By Chase Rogers May 15, 2008
The first step in starting your website is the purchase your domain name. This is an easy step that gives you control and the rights to your domain. The last thing you want is a web or hosting company owning your name as part of their "hold" over you. (read "Who Owns your webite")
First, a little about choosing a domain name. Most people have been conditioned to read domains as one complete word, such as www.bobsplumbingsupply.com. ( Bob's plumbing supplies dot com) Today, with the importance of search engine placement and ranking, the rules have changed a bit.
Search engines cannot separate words that run together. It's kind of like Big Bird singing the alphabet as one long word. They need separators to tell them there is a different word, for example; www.bobs-plumbing-supplies.com. You can use a (-) dash or a (.) dot, but do not use the (_) underscore. Underscores are ignored and it's like not using any sepeartor at all.
The big question is; does it really matter if I use www.katesflowers.com or www.kates-flowers.com. With SEO every bit helps and is recommended, but not neccassary. If you have a business that names the industry like www.south-florida-contractors.com, I most definetley would use separators.
Also, be careful not to choose a name that is too long or hard to say.
Purchasing Your Domain (URL)
Go to one of the url registrar's websites like enom.com, godaddy.com or networksolutions.com. The average price is around $10 a years with a 2 year minimum. At these low prices compares to 6 or 7 years ago, you might as well purchase at least 5 years in advance.
All of these sites have a search field on the homepage that lets you search and see if your name is available. If the results comes back as "available" then follow the on screen directions to buy it. Be wary of add-ons and up sells. It is becoming more and more common to try to sell you more services than you really need.
Chase Rogers is the founder of Chase New Media, LLC. Chase can be reached at (561) 702-8251. The company's web site is http://www.chasenewmedia.com. |
