So you have decided to take the plunge and buy a domain name of your own. Well first you have to understand what a domain name is. A domain name is a pointer, it connects the website address with a server address so that people can easily find your website without typing in some crazy series of numbers.

Domain names have a variety of extensions which range from .com, .net, .org to country extensions like .us, .ca and .uk. The most common ones are .com, .net, and .org, and so I suggest unless you feel the need to show off your civic pride for your country, you should stick to one of those three. Another reason to not go with your own country’s extension is that usually it is priced higher than the .com equivalent. I would even narrow it down further saying you should leave the .org to actual organizations, and only select a .com or .net domain.

So, let’s say you selected to have a .com domain. You now need to decide what you want your domain to be. Unfortunately, but understandably, you need to select a domain not taken by anyone else because you can’t have the same name point to two different websites.

To find out if your domain has already been taken there are many resources, one of the easiest, especially if you don’t know where to register your domain, is just to go to GoDaddy, and use their domain registration tool, and it will tell you if it has been taken and if it has, it will give you suggestions on what you might want to take instead. The suggestions are usually not very good, but you might get lucky.

I suggest sitting down and writing out a list of around twenty to thirty words that explain your site, and then trying either single words, or combinations of words to create an effective domain. Chosing a domain that reflects the content within is supposed to help with rankings on Search Engines, but don’t quote me on that.

Then you can register your domain through GoDaddy. It is a pretty painless process, and once complete you have full control over where your domain points. At first it will default to GoDaddy’s servers and you will see a placeholder page when people go to your site. You need to have the domain point at the server your website is on to see your actual website. If you have not already bought hosting for your website, you will need to do so before you can figure out where to point your new domain.

Not all hosting comes with a domain, or even the option to get a domain through them, and while many hosting companies allow you to get a domain through them, I would recommend against it, as it helps lock you into hosting with them. If you buy your domain through GoDaddy or another service where you get to control where the domain points, you can change web hosts at anytime just by backing up your files, and uploading them to a new hosting account and pointing the domain at the new server.

If the hosting company controls your domain name, you will have to either ask them to transfer control to you, or start over again if you have a really difficult to deal with web host.

Once your domain is purchased, and pointing at the right server, you then have to wait for it to propogate, which means it will have to spread around the Internet that your domain points to a certain server. Propogation sometimes takes as much as two days, but once it is done, anyone in the world will be able to see your website.

Quick Overview:

  • Try to register a .com or .net as they are the cheapest, and the easiest for others to remember
  • Write a list of the domains you want, and check to see if they are available
  • Use GoDaddy or a similar service as they are cheap, and easy to use
  • Get your DNS information from your host, and change your domain to point to that DNS information

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