6 Steps to Better Blog – Part Two

Registering a Domain

Now that we have established the benefits of owning your own domain name, it is time to take action and do it. As with many things in life, the hard part may not be what you think it is. The process of buying and registering the name is as easy as buying something from Amazon. The hard part, and the most important aspect is choosing a name.

If you already have a name, you’re in the home stretch. Maybe. Consider, this is going to be your brand, your identity on the Internet. This is no different than choosing a name for a brick and mortar business. You need it to reflect what you do.

What’s in a Name?

The following is emphatically important to keep in mind when you choose a name.

Keep it as short as possible. We all remember names like AOL, Yahoo, Google. These are as distinctive as Ford, Coke or any household name, branded so well they are etched in our psyche forever. This is what you want to go for.

Unless you are blogging for an organization, do everything possible to find a .com domain name. Obviously, if your blog is for an organization, for instance a non-profit, then use .org. Only use .net if all else fails. The .net extension was originally reserved for Internet infrastructure and network providers. A .com (commercial) extension is still the easiest for people to remember. For more about extensions see this…

• The bad news first – all three letter and almost all four and five letter names are gone. You won’t find a dictionary word, a common English name or most combinations of names available. Try for what you want anyway. Serendipity can be a wonderful thing.

• Avoid dashes and numbers in your name. For some reason most people hate dashes, with numbers running a close second. There are always exceptions to anything, 43folders.com being a good example. We don’t shoot for the exception; again, try for a name that is continuous.

• You may brainstorm, come up with a Wow! Name, and register it only to find it can be seen in a different light. A good example is therapistfinder.com. This really is a site to find a therapist – but if you’re looking for a rapist… .

The bottom line is, think carefully about how you brand yourself with your domain name. Usually some combination of letters along with a word will work well. Last year I built a web site for an organization with a name too long for people to type, let alone remember. The original domain they had was thedaytonmasoniccenter.org. After meeting with the director of the center, we came up with this name – dmcohio.org. You can see the site here: http://dmcohio.org
And yes, I’m a Freemason. I’m a Past Master of Dayton Lodge #147.

OK, Let’s Register a Name

Once you have a name to register, or to check possibilities, an excellent site to do this is AjaxWhois. It is fast and unlike some other sites, you can check as many names as you want with the least hassle. You can also use Better-Whois but the interface is a hassle to use.

Whois, is a query/response protocol that is widely used for querying databases in order to determine the registrant or assignee of Internet resources, such as a domain name. For our purposes, in plain language, it is used to see if a domain is registered. If you are interested see more here…

Once you have a name that is available, a box will pop up asking you to register it with GoDaddy.com. I suggest you do exactly that. But wait, hear me out about why you should do that.

Full disclosure
: I register all my sites with GoDaddy. I have no affiliation with this company, I receive no compensation in any form from them. I pay just the same as anyone else.

The organization that manages IP (Internet Protocol) addresses is ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers).
If you want to read more about what ICANN does have a look at this site.
Though ICANN and its subordinate organizations is the overseer for IP and domain names, other companies can be credentialed to register your name. This is where GoDaddy comes in as a registrar for domain names. Why use GoDaddy?

Get ready for another important aspect of registration. Keep your domain registrar separate from your web host. In case you are having problems with a host, you are free to move to another host. Many web hosts offer free domain registration when you buy a hosting package. Don’t do this. You will be locked in with them, and even though you can still move, it is much harder to do.

You are free to use any registrar, some are more expensive than others, some I wouldn’t trust. GoDaddy has been around for quite a while, I know them to be reliable and support is excellent. Hosting is another matter. For this I do not use GoDaddy.com. We will get into that later.

You can register your name either by clicking through the links, following directions and making the purchase, or (and this is what I like about GoDaddy) you can call them. Real people answer the phone, technicians who are willing to work with you, answer any questions you have and explain the process. It’s that simple. Call 480-505-8877 to register a domain name.

Although I use GoDaddy to register sites, and I have quite a few there, they have one of the worst web sites in existence. We will get into this later, but for now, be aware that navigating GoDaddy’s site is a nightmare, even for experienced web builders. There are some who think they may have done this on purpose to keep people there. The longer you are there the more likely you are to buy something you don’t need. The other thought is, they simply don’t know how to build a good web site. Don’t be surprised at this. Have a look at Websites That Suck, a great learning experience and lots of good info here.

How to Register Video

Be aware that you must provide accurate contact information to register a domain. This will go into a database, and is open for anyone to see. For a fee you can hide this information, but I see no reason to do that. If your profile is on social networking sites, your address is freely available in other places, why bother with this expense?

Wrap-up – Key points.

• Be absolutely certain the name you choose reflects your brand.

• Query the name you want with AjaxWhois or another site of your choosing.

• Don’t wait to register the name. You can own hundreds of names and never build a website.

Next we will explore hosting your blog. There is much to be learned about the vagaries of choosing a web host. As always, comments and questions are welcome and encouraged.

Part One >> About domains

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