A step-by-step guide on registering a web address
Registering an effective website address is an important but relatively simple step in getting your website online. Here are a few steps to help you get your domain registered:
1. Think of a good domain name.
The first step in getting your website live and online is to think of a good domain name. A domain name is your own unique address on the web that will be used to access your website. It consists of your unique identifier (ie. yourname) followed by a suffix (typically .com, .ca, .net, etc.). The example of this domain name would be: yourname.com.
How are some general guidelines to follow when deciding on a good domain name:
a. Easy to spell.
The best domain names are short, to the point and consist of your brand or company name. A domain name that is easy to spell will be easy to communicate and will be easily remembered by potential clients. Along with being easy to spell, you want the name of your company and domain to be easy to pronounce. This way when you are trying to communicate your website in person or over the phone, you won’t have to spell out every letter, but will simply be able to tell somebody exactly how to reach your website online.
b. Avoid slashes, underscores and other special characters.
Special characters such as slashes, dashes, and underscores make it confusing to communicate your website URL. Instead of being able to tell somebody what your address is, you will have to explain to them exactly where it contains a special character. It will make your life a lot easier to just leave the special characters out and keep the domain to being all letters or a combination of letters and numbers.
c. Check to see if your name is taken.
Sometimes another company or brand has already thought of that perfect domain name before you did, and you will have to regroup. Don’t get discouraged at this point. Run a search on any domain registrant website (such as GoDaddy) to see if the top names that you thought of are available.
2. Choose a domain name registrant.
Conduct some research around the internet for the best possible price when registering a new domain. Make sure to consider that some companies will offer you just the domain for a cheap rate, while others will offer you the domain plus unlimited e-mail accounts for a small amount more.
Here is a brief list of popular domain registrants and their starting domain registration prices:
GoDaddy.com: $9.99/year + special offers
Misk.com: $10/year
Siteground.com: Free with hosting package (starting at $6.95/month)
3. Register name.
Now that you’ve chosen your domain name and your domain name registrant, it is time to register it. On all domain registrant websites, you will start by searching your desired domain name to see if it is available (if you have not already done this in step 1c). After you’ve secured that domain name, you will have to fill out some personal information. Entering this information will register an account with the domain name registrant. You want to have an account with the company that handles your domain names so they can send you e-mail updates when your domain is about to expire. Once you fill out your contact information, they will ask you how many years you would like to register the domain for. Look to see if you will receive a better price if you register the domain for multiple years. If you feel that you will need your domain for a long time, it is a wise decision to register for more than one year at a time. This will allow you to not worry about renewing your domain and will prevent it from expiring. Now that you’ve selected how many years you would like to register the domain for, all that is left to do is for you to enter your credit card information and the process is complete.
Congratulations on registering your first domain name.
