Step 1: Domain Name

Purchasing a Domain Name

What is a domain name?
Before you start a website, you need to have a Domain Name. What’s a domain name? A domain name is a web address that you’ll see up at the address bar of your browser (ex. http://www.technohelpnow.com). You need to purchase one of these so you can type something into the address bar and get to your site. Registering a Domain only means only that you have a name registered to you, but not that you have anything there. It is like buying an address with no lot to place a house on. Only an address.

What should my domain name be?
I used to think that it was very important to choose very short and very catchy domain names. Then I met a friend of mine who owns attraction-chronicles.net and how-to-get-a-girlfriend.com and I thought he was retarded for having such a long domain name that was so tedious to type in. Then I checked his alexa stats and he was really high up there. I understood from then on that it doesn’t matter how long your domain name is as long as it’s something that has to do with what you’re doing.

Where do I purchase Domain Names? How much should it cost?
There are endless places where you can purchase domain names. Everyone is always having deals. You should NEVER spend more than $10 a year on a domain name purchase. $10 is the standard rate. If you were a domain registrar, it would cost you $10 for a domain. The registrars that you purchase from get the domains a little cheaper because they buy 100’s at a time, because bulk is always cheaper. The cheapest I’ve ever seen domain registrations is $2.95/yr. I had to see for myself so I tried it out. It was with IPower (deal no longer available). Sure enough, it was only $2.95, but the catch was… I started getting tons of spam mail to the email address that I gave them (I use a catch-all email address and give every website I sign up for a different email address so I can track where I get spam from). I learned my lesson and I no longer purchase domains from sources like that.

I always spend $10 on a domain registration because I go through my hosting service, it makes things a lot more convenient. I recommend purchasing domain names from your hosting service provider. This is because you will have all of the DNS information in the same place. Also, if you purchase a domain somewhere else and you want to transfer the registrar to your hosting service, you usually have to pay another $10. However, if you want to purchase a domain for under $10, here are a couple of places that I recommend. (these guys won’t spam you or charge you any hidden fees.) I suggest you choose a host before you purchase a domain name! The hosting service will usually offer you a free registration when you sign up for hosting.

netfirms.com (usually $4.95/yr)
godaddy.com (usually $7.95/yr)