Creating Your Website: Domain Names

The process of creating a website for your business, non-profit, or personal interest is easier than one might think. The purpose of this article is to provide advice on the process of selecting and registering a domain name for your online identity.

For the purposes of this article, I will assume you are looking to create/build a stand-alone website, as opposed to creating an account through such places as WordPress, BlogSpot, etc.

When selecting a domain name, be sure to choose a name that accurately describes your organization. For example, if your business is "Mary's Flower Shop", such names as marysflowershop.com, or marysflowers-nc.com would work, with the second name using the state where the business is located. I have a client who I've built a couple of websites for and in both instances, the client appended the state abbreviation to the end of the domain name.

I would suggest that several names be selected in the event your first choice isn't available.

Once this process is done, you're ready to look for domain registrars.

Now you're ready to find a reliable domain name registrar. Just in case that term is unfamiliar (from Wikipedia):

A domain name registrar is an organization or commercial entity, accredited by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) or by a national country code top-level domain (ccTLD) authority, to manage the reservation of Internet domain names in accordance with the guidelines of the designated domain name registries and offer such services to the public.

Some of the more familiar registrars are GoDaddy, NetworkSolutions, Tucows, Register.com.

If you're looking for a recommendation, GoDaddy or Register.com. I use GoDaddy when I register domains for my clients, but I've had good experiences with Register.com. When going to either of these websites, you'll see a "domain name" search box which you can use to verify your domain is available. Once you discover an available name, you'll be guided to reserve it for a customer-determined number of years.

How many years you require really depends on how you view your business venture. I would select one(1) year if one of the following applies to you:

• This is a start-up company and you want to see it the company will survive -- especially in the current economy.
• An established business that is finally! convinced there is a need for an online presence.

In other cases, selecting multiple years is a good idea.

Typically, if your business is selling product or services, you'll use ".com". If your site is for a non-profit organization, then ".org", otherwise, ".net" may work for you. However, it may be smart to get all three suffixes if they are available to further protect your online brand.

Now that you've reserved a domain, you're ready for the next step of building a website. I'll have that article available soon.