Select The Best Domain Name Based On Some Simple Criteria
At this point, youre ready to narrow down your shortlist and finish out the process of how to choose a domain name. Part of this process is subjective after all, its important to choose a domain name you like. However, there are also some simple criteria you can use to make the decision easier.
For best results, youll want to pick a domain name that is:
- Concise and clear. Long and confusing names are harder to remember and easier to mistype.
- Creative and memorable. The more unique you can make your domain name , the more memorable it will be.
- Easy to read and pronounce. Avoid numbers and special characters because theyre confusing when spoken aloud. Its also worth asking your friends to pronounce it as well, so you avoid accidentally ending up on this list.
Finally, its also important to carefully consider your domain names Top-Level Domain .
In simple terms, this is the part at the end .com, .org, .net, and so on. For many sites, .com is the best choice, since its what most visitors will expect and is easiest to remember. However, its getting harder and harder to find quality .com domain names, and users are becoming more accustomed to other extensions. So if you absolutely love a non-.com name, go ahead and buy it.
The only thing to be careful with is TLDs that apply to a specific region . to help goetarget websites, so only pick those extensions if you really do want Google to geotarget your site.
Design And Planning Of A Website
Just like it isnt always a good idea to start cooking without following a recipe, at least if you have no experience, the same goes for creating a website. Here, improvising is not a good idea. Planning will help you decide what sections you need, the content that works best for you and how your website should be designed.
Mind map for an online shoe store
A good way to start is by creating a mind map with the ideas of what your website will need. The main items of this mind map can be used for your navigation.
How Do I Make My Website Mobile Friendly
Globally, 62% of users access the internet using a mobile phone, which means having a mobile-friendly website is key for reachingpotential visitors. Mobile-friendliness is also a crucial aspect of SEO.
That’s why Website.com makes it easy to make your website design optimized for mobile, with tools to refine text placement and mobiletemplates with a hamburger style menu. You can create a mobile version of your website in one click, and use the mobile editor tofurther enhance your mobile site.
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Choose A Domain Name Suffix Such As Com Or Net
After settling on the domain name, consider the suffix. The most popular suffix is .com, although .net and .org are also popular. These are considered to be top-level domains, or the highest-level domain suffixes in the domain naming system.
There are also other varieties to consider, such as country code top-level domains. These domain names end in a suffix that is particular to a specific country. A website in Germany might end in .de, for example.
Finally, there is another class of domain name suffixes called “sponsored, top-level domains,” which are sponsored by a specific community related to the domain name. For example, .gov is for the U.S. government and .edu is for education organizations.
For most websites, .com is the best suffix for its ease of use, but if you have a specialized website, you might consider a country code or sponsored top-level domain.
Pointing Your Domain Name At Your Website
Now that you have your own domain name, the final stage is to point it at your website. This allows people to type your domain name into their browsers address bar to visit your site.
To point your domain at your site you need to use name servers . Every active domain name on the Internet needs at least two name servers to handle it. A name server acts like a phone book for the domains that it handles. The process works something like this:
Usually, your Web hosting company has name servers that you can use for your domain. Youll often find these listed on the companys technical support site. Theyll look something like this:
- ns1.example.com
- ns2.example.com
When you register your domain, your registrar may ask you for the name server hostnames . Enter the hostnames given by your hosting company. The registrar then updates your domain record to point your domain to these name servers.
You can usually change your name servers at any time by logging into your registrars website and editing your domain details. If youre not sure how to do this, ask your registrar or look at their help pages.
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Purchase Your Domain Name And Complete Its Registration
Once you settle on a domain name, its time to purchase it. When you buy through Mailchimp, well let you know the annual cost of the domain name as well as any available discounts.
During the checkout process, youll be required to enter your contact information, including an email address, to register the domain.
Can I Transfer My Domain Name To A Different Website Builder/host/domain Registrar
Yup!
Domain name registrars usually enable a transfer lock on domains you buy so someone else can snag them from you without your permission .
But, as long as you’re the paid-in-full registered owner of the name, you can unlock any name for transfer, get a security code to confirm its being transferred to the right person , and move er on over.
It usually takes somewhere between a day and a week for the transfer to complete and the DNS system to finish propagating the change.
Why would you want to transfer?
If you switch website builders or from a builder like Wix to WordPress , it can be handier to just have your domain name registered and managed from the same place your website hosting/files are.
Also, a lot of hosts offer free domain names for a year when you sign up for a year of hosting.
BUT some of them charge more than the usual $8-15 renewal fee , so you might just want to get that free domain when you can then transfer it to a registrar that doesnt charge as much as your builder/host.
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How To Register A Domain Name For Your Website
Your company needs a website, which means it needs a domain name. Your first step is registering a domain name, which can be daunting for first-timers. Don’t worry: Our guide walks you through it.
Once you’ve decided to build a website, you need to make an important decision, even before you consult our best web hosting services roundup: What’s your domain name going to be? You know, it’s the web address by which all your many customers find you. Your domain name is, in effect, the name of your website, so you want to make sure you get a good one. Purchasing a name is a relatively simple process, but finding one that isn’t already taken can be a challenge. In addition, you’ll also want to make sure you understand the contract between you and the domain name registrar. If this is starting to sound a bit complicated, don’t worry: This primer can help you get started.
