When registering a domain name you have to be careful and there’s good reason for this. First impressions are everything and if your domain name has nothing to do with your website content, it negatively impacts your website’s purpose. You want to make sure that use the following criteria when selecting a domain name:
- Is related to your website’s content.
- Is relatively easy and simple to pronounce/spell.
- Is as short as possible
- Has the correct TLD extension (.com, .org, etc.)
Selecting the right domain name can help you achieve better rankings in the search engines. For example, when someone searches for “laser toner”, a website with the domain name containing those words will likely rank higher than those domains that do not. It’s also known that visitors are more likely to click on search results with domain names that closely match their search query. I hope you enjoyed some of that basic SEO (search engine optimization) knowledge. Now, let’s continue…
Which Registrar?
The age old question, where should I register my domain name. I usually let people know that they should register their domain name with their hosting provider, its a lot easier this way and you will more than likely get it included in the service. The hosting provider that I will be recommending will offer a FREE domain name for the life of the account, this is a $12/year value, absolutely free — If you wish to opt for this method of registration, then skip to Step 2. I recommend this method.
If you do not want to register your domain name with the hosting provider, I suggest that you register your domain names with GoDaddy.com. They are the largest domain name registration provider on the planet, so you’ll be safe there. To get started with this process, click on this link: http://www.godaddy.com (will pop a new window)
Either way you go, your domain name will be fully functional within 24 hours, this is to allow the servers around the world to be aware of this new registration 🙂