niche) you're passionate about, whether it's dog walking, making jam, starting a charity or collecting Lamborghinis! The next bit involves choosing what they call a 'keyword rich' domain name. This is so someone looking for a website that deals with whatever your passion is, will come across your website/blog... (i.e. ilovelamborghinis.com) and so that search engines can find you as well. There is NO POINT in choosing a domain name like www.mynameisjoeblogs.com if you sell exotic fruit. No one will find you!
You can go to Google adwords and type in some of your ideas for a domain name and they will instantly provide you with how many searches are done under your subject area/name choice. It is important to get a domain name that has a good balance between 'competition' (so you know people are making money in that niche) and how many 'local/global monthly searches' there are for your domain name idea (so you know people are actually looking for what you have to offer).
Domain names cost anywhere from a couple of dollars to hundreds of dollars or more if there's a lot of competition for it, say, www.johnnydepp.com. Only register your new domain as your personal name (ie. http://JohnDoe.co.uk) if you are already well known in your niche or trade for the reasons stated above. (You'll want to do this later on when you start making some money and/or become famous :), so no one tries to cash in on YOU but you!) So remember, anyone wanting to buy anything about say, jam-making, will not be able to find your absolutely terrific, high content, great graphics website/blog and amazing offers from JohnDoe.com! They're not connected in anyone's reality but yours.
HOW TO DO IT... REGISTERING (BUYING) A DOMAIN NAME...
There are a lot of sites that sell (register) domain names such as 123-reg, NameCheap or GoDaddy. Try to purchase a domain name that has a high TLD (top level domain) extension such as .com, .co.uk, .net or .org. These are called TLD's because they are the most popular (slightly more expensive) and are more likely to rank on search engines again, so people can find your site more easily.
Listen, at this point you are only buying the web address, so go with the least expensive but make sure you are allowed to change nameservers (you don't need to know what this means at this point, just make sure they do allow it by calling, emailing or checking through their website - I haven't heard of any that don't allow nameserver changes) in case you decide you do not want to have it 'hosted' with the place where you've purchased it.
To make things perfectly clear if you're a TOTAL newbie (that is if you didn't know what a domain was), to use an analogy, let us say your purchased 'domain name' is a car (ie a vehicle to earn you money). It is just a car to which you have the keys, you're not driving it yet and you have nowhere to park it.
To continue that analogy... we now have a brand spanking new car and we need somewhere to park it. That's what a host does for you. It's not enough to have your car (domain name) now you have to have somewhere to keep it (host). There are a number of good hosting packages around. Hostgator, 123-reg, namecheap all have great packages and are not too expensive.
That said, make sure that you contact their support people before you buy
to make sure you can actually get someone on the line when you need an answer and
to make sure their 'how to' instructions are not so obscure that a newbie can't follow them, so get in touch and ask lots of questions.
I would recommend you use a hosting site that allows you to 'live chat' 24/7 with the technical staff, in case you need answers in the middle of the night UK time when your hosting company is located stateside and they aren't open yet.
So that's it then, you now have your car and somewhere to keep it. The next thing you have to do is build a garage around it (website) to which you can invite people to come and admire your shiny new car. You can get someone to do that for you for a substantial cost or you can do it yourself.
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Domain Names - What they DON'T tell you!
By: Kathleen Conabree
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