Before we can build your site, you have to first establish your internet address. Just as you’d need land to build a house on, you need a place to build your site along with a corresponding address so people can find you. When it comes to your site, your address is your domain name and your land is your web host.
1. Register Your Domain Name(s)
Having the right domain for your site is important. Your domain name is both how people find you online and an extension of your brand.
- Try to limit yourself to domains ending in dot com (.com)
- Dot com domains are the standard. They are what people think of first.
- Consumers tend to trust dot com domains over other domain extensions.
- People don’t type in yourdomain.cc, yourdomain.info, or yourdomain.biz when they’re looking for you. They’ll type yourdomain.com first every time.
- Some web browsers and internet services actually auto-complete web address with “.com”
- Make it as easy to remember, spell, and type as possible.
- Your domain should be as short and to the point as possible.
- Your domain should make sense for you and your audience.
- Is it inline with your objectives?
- Is it relevant to your market?
- Does it set the right tone?
- Is it inline with your branding?
- Is it inline with your overall message?
- Remember that your domain will also be used offline on business cards, letterheads, envelopes, etc. Make sure it is appropriate for such uses.
Register Your Domain Through a Qualified Hosting Company (Free!)
A few hosting companies give you a free domain name when you host with them. Since you’ll need both a domain name and a web host to get your site going, this option makes sense and takes a step out of the site setup process. Pretty cool right? If you’d like to get your domain for free:
See which hosts will give you a free domain name here!
Register Your Domain Via a Registrar Like Name Cheap ($10.99 and up)
There are many places you can go to register your domain name. Name Cheap is probably the most well known, they offer a pretty decent domain search tool, and their prices are a little better than most others registrars. At the time of publication, you can get a dot com domain from Name Cheap for about $10.99. That is less than half the price of some other registrars. The advantage of registering with a registrar is it keeps your domain(s) separate from your host, so moving it in the future is easier.
2. Sign Up for a Web Hosting Account
Once you have your domain name selected, the next step is to select a web host. For the typical site, hosting has become somewhat homogeneous over the past few years. Most web hosts offer plans, pricing, and features that are nearly identical to one another. It more or less comes down to the reputation of the host and your own personal preference. I asked fellow developers, bloggers, and small business owners for their hosting experiences and recommendations. I’ve put the hosts that were recommended most in the list below. If you stick to one of the hosts in that list, you should be good to go.
I personally prefer Host Gator. Of the hosts I have personally worked with, my experience with Host Gator has been positive and clients I’ve referred to Host Gator have been unanimously happy. I still recommend that you shop around before making a decision where to host. These hosts are all respected, widely used, and generally regarded as being 4 – 5 star small business hosts by their actual customers.
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Host |
Price |
Free Domain? |
|
$12.95 a month |
No |
|
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$6.95 a month |
Yes |
|
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$4.95 a month |
Yes |
|
|
$3.50 a month |
Yes |
|
|
$3.45 a month |
Yes |
|
|
$7.95 a month |
No |
|
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$4.95 a month |
No |
|
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$8.95 a month |
No |
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