Any Additional Tips For Choosing My Domain Name
There are a few things that can help you choose 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.
#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 does and sticks in the head. Coming up with a cool name can be a bit tough since there are more than 200 million active domain names in the world right now but dont give up.
Theres one rule that always applies to domain names: If you like it, go for it.
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What Elements Do Good Websites Have In Common
1. Great-looking artwork
The logo and image selection are crucial to getting a professional-looking website. Today you can easily find loads of free stock photos: the best is to check out Creative Commons.
Whats more, you can find more professional-looking photos on a lot of other websites, like Adobe Stock andShutterstock. Here are some great free photo options.
It is important to make sure you understand the available image formats: .gif, .jpg and .png are the main formats. Plus, you have to optimize the size and quality of the image to the web standard browser. Everything you need to know about this topic can be found here.
Of course, you can always use sites like TinyPNG orShortPixel to compress your photos for free.
Likewise, it will come in handy to have an editing program to be able to edit and change the size of the images. A professional and free option is Gimp, however, its quite complicated to use. Another Photoshop alternative is Affinity Photo, which costs only a fraction of the price of the original and doesnt require a subscription.
But there are increasingly more tools you can use to create graphic resources simply and without having to learn to use Photoshop or Illustrator. For instance, you can use Stencil orSnappa.
2. Professional copy
- using a headline structure that makes sense,
- not letting the text paragraphs get too long,
- adding bullet points and
Weve actually written an entire guide around this topic, which you can find here.
How To Create A Free Website With Your Own Domain
Apart from buying a new domain name from the website builder or hosting provider, there is a possibility to connect the one you have previously owned. It doesnt matter where you have got it you can attach or transfer it to your new account, following the guidelines the system generates.
Standard plan of actions looks similar to that listed in the previous part of the article. However, there are also a few nuances you need to consider to make the domain name connection process a success.
- Firstly, there is no need to buy a new domain from the system you work with. This eventually saves your effort, time and money.
- Secondly, you shouldnt forget to modify the DNS settings to make the domain eligible for transfer, if needed.
Typically, youll have to log into your domain name control panel and modify the NS records for your domain according to the instructions provided by the chosen website builder or hosting provider. The entire procedure doesnt take it long and can be completed even by a newbie.
Also Check: How To Change Domain Registrar
How To Get A Domain Name From Domaincom
Domain.com is a reputable domain registrar, launched in 1998. Over 1.2 million websites are registered with them.
Domain.com features the most popular top level domains such as .com, .net, .org, .co, along with over 25 county-specific domain extensions .
They are mostly selling affordable domain names with most names priced in the $9.99-$12.99/year range. If you are lucky, you can also steal a deal and buy your domain name for as low as $2.99/year.
For that price you get:
- 1-year domain ownership.
- Free SSL certificate for extra security.
- Automatic email forwarding to your domain.
- DNS registration and management tools.
Also, you can purchase extra Domain Privacy+Protection for your domain . In this case, your personal details will not be displayed publicly in the WHOIS/ICANN directories. Plus, the registrar will also run extra security checks.
Sounds sweet? Heres how to register a domain name on Domain.com.
Step 1: Run a quick search to verify that the domain name you are eying is available.
Step 2: Pick your domain extension. Go for .com since its the most familiar option among users and thus, people, tend to type .com before trying anything else.
Your choice gets automatically added to your cart with a 2-year privacy protection subscription. This ones optional, so you can remove it during the next step. Also, you can change your domain renewal period from one year to five years.
Moreover, you can pick some add-on services such as:
Popular Site Building Platforms In 2021
To better understand which are the most popular content management systems, I dug up some recent statistics from W3 Techs and BuiltWith.
Just take a look at this graph below:
Data credit: BuiltWith
As you can see, nearly half of the websites on the Internet are running on the WordPress website platform.
But what makes them a better option than others?
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How Do I Permanently Buy A Domain Name
Its not possible to permanently own a domain name since its not a one-time purchase the maximum period of registration is ten years. You will need to pay and renew your subscription if you want to keep using the same domain name.This is to cover the maintenance costs or domain tax collected by the ICANN.As the number of registered domains grows, the tax increases. Hence, registrars need to adjust their pricing accordingly, which is why the renewal fees are more costly than the registration prices.
How Do You Want Your Logo To Appear
Do you want your logo in the top left or centered in your homepage header? While the top left is the most popular place to put your logo, you may prefer it in the center of your website header. Make sure the logo is big enough to read clearly, but not so big that it overwhelms your navigation, imagery, or messaging.
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Purchase The Domain Name
When you have settled on the domain name and a suffix, you will pay to register the domain name with the domain registrar. This is not a one-time purchase, however. Typically, you will pay to own the domain name for one year, after which you can renew your registration for a fee. You can expect a registration fee of about $10 to $15.