Use The Right Domain Name Extensions
When you choose your domain name extension, you can be sure of one thing: .com is still the best.
According to research from Domain Name Stat, 43% of all domains have the .com extension.
Why? Well, .com is the most familiar and easiest to remember.
While there are many successful websites with a .net and .org, your website will probably do better if it has a .com extension. Its the safest bet.
Our advice: Go with .com. If thats taken, try .net or .org. If these are taken too, youd be better off brainstorming a new domain name. And oh! Avoid those weird extensions like .club, .space, .pizza and so on.
Ideas To Consider When Picking A Domain Name For Your Blog Or A Personal Webpage
When using your name is the best choice
People often ask me if they should use their names in website addresses, or better try to make it keyword-reach, and I always say: think about purpose of your website.
If it is a personal space where you plan to share some information about yourself and your career along with links to your social media profiles, publications, and awards, then your best choice would be a combination of:
- firstnamelastname.com
- fnlastname.com
- lastname.com
Hint: Domain zone or top-level domain, which is .com in the examples I listed above, doesnt have to be .com only. More on that in a minute.
Even if it is a blog about some particular topic that you want to be strongly associated with, its a wise choice to go with your name as a domain name, or a combination of your name and topic.
A combination of your name and industry maybe?
And that was another question about domain names that are best to use for personal marketing that landed in our Inbox on
So, Nina asks if she should include the industry she is working in in the domain name. Lets say its ninafitness dot com
I think its a good alternative if your firstnamalastname domain is already taken, or if you expect people to google you mostly using your first name only. Fitness can be exactly the industry where it works!
Alternatively, you can use your industrys TLD . There are literally hundreds of them along with good old .com for you to choose from, .fitness or .dance among them.
Final Thoughts: How To Make A Personal Website
Building a personal brand is essential for career success, and learning how to make a personal website can enhance your skills and career.Building a personal website doesnt have to be complicated. Create and promote your personal website with Bluehosts Professional Services.
Machielle Thomas|Content Manager
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Your Turn: Comments + Action
Let us know your answer to the following questions in the comments below:
If you dont already own your personal domain name just pick it up on the cheap from BlueHost .
At a minimum you should at least use it to redirect people to your website or blog, and secure the name now in case you want it for bigger things later.
Cheers! If you have questions just let us know below.
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How To Choose The Best Domain Extension For Your Personal Site
By now, you know how important it is to have a personal resume website in your arsenal. We’ve also shared a few tips on making your resume website more interactive and provided the crucial mistakes you should avoid.
But, there is another important consideration to make before purchasing a domain name for your website, and that is the domain extension.
When youre creating a personal resume website, its important to go with your name. After all, this website is all about you and presenting yourself in the best possible light to potential employers. Choosing anything else for a domain name would be just plain silly.
Another point to keep in mind is that your site is the very beginning of your personal brand. Changing your domain later on, could hurt not only your brand but your search rankings as well. Thats why its crucial to settle on the right combination of your first and last name paired with the right extension now.
However, finding the best domain name extension might prove to be more difficult than you imagine. If you have a relatively common name, there is a good chance that someone already grabbed their personal domain with a .com extension. What should you do then? What if your name is already taken?
Recommended Reading: How To Change Your Wix Domain Name
Now Are You Ready To Make Your Own Website
Undeniably, having a personal website can not only help your career, but also open new opportunities in terms of connecting with people and creating something beautiful, together. It can be a main source of your revenue or a way to earn some money on the side, not to mention its the most effective way to control your online presence.
We hope this list helped you explore different ways your future website could look like.
You dont need coding knowledge to get started: there are many free and low-cost website builders you can use for creating the exact website you want.
But, first things first: pick a personal domain name and register it, so that you ensure a solid online home for your website. Domain .ME is the most personal domain name across the web, so what are you waiting for? Check if your desired .ME domain name is available and start building a website for yourself no excuses!
For Personal Websites For Academics Or Academic Organizations:
I strongly recommend buying hosting from Reclaim Hosting. Theyre a small company founded in 2013 that grew out of the University of Mary Washingtons A Domain of Ones Own service, which was & is awesome, and not just because it paid homage to Virginia Woolf.
Why I like Reclaim: their basic hosting services are fantastic, their customer service is legendarily good, and their prices are unmatched. They offer three , which are identical, except for how much space they give you on the server. Students & Individuals gives you 2GB for $30/year, Faculty & Professionals gives you 10GB for $50/year and Large Organizations gives you 100GB for $100/year. If youre just going to be hosting a simple personal website, 2GB should be more than enough space.
Also Check: How To See Who Owns A Website Domain
Bonus Tip #7 Choose The Most Appropriate Domain Extension
Over 100,000 domains are being registered everyday!
It is now becoming increasingly difficult to get a short, memorable domain ending with .com that hasnt already been taken.
Luckily, gone are the days where we just used .com, now we have many domain extensions, each which meet certain business needs.
Here are alternative domain extensions to .com which might be more suitable:
- .co commonly used for companies, commercial or community sites.
- .info focuses mainly on informational sites.
- .net an abbreviation for network and is used for technical based information.
- .org sites that are non-commercial and nonprofit organizations.
- .biz commercial or business sites such as e-commerce sites.
