How Do I Start A Blog – Get Domain Name
At this point in our series “How Do I Start A Blog” we will be talking about getting a domain name. As the address to your house tells people how to get there or where the mail needs to be delivered a domain name is the address to your blog or website.
How Do I pick a Domain Name?
There are several factors that you may want to consider when deciding upon a domain name. You may want to use your own name or a name that is better identified with your type of blog or the product or service you may be promoting. Are you developing a social network or is your intention to make money with you blog or perhaps both. Are you using your blog to promote a service or an offline business? Are you hoping to get advertisers for a particular product or service? Obviously there are several factors that come into play when selecting a blog name.
Branding
You want people to remember your address so that they can reach you easily. The domain name may be associated with an existing offline business that you want to promote or it may be a totally new online venture. A few examples of domains are Ferrariusa.com, YouTube.com, FloorCentral.com, AskUncleTerry.com or even a personal name like TerryLile.com. Some people use domain names that seem to make little sense. An example of this is one I registered called p69er.com. I have no idea what I will ever do with that domain.
Keyword Rich Domains
I had registered several domains before I ever realized there was any science behind picking a domain name. A lot of experts recommend that you register a domain name that is keyword rich. Keywords are the word phrases that we type into Google or other favorite search engine to find what we are looking for on the Internet. So far I have not been very good at registering keyword rich domains and I hope to get better. I was recently preparing to setup a teenage obesity site. After doing keyword research I was pleased when I found that I was able to register the name tenageobesity.com. A few days after registering it I realized that I had accidentally spelled teenage as tenage. Oh well, I guess I will have to set up a site for fat ten year olds. LOL
Since keywords and key phrases are an in-depth subject we will be talking more about those in the future as I share my limited knowledge on SEO – Search Engine Optimization. For now though if you would like to know more about keyword optimization, one of my favorite experts Jason Katzenback the voice of John Cow is offering some great free tools. One of these is a 130-page e-book “How to Build a Business Not Just a Blog” and another is a free keyword optimization tool called Keyword Coral. You might want to check these tools out. I use them and again they are free.
Top Level Domains
Should you register a domain name that ends with .com, .net, biz, .org, or some other extension! I usually will select a .com figuring that is what most people think a website is. If you have your heart set on a particular name and it is only available in a different extension then you may choose to go that way. If it is a keyword rich name you may want to take advantage of it regardless of what the extension is. For example since I still wanted to have a teenage obesity site I registered teenageobesity.us and my mistake domain tenageobesity.com with only one “e” in teenage will be forwarded into it. We will see if I get enough hits on it to make it worth keeping.
Buying Existing Domain Names
There are always existing domain names that are for sale. Should you buy one or just register one? That is a decision you will need to make. You can register a domain name for about 10-12 dollars per year. Buying an existing name will cost you more but may be worth it to you. I have been told that one advantage is that an existing domain being older will often have better recognition with the search engines, which is an SEO factor to consider.
Registering Your Domain Name
Once you have decided what type of blog you are going to build you will register a domain name. The average fee to register a domain names is between $10-15.00 per year. This fee will vary somewhat as will the service of the companies you are dealing with and what options they may include. You can register a domain at hundreds of places. I use DomainReg.com I have found it very easy to use, the prices are competitive, they have provided excellent service and if the domain name I want is not available they offer suggestions for other domain names.
You can register for as little as one year. I usually register for 2 or more years. SEO experts usually teach that if a name is registered for less than a couple of years the search engines will not take you seriously.
When registering you can register as private if you don’t want people to know who you are. At most blogs you are probably going to tell people who you are anyway. There are some types of blogs though where you may choose to keep it private so use whichever option you choose.
When registering you will usually be offered other products and services. For me, I am not an impulse buyer and will usually shy away from adding any additional products or services at the time of registration.
As we continue with our series How Do I Start A Blog, In the next article we will talk about getting a host for your blog. Please come back and you comments are welcome.
Techless Terry
