Starting Your Website | The Basics

Starting a website is like securing a location for your business on the web and paying rent to keep the doors open.

Let me explain:

The first resource you will need to start your website is a domain name. This is basically your “location” on the internet. The same as if you were looking for your local Target store you would need an address, your domain name serves as your address on the web. A domain name looks like this:

www.domainname.com

In the offline world, most of the time each business has it’s own unique location. You will need to find your own unique location on the web by securing your domain name. Here are a few tips on choosing a good domain name.

1. Make Your Domain Name Your Business Name

If your business name is available as a domain name, the best domain names to choose are that of your business. For instance, if you are a baker and your business name is “Arnold’s Cookies” you will want to purchase the domain name www.arnoldscookies.com. This is because your customers are already familiar with your brand and it will be easy for them to find you on the web as opposed to creating a new name that you have not previously used.

If you have already created a brand and have customers using your brand name, try not to change this on the internet.

2. Avoid Using Hyphens

If you can not secure your domain name you may have to hyphenate your name. This will be a last resort.

In general, you want to make it EASY for website visitors to find you on the web. Adding a hyphen adds one more roadblock to them finding your website.

3. Avoid Long Phrases

When choosing a domain name, you want it to be as simple as possible. So www.arnoldscookies.com is going to be a lot better than www.arnoldsfantasticcookiesinthecityofnewyork.com.

Again, you want to make it easy for your customer to find you. This is the difference between being on a main street or a side road that is less traveled.

Where do you buy your domain name?

The best place I have found to purchase a domain name is www.namecheap.com. I like namecheap because the domain name prices are fair and they give you Whois Guard for free for the first year.

You should expect to pay around $11 for a domain name yearly.

What is Whois Guard?

This is extra protection for your website so visitors don’t have your private home information. If you don’t have a business address yet, it is best to have Whois Guard. When you build a website, ANYONE can type in your web address and have the ability to find out personal information about you, so it is best that you protect yourself.

Hosting

In addition to purchasing a domain name, you will have to purchase hosting. Hosting is like rent for your online presence. You will need to pay a monthly fee to have your website on the web.

A good hosting company charges about $9.95 per month to host a website. My recommendation is hostgator.com. This is because they have an easy user interface and they have exceptional customer service 24 hours per day to help with any issues.