Selecting a Domain Name

If your web site does not exist and you are ready for a web site now, the first thing you might want to do is select a domain name. The domain name is the name someone types into the browser to find your web site. For example, consider the web address of the Google search engine, which is www.google.com. The domain name is google.com. Typically owning both a domain name and a web site gives you two things:

a www.domain-name web address
one or more e-mail addresses of the style something@domain-name

Domain names are owned (registered for an annual fee), and you must select a domain name that is available. Typically domain names sell for less than $15, but some special types (for example, anything ending with .reviews) sell for more, and often you can buy a domain name already owned by someone else…typically for hundreds or thousands of dollars.

I recommend this web site for finding a domain name. All you need to do is type in the words that you want in your domain name. It lists more domain names and makes discovering which names are available easier than competing sites. At that site uncheck the Hide Registered box if you wish to see the domain names that are already owned. Note that you can choose more than one domain name for your web site if you wish. Of course, you will have to pay for every domain name you own.

If you need help thinking of a domain name, try this web site for some ideas. If you’re having trouble even getting started, this article offers some good advice on what sort of words you should be thinking about when choosing a domain name.

Normally you will actually purchase your domain name at the same time that you purchase your hosting service for your web site. A hosting service is a company that owns “server” computers connected to the internet. Your web site and lots of other web sites rent computer space from a hosting service, and your web site will physically be located on one of the computers of your hosting service. (Normally it will not be locatedthat is, “hosted”either on your computers or on our computers.) It’s less expensive for startup, and in the long term often more convenient, to purchase your domain name and hosting service from the same company. The best hosting service plan depends on the type of web site you plan to have, so please be patient and wait for a recommendation from a professional (such as ourselves) before actually purchasing hosting.

If you want to purchase your domain name(s) immediately, before purchasing hosting, I recommend that you use this domain name manager service. It is the least-expensive of the very highly-rated services of its type.

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