Choosing a Domain Name

Author:  C. Small

OK.  You’ve decided on your niche (remember that’s what your website is all about) and now you’re ready to create your first website, right?  No, not yet.

Remember in my second post I mentioned the three (3) basic tools that you’ll need before you can create your website?  Below is a reminder:

·         A domain name

·         A hosting account

·         An autoresponder

For now, let’s focus on the domain name.

What exactly is a domain name?  Simply stated, a domain name is a specific network address that can be used to locate a set of web addresses or HTML pages.  For example, the domain name for one of my websites is http://www.create-wealth-on-line.com.  I have another website with the domain name:  http://exercise-and-nutrition.com.

If you visit the above sites, you will see that you can have a 1-page website or a website with many pages.  Any place that you go to on the internet has an address and embedded in that address is the domain name.  This is explained in more detail in:

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Create Your First Website by 3:45 this Afternoon
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Doing a search on Google for a list of domain name registrars* will be a bit overwhelming because there are literally hundreds listed on the internet.  I use GoDaddy, which was recommended by my mentor, Chris Farrell.  However, if you know someone who uses another registrar and they’re pleased with their company you may want to go with them.

Choosing a Domain Name – Key Points

Your domain name is your identify, it identifies your website.  So, try to use words in the name that are related to your site’s theme.  For example, if your website is about weight-loss, those words should appear in the domain name such as http://www.healthy-weightloss-fatloss.com.

When choosing a domain name, you should also consider the following:

·         Make sure it’s easy for you and potential customers to remember.

·         Keep it short.  If it’s too long, it will be more of a challenge for people to remember.

·         Don’t get clever.  The purpose of your website should be to provide a solution to a problem that a specific group of people (your targeted audience) have, i.e. needing to make extra money, needing to lose weight, etc.  If you get fancy with your domain name, you may not get the volume of traffic that you anticipate to your website because no one will know what the site is all about.  In other words, the correct domain name can help drive traffic to your website.  (Wow, that was a bit wordy, don’t you think?)

·         Let’s keep this one short.  Use .com instead of .net, .org or some of the others.

Well that’s it for now.

If you would like to move along at a faster pace, feel free to click on the link below.

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Create Your First Website by 3:45 this Afternoon
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Best Regards,

Carolyn

Create Wealth On-Line

Click here to contact me.

*Note:  A registrar is an on-line company that you buy your domain name from.

"Everyone who got where he is has had to begin where he was."
- Robert Louis Stevenson