Building a Website

Design Options

Web Design 101

Master the Art of Building Web Pages With This Proven, Step By Step Guide ... No HTML!- We have outlined step by step all of the resources and steps to creating your own professional looking website 100% for free in this terrific report. "Website Building 101"

Not only do we show you free resources to find fantastic looking templates, graphics, and hosting for free, we also show you step by step what to do to get your website online in about 2 hours!

How to Choose a Good Domain Name and Cheap Domain Name Registration Sources

Years ago domain names were not cheap at all, it would set you back as much as $75 to register a domain name. Now You can get a cheap domain name registered for as little as $7.95 click here for cheap domain name registration. More and more companies came online to provide domain name registration services and that began to level the playing field and lower the price of doing business online.

What is a domain name?

A domain name is basically like your phone number on the web. Years ago when the telephone was new it wasn't always numbers. People would get telephone numbers according to their neighborhood or family name. It was a combination of letters and numbers that told a story about the owner of the phone. If you've ever watched 'The honeymooners you might have noticed that when asked for his phone number Norton would say 'Bensonhurst-5478' (I just made that up I don't remember the actual numbers) Bensonhurst was the name of the neighborhood he lived in and 5478 uniquely identified his phone.

The same applies to the internet. Your domain name uniquely identifies your web site. If someone types just one letter wrong they will never find your web site. So with this in mind your domain name should be easy to remember and easy to spell. Your domain name should tell your story, it should give some idea of who you are and what business you are in.

There are people who have an offline business coming online, in this case you should look for a domain name that is similar to your offline business name. The only exception is if you plan to market to a wider market than you can reach locally with your brick and mortar store. In this case your domain name should have a less local sound. For example; if you owned a hardware store on Main street in your town it might be called main street hardware. The domain name; Main-street-hardware.com would translate well online if you are only putting up a web site for your local clients.

If you are putting up a web site to reach a wider market you might turn some people off with that domain name. You should choose a name that conjures up confidence that you can ship anywhere. Main-street-hardware.com makes people want to ask you a bunch of questions which means they are doubting your ability to handle their business from out of state. You should get a domain name like main-hardware-store.com. or main-hardware.com; These domain names do not identify that you are a local business.

Are you starting a business to promote affiliate programs?

So many people pop up on line every day eager to make money with an affiliate program, so they rush to get a free host and free domain name, they set up their affiliate site and then wonder why they aren't making any money with it. It is the old syndrome of hoping to strike it rich but not wanting to layout a cent in the process. Thousands of people succumb to this pressure every week. Going about it this way is guaranteed to bring you failure.

The good news, you don't have to spend a lot of money to create a professional look and feel. You can register a cheap domain name for less than $20 per year in most places. So you may ask what is the difference. Some places charge $8 some charge $35 but they are all doing the same exact thing for you. You do not need to spend more money than necessary. No one can register your name 'better' for more money.

Some of these services have software that offers you bonuses like announcements when your name is about to expire and a domain name manager to keep track of your accounts and update name servers when needed. The other difference could be how your registrar handles spam complaints from your domain. Inquire about their spam policy, if it is zero tolerance policy this could spell disaster for your web site. Your registrar should at least contact you and let you dispute the complaint with proof.

What is required and how do I register a domain name?

In order to register a domain name you only need to choose a domain name then supply your contact information. The contact information that you supply is posted publicly in the 'who is' records. Anyone wanting information on your domain name or web site can access this so I suggest that if you are in the witness protection program that you use an alias. Other than that supply your real company or personal information. This will help you seem more credible if anyone checks these records before spending money with you. People will use this information to spam you, I suggest you use an email that you do not check often.

Nothing else is required to register a domain name. You do not need to already have a host account or web site no one cares whether you own a registered business or not. No blood and no first born required, anyone can register a domain name at anytime. I register domain names whenever I find a new affiliate program that I want to promote, long before I ever get around to designing the web site. When you get your domain name in advance you can opt to have it parked at the registrars site usually for free.

Register your domain for FREE today! with one full year of hosting

Certain search engines check the 'who is' records when considering accepting your web site's submission. If the web site's ownership does not match the web address or information posted on the site it can hurt you in getting indexed.

As far as choosing your domain name it's very simple, there are just a few rules to follow;

Include your business name and/or keywords related to your industry in your domain name.
Make sure your domain name is easy to remember and easy to spell.
make sure you have the correct spelling of your domain name.
Hyphenate your domain name if it has many characters and especially if you use keywords in your domain name.

Before you run out and register a domain name, you may want to review the How to Pick a Good Web Host article. Check out the recommended hosting companies because most of them offer to register your domain name for you free of charge during the registration of your hosting account.

It wouldn't be a bad idea to register someone else's expired domain name for your own business as long as it suits our business. Especially if they already had traffic coming in or were already indexed in yahoo.

FYI beware of scam artists that send spam to your registration address telling you that your domain is about to expire and that you should 'click here' to register it again. I have even received direct mail pieces from spammers trying to get me to register my domain names with their service for more money. Never click on the link inside an email that is asking you to submit personal information. Go visit the web site where you purchased your domain name from and login to your account to double check the information in the email. If you need to re-register your domain name you can do so after logging into your account.

The information provided here is meant to be a beginning to your own research and just food for thought, I take no responsibility for your application of the information. You may come up with totally different findings as the Net is a constantly and consistently changing place. Keep learning.

Sign Up For Our Free Web Design Ecourse! Plus 2 Free Design Videos