Baby Steps to an Online Business : Purchase a Domain Name
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The first step to starting an online business is purchasing a domain name. A domain name is going to be your “address” on the web. It can be your name (like I did), or the name of your business, or whatever you want! For example, my domain name is www.sherigraham.com. I also have a domain for the 12 Week Holiday Planner: www.12weekholidayplanner.com.
Now before we start, there are ways that you can create and sell products online without setting up your own website. I’ll be talking about those options later in this series. But for now we are going to assume that you want to have your own website online, and the first thing you will need to do is purchase your domain name.
Choosing a domain name can be a challenge sometimes, so let me give you a few tips…
Tips for Choosing Your Domain Name:
1. Keep it short! Try to come up with something that isn’t too long. If your domain name is too long, it will be harder for people to remember it.
2. ALWAYS use a “.com” ending. While there are other extensions you can pick for your domain and often they are slightly cheaper, the “.com” gives your business more credibility.
3. Make it easy to remember. Don’t use numbers, dashes or single letters instead of a word. For example, coachingforyou.com is much better than coaching4u.com.
4. Make it easy to spell. If someone has to pull out a dictionary to make sure they’re spelling your domain correctly, you can be sure you’ve just lost a sale.
5. Try to include your primary keyword that will drive people to your website. However, this is a lower priority than the tips above. Don’t obsess about your keyword – you can always get a new one.
Where to Buy A Domain Name:
There are many different companies where you can purchase your domain names online. The only recommendation I would make is that you keep all your domain names with one company.
If you plan on purchasing additional domains in the future, it just makes things much easier for you to have them all in one place. You can easily check your account to see when each domain name expires so that you make sure you don’t allow any to expire.
You can purchase your domain names with the company you choose to purchase web hosting through, but it is not necessary. For now, focus on getting your domain name purchased. The next step will be to look at hosting options.
Here are a couple websites where you can purchase domain names:
https://www.gkg.net/ (This is where I purchase my domain names and am very happy with their service.)
The prices are very reasonable and I would recommend either of these companies.
Here is a Youtube video explaining how to purchase a domain name at Namecheap:
This video will give you an idea of the process, whether you decide to purchase your domain through Namecheap or another company.
httpvh://youtu.be/hi4x_ev9z3E
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