Purchase a Domain Name Online and Register Your Website:
Contrary to common belief, website owners don't “own” their domain names (dotcoms), they are actually owned by ICANN. When you “purchase” a domain name from a domain registrar you are simply “renting” this domain name for a specified amount of time (usually 12 months). You will need to re-register this domain name before it's expiration, otherwise it will be up for grabs by anyone who sees value in it. It is usually recommended that you purchase your domain name for a minimum of 24 months, that way you aren't responsible to re-register every 12 months. Also, most domain registrars will offer you extreme discounts when registering your domain name for more than the minimum of 12 months. Registering your domain name (website name or “dotcom”) is one of the first stages of developing your website. It is important that you first map out exactly what the purpose of your website is as well as complete some market research and compare some of your competitors websites. This will help you put together an effective site design and structure strategy.
What Domain Name Should You Purchase?:
Once you've done your competitive analysis, you'll be able to ascertain which goals you'll be able to accomplish first. This is important, especially if one of your goals requires you to execute any search engine optimization strategies. Most people assume that the best thing for them to do is to purchase the dotcom version of their business name (Jon's Landscaping Company of Atlanta, Georgia….www.jonslandscaping.com), now while this is an important task, Jon's Landscaping may also want to purchase a few multiple domain names as well. Such as atlantalandscaping.com or jonsatlantalandscaping.com, etc. These additional domain names include some natural search engine keyword value which is important for obtaining keyword relevance value early on in the search engine optimization strategies for Jon's Landscaping. This doesn't mean that Jon will have to build several different website, he can have all domain names point to the same website with what is known as a “redirect”. A redirect is usually free and fairly simple to accomplish.
Registration Domain and Where To Start Plus Cost:
Regardless of the domain that you decide to purchase, it is also best that you purchase your domain with a domain registrar that provides web hosting services. This will make your life a lot easier as you will be consolidating your website into one account that you will need to manage. Also you can typically qualify for special offers that will lower the cost of one or the other service by doing this. Once again, I will have to include GoDaddy.com as a good choice for most company's needs. Whichever domain registrar you decide to go with, make sure that you contact them over the phone first to ensure that their customer service department is willing and to help you when you have questions. The first time you register a domain name you may find yourself in confusing situations, so again, be sure that the domain registrar that you choose is willing to answer the phone when you call for customer support.
Website Name Domain Registration:
After you've done this once or twice you'll see that choosing a domain registrar is actually easier than it seemed the first couple of times. You'll know by then exactly what you need in a registration and who can provide for your needs. By the time you've registered your third or fourth domain name you'll be able to do so within just a few minutes.
