Domain Registration
Your First Domain Name Registration
How To Buy Your First Domain Name
1. Go to godaddy.com . Its one of the cheapest places for purchasing a domain name.
2. Brainstorm some domain names. Things to look for in a domain name are
• Use your best keyword near the start of the domain name.
• Don’t use numbers or –
• Make it easy to remember
3. Search for your favorite domain name on GoDaddy and see if it’s available. If not, try another domain name on your list.
4. Be sure to purchase a “.com” domain name so that it’s easy for people to find you or if you are going to only market locally then you can use, UK for England, or .co.nz for New Zealand, ( You may have to buy these type of domain names from a local domain company.)
5. Scroll down the page and avoid the other options. Click “Continue” at the bottom
of the page.
6. On the next page, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click, “No thanks, continue to checkout.”
7. Complete your domain registration information, if this is your first time
purchasing a domain name or log-in to your existing account. (If creating a new account, the appropriate button is already checked for you.)
8. On the next screen, verify that the information you entered is correct. Then, click “Continue.”
9. Select the number of years you want to buy the domain name for, from 1 to 10 years. (If you purchase 2 years, the search engines feel that you’ll be sticking around and aren’t a fly-by-night business. This isn’t an issue after your site has been around a while.)
10. Decide whether you want GoDaddy to debit your PayPal account or credit card and renew your domain automatically or if you’d like to do it yourself when the time comes. You should probably auto-renew, and the domain name is protected from ever expiring.
11. Click on “Quick Checkout.”
12. Review your shopping cart and verify all the information.
13. Select your payment option.
14. Read the Registration Agreement and the Terms of Service. Click those boxes, showing that you have read them, and then, click “Checkout Now.”
15. Fill in your payment details (PayPal password or credit card information)
16. Click to go back to GoDaddy.
17. Verify your payment information and then, click on “Continue with Check Out.”
18. Fill in your personal information (Name, address, etc.)
19. Fill in box 2 with a new account password, if you’ve created a new account. Boxes 3 and 4 are self-explanatory. Click “Continue with Checkout.”
20. Verify the information and click “Checkout Now.”
21. Type in the code at the Secure Checkout page and enter it by clicking “Next.”
22. Print your thank you page or copy your customer number, log-in, and
password. You’ll also receive this information in an email.
5 Ways To Think Up A Great Domain Name That’s Still Available
I’d be a rich as if I earned a dollar every time someone complained that all the great domain names are already taken. It’s just not true, however. Even in a highly competitive industry, you can still think up original, appealing domain names for businesses by using naming tactics that few people use, such as these:
1. Focus on results. What is the outcome or end result that people want to have from buying a certain product or service? How do they feel when they have finished the transaction?
2. Look for puns. Make a list of relevant keywords, say each out loud and play around with the sounds. Puns are much less likely than other kinds of names to have been registered because their component parts are not actual words. For instance, the name Sitesfaction, for a web design company, was a finalist in a naming contest – and an available domain at that time despite tens of thousands of web design firms in the English-speaking world.
3. Think slang. Let your imagination and memory fly around for pleasing-to-the-ear expressions. Like the domain BoyOhBoyToys.com for an online toy store is unregistered, as is a domain for its sister store AttaGirlToys.com.
4. Go symbolic. Suppose you’re an expert on the horror genre and want to start a paid online community for horror fans. Horrorific.com, horrorgate.com and Horrornet.com are all taken, but the less obvious and more vivid FrightOwl.com was not.
5. Vary real words. “Google’s name is a play on the word googol, which refers to the number 1 followed by one hundred zeroes,” says the Press Center of the world’s most successful search engine. “The word was coined by the nine-year-old nephew of mathematician Edward Kasner,” it continues – providing another hint for creative naming: consult a kid.
Get that thinking cap on
Hosting Your Domain Name
Now GoDaddy offers hosting but there are other places to host your website. I recommend using Hostgator as it has features that you just may find useful in the future. I find getting around the Hostgator site a lot easier than GoDaddy. But it’s up to you to decide which is best for you. I do recommend the Baby package for $7.95 it does give you room to grow.
If you have gone with Hostgator the first thing to do after buying your domain name from Godaddy is change your domains DNS to the name servers you received in your welcome email from Hostgator.
This is were a lot of people get stuck. Don’t be afraid to ask for help, thats what the support decks are there for. Feel free to ask any question even if you think its stupid. They have heard them all.
After your dns changes have been made please allow 24-48 hours for your dns to propagate worldwide. During this initial 24-48 hours your site will be working one minute then be offline the next. If after two days your site is still not working contact your host ASAP.
Changing DNS
Any time you make a DNS (domain name server) change it takes around 24-48 hours to complete. During this proprogation time routers all over the world are updating their cache. This causes your site to be up and down randomly during the first 48 hours for different people at different times. Think of dns like a zip code. If you don’t put a zip code on your mail the post office doesn’t know where to send it. Domains are the same way if they don’t have the DNS the internet doesn’t know what server to send your request to.
Making The Changes
Every registar has a different procedure for changing your domains DNS, however they are all done basically the same way. The welcome email you will receive will provide you with the name servers you need to change your domain to. You will then use these name servers to replace the ones used by the site when you bought your domain, and fill them in for your domain name.
Your name servers should look something like…
- ns1.hostgator.com
- ns2.hostgator.com
(do not use the above unless told so in your welcome email)
Again make use of all the support and tutorials on offer from your new host.