- .me used mainly for blogs, journals and personal sites.
That said, always get a .com if you can!
Change Your Permalink Structure
When you create a page, WordPress makes the URL reflect the page title. For example, a page titled Contact would get a URL like yourcoolnewdomain.com/contact. This is what you want.
However, by default WordPress doesnt do this for blog posts. Instead, it creates these ugly numeric URLs like yourcoolnewdomain.com/?p=123. These URLs dont mean anything its much better to make your blog post title be the URL.
To do this, you need to change your permalink structure. This is pretty straightforward:
Now your blog post URLs will be much more memorable.
Now that youre done taking care of that little detail, its time to create your pages and get your content up on the web!
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Let Your Personality Shine Like Lauren Herda
The well-known stigma of creating a website goes like this: Its a tedious task that takes a lot of work. While, yes, some websites do require a lot of effort, others do not. Lauren Herda is here to prove our pointher whole website is built on just one landing page, and shes managed to make it a fun, engaging experience.
If you head over to Laurens website, youll immediately be greeted with a funny, welcoming message telling you a little bit about her, followed by a select few projects she has worked on over the years. Last but not least, a parting message at the bottom of the landing page.
Lauren doesnt shy away from letting her personality shine through her website through a heavy dose of emojis, a colorful palette, and a playful patterned background. Her website design choices reflect her own style through fun shapes, bright colors, and cartoon-like ideas.
Remember, your personal website doesnt have to be cookie-cutter. Take this opportunity to show prospective clients your unique and awesome personality through the design decisions you make. And dont forget to enjoy the process while youre at it!
Our Favourite Domain Name Option For Personal Brands
If youre a personal brand, our recommendation is to use either your name or your business name. And of out these two choices, we encourage our clients to use their own name. After all, youre building a business based on your knowledge and your expertise!
Yes, you may have a complicated name . But plenty of successful people online have not-so-obvious names. And they still make it work, especially when they have the full weight of their business behind them. Go all in, and people will link the business name with your name.
And of course, if your aim is to sell your business a few years down the line, go with your business name!
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Take Advantage Of Alliteration To Make Your Domain Name Memorable
You can have a lot of fun crafting a domain name using alliteration, it can also make your website more memorable to visitors.
E.g. Freds Fishing Facts = fredsfishingfacts.com
Dunkin Donuts have been dishing out delicious donuts for over 60 years, and with a name like that its no surprise!
Alliteration could be just what you need to find a memorable domain name, and can work for any niche. Lets take a parenting blog as our example, using alliteration we could craft:
- Maternal Mother Mayhem
- Fun Fit Families
Make Sure Its Easy To Type
Think of some of the most popular websites in the world. What comes to mind?
Google, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Yahoo, CNN
One big thing they have in common is that theyre all easy to spell.
Your visitors should be able to type your domain name without a problem. If you have to explain the spelling more than once for it to be understood, its too complicated!
The last thing you want is for the potential visitors to mistype your domain and end up on a different website!
Heres an easy way to test this
Tell 10 people your potential domain name and ask them to spell it. If more than a few people struggle to spell it, you need to simplify it.
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What Can I Do With A Ca
Host a website or build an online store
A website or online store is an obvious and powerful way to use your domain name.
Create your own .CA email address
Your .CA domain name can be used for personalized email addresses
Link your .CA to your social media profile
You can forward your .CA domain to another online or social media profile, like Facebook, LinkedIn, or Etsy – anywhere you want.
I think a .CA will always be the number one domain for us partly because of the brand value that Canada has abroad the quality that Canada brings, the brand recognition. I personally believe that a .CA has more brand appeal internationally than a .com does.
Connor CurranFounder and Chief Laundry Folder at locallaundry.ca
It Makes It Easier For You To Change Business Direction
If you start off in business by offering a service, but then decide to switch to something else, you can make that transition quite easily if you use your name as your domain name.
Generally speaking, you can take your name in whichever business direction you want! Its certainly more adaptable than a business name or a keyword-rich domain name.
So if you want the flexibility to change direction or course-correct in business, pick your own name. That gives you the space to test a few things out without feeling too restrained.
A good example of this is Janet Murray. Who started out talking about PR, but as her business has grown, she now talks about growing your audience and wider marketing tactics.
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Setting Up The Page Structure
If you recall from the section detailing each part of WordPress, Pages are used for timeless content such as your biography and contact information. These pages will appear in your sites top-level navigation, or 2nd-level navigation if you decide to create child pages.
Take a look at my sites navigation once more to get a feel for what youre going for here:
Since my current personal website primarily uses a one-page design , you can also take a look at one of my previous website designs, which used a multi-page approach:
As youre looking at these two different approaches, you might be asking yourself:
Should I go with a one-page or multi-page design?
This is up to you, but what you should keep in mind when deciding is that your sites #1 job is to showcase your work and expertise. The better it does that, the more likely people are going to want to hire you or work with you.
If you study my current site, youll see that most of my main sections link out to other places on the web my YouTube channel, my podcasts, the speaking page here on College Info Geek, etc. This is a strategic decision as a professional YouTuber/writer, those are the best places for me to be directing people, since I benefit from people subscribing to my content rather than evaluating it.
So ask yourself Whats my websites purpose? Who is the intended audience? Use that information to guide your decision.