Choosing a Domain Name and Web Host for Your Website

To get a new website online, you’re going to need two things:

• A domain name (This is your web address like yoursitename.com)
• Hosting (Somewhere that your site sits so it can be seen 24/7 by the world)

The WordPress platform itself is free, but a domain name will cost you approx $10 to $15 a year and hosting will cost you around $4 – $20 a month, ( depending on where you buy this service from)  .

Owning your own domain name looks far more professional than having your site on someone else’s domain (like yourbusiness.my-free-website.com), and these days they are very affordable, too.

Plus, having your own hosting ( or a service that provides the hosting for you) will also make sure your website loads quickly and won’t go down for hours at a time (pretty important for everyone who visits your pages.)

Where do I get a domain name and hosting?

I’ve  used a few different places but have currently settled on a company called Siteground as a web hosting and domain registrar for myself and for my clients.

You can check Siteground out here

They’re really affordable, have great customer service, – so it’s worth checking them out. Their online chat is really quick and they are very helpful if you need something done.

And they have recently been added the recommended list at WordPress.org.

When you get a domain name, you’ll also be able to have your own personal email account(s): you@YourSite.com – way more professional than a generic Gmail or Yahoo address.

If you already have a domain hosting, then go ahead and skip the rest of this page.

What kind of domain name should I pick?

As an easy starting point:

• If you’re making a website for your business, your domain name should match your company name. For example:  YourCompanyName.com

• If you’re planning to set up a website for yourself, then YourName.com can be a great option.

Either way your domain name should be something that is about your site..

Domain names usually end with .com, .org or .net, but in recent times, a huge amount of domain extensions (the end part of the web address, like .com) have come out, ranging from .agency to .pizza.

My best advice at this time is to avoid the weird extensions and go with .com, .net or .org unless they perfectly describe what you have to offer – and even then, see if you can find a more common name.

If your website is going to be a local site ( i.e. a site where it is promoting your business in your own country) then chose that one.

So for Australia it would be .com.au and New Zealand it would be .co.nz

While .com, .org and .net are commonly used and easily remembered, the domain extension craze hasn’t really gone mainstream yet – so people may not find you if you use a really different domain extension.

So in other words, the domain extensions of .com, .org and .net have been around a long time and people know of these.

Having said that though, if you work on your site and get good results in the search engines ( like google.com) then try using what you prefer.

Any additional tips for choosing my domain name?

There are few things that can help you choosing your domain name:

#1 Is it brandable? For example, if you make a site about poetry then best-poetry-website.net is not a good choice: poetryacademy.com or poetryfall.com is much better. Try to avoid the – (dashes ) if possible.

#2 Is it memorable? Short, punchy and clear domain names are much easier to remember. If your domain name is too fuzzy, too long or spelled in a strange way, visitors may forget it.

#3 Is it catchy? You want a domain name that rolls off the tongue, describes what you (or your business) does.

Coming up with a cool name can be a bit tough since there are approximately 150 million (and growing) active domain names in the world right now – but don’t give up.

There’s one rule that always applies to domain names: If you like it, go for it. Remember it is Your Domain name and you have to like it..
The rest of the world just needs to remember it and find it.

NOTE: Just a gentle reminder to make sure your domain name conveys what you want it to! Dont forget to write it down and have a look at it. It can be read wrongly. Here are sample examples below of mis spelled domain names.

  • penisland.net – Pen Island (Penis Land)
  • sydneytherapist.com – Sydney Therapist (Sydnet The Rapist)
  • kidsexchange.net – Kids Exchange (Kids Sex Change)
  • webone.com.au – Web One (We Bone)
  • choosespain.com – Choose Spain (Chooses Pain)
  • bendover.com – Ben Dover (Bend Over)
  • bitefartcafe.rs – Bitef Art Cafe (Bite Fart Cafe)
  • partnerstalking.com.au – Partners Talking (Partner Stalking)
  • powergenitalia.com – Power Gen Italia (Power Genitalia)

Just to name some. I hope you get the idea.

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Things To Do Before Next Lesson:

Do your own brainstorming to come up with a unique domain name that reflects your business, site or blog.
You can type this into your Browser to see if it is taken or not.
Or you can use a site like this to see if it is taken. https://who.is/

Go ahead and secure yourself a domain name and web hosting through the hosting company you have decided to go with (pretty simple process, but in case you get stuck, contact me and I can discuss this with you.)