Getting A Domain Name

If you want a website the first thing you have to do is give it a name. This is done by finding a registrar of domain names that you can trust.

There are many companies to choose from to purchase a domain name, including Godaddy.com (one of our sponsors at right). PLEASE NOTE: DO NOT purchase your hosting service from a domain registrar. They are exceptional for domain name service, but problems have been reported in their hosting. Please visit our Hosting Services link at right for value hosting – including the one we use for all our websites.

What you have to be careful of is getting a name that infringes on a company copyright or trademark. Doing so may put an end to a successful website months, or even years down the road.

So, let’s discuss domain names.

The best names for the Internet are as short as possible. This is because the shorter they are, the easier they are for people to remember. Virtually all 1-word names found in the dictionary are gone (including all the dirty words), as are most 2-word combinations. Many 3-word combinations can still be made fairly easily.  This is not to say you shouldn’t make an attempt at finding a 2-word combination. Sometimes, adding a dash between the words will give you an “available” result.Though I try my best to avoid dashes (people forget the dash), I do have successful websites using them.

Using the word “widgets” in place of the word you want for a domain name, let’s say “widgets” is gone (it is, by the way). I would try another descriptive word and/or dashes, such as, “bluewidgets”, “blue-widgets”, “bestbluewidgets”, best-blue-widgets”, and so on. I’ve often gotten my desired word combination by simply adding “best” or “top” before my desired domain name.

The Extension

The best and most commonly used is “.com”. Try to use this for your websites. Everybody seems to assume a website ends with dot com.

You may be tempted to purchase a “.info” domain. DON’T!

“.info” has become recognized as a trash extension, due to many low-life webmasters who create websites that steal money from people, as quickly as possible with false promises of products and other items never delivered, or they are often used for malicious sites. This is not to say every .info website is a bad website. There are some legitimate .info sites worth visiting.

Because many domain registrars (those who sell domain names) offer .info domains at 99 cents, these webmasters buy dozens of them, use the name until it is shut down, and then transfer their website to a new .info domain name. It’s called “Rinse and Repeat.” Google, your much needed search engine that sends you visitors, will often delist (remove) a website from its’ database simply because it ends in “.info”.

After reading below, you may wish to click on the Godaddy banner, under our “SPONSORS” heading, located at right.

You will be taken to their site. Open your account and perform your search for domain names.

Note: After you’ve chosen your domain name and proceed to checkout you will get a page of offers to add this, or add that, or purchase privacy, etc. etc. Just decline it and proceed to the checkout. None of it is necessary. You might think you have to buy every variation of your name and every extension to it, but you don’t. If you have a successful site, few people will end up anywhere else.

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