People purchase a domain name for different reasons, but most hope it will attract a good amount of traffic. If you are one of them, before you decide what your domain should be, first consider if your budget wonít allow you to buy a domain name that has been used already and is available for sale. They usually cost more than new domains, but their potential is far greater than $9,99/year domains.
If you decide to go easy this time and purchase a domain name that nobody currently owns, obviously the first thing to do is to find a good place to purchase a domain name. Avoid buying your domain from your web host (to avoid trouble in case you decide to change your host). Find a reputable domain name registrar and follow some simple steps:
1. Find out if the name you desire to own is still available. Most registrars have a small box on their main page that looks like a search engine table where you enter the domain name, choose the LTD (’top-level domain’, ex. .com, .net, etc.) and click on ’search’. In a second or two you will know if you are lucky or need to keep using your creativity some more to come up with a different name that will hopefully be available (if not, again - see if you can buy it from the current owner).
Some example of registrar sites are GoDaddy.com and NameCheap (my personal favorite).
2. The registrar service you are using will probably give you some more options for your consideration. For example, whether your desired domain name is available or not (but especially if it is not available), consider adding the word ’site’ or ‘online’. So, if the domain name ‘blahblahblah.com’ isn’t available, perhaps blahblahblahsite.com is.
3. If you are serious about your online business or for some other reason want to eliminate the possibility of your competition stealing your traffic, you should consider buying a number of domains with the same name but different LTDs. Once your business succeeds, you don’t want your prospects to enter .net instead of .com and be directed to your competitor.
4. Once you make your choices, you will be directed to a checkout and asked to register. Before you pay, you will also need to decide if you want to register the domain for a year or two, or longer. A few minutes later you have a domain. Your online business now has a face, ready to attract your first customers, readers or followers.
One place to get premium domain names from a reputable source is over at HowToBrandYourSite.com. You can often get incredible names for very inexpensive there.