Your First Domain Name

by sam Dec 13, 2010

Thinking about finally getting your website up and running. The first thing out need in your hands is a domain name.

Thats the .com address that you put in the address bar to get to a website. The following article should get you up and running quickly, and make sure you make a good, economical and informed decision about your domain name.

Choosing Your Domain Name

The biggest problem with choosing a domain name is that most of the good, short ones are already taken. If you are just starting up, it can be a good idea to purchase your domain name before you decide on a company name. If not, you might have to get creative.

So lets get started. Head to a domain name registrar such as the ones below that I commonly use:

• Godaddy.com : One of the biggest domain name registrars in the US.
• Namecheap.com : Good prices on .com domains.
• NetRegistry.com : These guys sell .com.au domain names.

Finding a Domain at a Reasonable Price

On the front page of most registar you will find a lookup box allowing you to enter a domain name. Once you submit the form, you can see if the domain name is taken, some alternative domain names you may like and if the domain name is up for auction. Domains should cost around $10 for a .com, and even up to $40 for an Australian-only, .com.au address. Be aware that some domain names are extremely expensive if bought aftermarket. Prices of more than $50,000 are quite common. Now what makes a good domain name?

Search Engines & Domain Names

If you are planning on creating sales via search engines, you should also consider the 'keywords' used in the domain. A keyword is a term that a user might put into a search engine to find out information about a topic. For example, if I wanted some food for my pet walrus, I might enter into google 'walrus food'. For this term, google would give a ranking bonus to walrusfood.com. Walrustucker.com may also recieve a bonus for the walrus keyword, but the bonus would not be as good as for the first example. If you can get the name of your business as a domain name, that would probably be preferable to allow customers to easily find your site.

Selecting a Top Level Domain

Once you have established the main part of your domain name, you should consider the top level domain(TLD) you wish to use. The top level domain is the '.com', '.info', '.com.au', '.co.uk' part of your domain, and they can affect how your site is viewed in the search engines. Typically if you are targetting national traffic (ie. australian customers) it is best to go with a .com.au name. Sites with the au TLD will perform better on google.com.au, the Australian version of Google. If you are targetting an international audience, .com is the best TLD to choose.

The other TLDs, such as .biz and .info can work easily as well for the search engines, but users may have trouble remembering your domain correctly.

Making the Purchase & Post-Purchasing Advice

Once you have finished in the lookup box and established a domain name that suits your business and your budget, you will have to sign up for an account with the Registrar and purchase the domain.

Be sure to record the details of your registrar account somewhere safe as you may need to supply the account to a developer at some point in the future. When you do this, be aware that the developer has the power to steal your domain at this point. So if you haven't yet built a trusting relationship with the developer, it may be possible for the registrar's support team to update the domain.