Newbie Blogstep Six: Choosing and registering a domain name for your blog

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Yesterday, in the Newbie Blogstep series I talked about making a decision and choosing your first blogging platform.  Today, I’m going to concentrate on choosing and registering a domain name for your niche blog.  Now, I am going to be referring a lot to the open source software from wordpress.org as a blogging platform, as many bloggers use this throughout the blogosphere including me.  It doesn’t matter if you have chosen to utilise and use a blogspot blog, or even prefer to use a tumblr.com blog to write the information on, I will be referring to other platforms as we go through each of the steps, but will be concentrating on the one main platform.

 

What is a domain name

A domain name (or URL – Unique Resource Location) is the bit that goes after the http:// in your browser bar.  So, if you came to this website, then you may have typed in www.road2blogging.com, or if you want to go to google then you would type in the browser bar www.google.com (or .co.uk if you’re in the UK like me).  Essentially, a domain name is a place on the web that will identify where you place your content website or blog and will represent a ‘physical address’.  Just as you would give a friend your house number and street address for them to come around to see you for a drink and a chat, so too would you give your website/blog address to a friend (or others) so that  they can find the content that you have written and put on your site – the domain you hold becomes a ‘physical’ representation of that area on the internet.  Should you opt for a blogger blog, then you would choose a sub-domain of blogger – i.e. http://yourblog.blogspot.com – and the same applies to a wordpress.com blog too.  It identifies that your blog is at a sub-address in the blogspot.com location, so, if you live in a building with other flats or apartments, then all you need to understand is that your blog’s sub-domain (domain name) is telling people that you’re in a particular area of that building, and not in a particular self-contained house on a street – hopefully that clears things up – it’s your unique space, but inside another larger space (or domain). 

 

Is the exact name relevant to my site

There has been much discussion towards choosing the right, correct, or appropriate name for your blog.  Some people choose their own name to host their blog on, and I have one of these too - www.nicksanders.eu – if you’re looking at a niche blog, then having the name of your niche blog as your own name probably isn’t beneficial to you – if you’re writing about say black moor goldfish, then it would be better for you to choose a domain name that has some keywords contained in the actual name.  So, blackmoorgoldfish.com, would be a great start, if that’s not available then blackmoorfancygoldfish.com could be a second choice, and most probably will be better for you to concentrate on attracting search engine traffic and other visitors to your blog.  Having a domain name with a keyword in it not only helps you a little with search engine traffic, but it will also help by identifying what your blog is about for people who click on a link with your URL in.

 

Being Re-memorable

We all know the story – “I visited a site the other day and just can’t remember what it was called, but it had really good stuff” – now if your site name is linked to your niche market, then there is the possibility that people will remember who you are from what they were looking for.  A good brand name can be beneficial to your blog or site – such as problogger.net – but, google or Yahoo are much more individual.  I’m not saying you need to think of a really unique name for your blog, brand it and promote it like hell, I’m wanting you to do the opposite for now – choose a name for your blog that fits in well with your niche, and would be remembered by a visitor if they visited your site for a particular purpose or to find answers to certain questions.  It will also help you a little when you start ranking for keyword and long tail keyword terms in Google, Yahoo and MSN. 

 

How do I come up with a name?

If you’re really stuck on a name for your blog, then you could try using a site that I have generated names for domains in the past – nameboy.com – I don’t use it now, because I prefer to generate a domain name by other ways, but it is a really good tool for getting started and it will probably help you think of other names to choose as your domain name.

I also use google to search for other websites and blogs that exist for a keyword or keywords that could be used to search for in the niche or sub-niche that I’ve chosen – this helps me generate some ideas for including keywords within my domain.

 

 

What Type of Domain?

There are many different types of domain extensions that you can choose – .com .net and .co.uk are the most popular three.  You may have chosen a name for your domain, but when you go to search for and buy that domain all the extensions have gone – that’s when you’ll need to have a second choice, or go back to generating some more ideas for a name for your blog.  Even at blogspot and wordpress.com, you can find that your sub-domain name (domain name) may have been given to someone earlier, and again you will have to choose a different name.  If you’re based in the UK, then you may want to purchase a .co.uk domain or a .eu domain to signify that you are from the UK/Europe; however, you’re best to opt for the .com version of the domain you want to host your niche blog on, as you will want to – 1. allow everyone who visits your blog know that your blog is open to be read by anyone throughout the world, and 2. that the blog (and domain) can be sold at a later date, placing you in a better position in the future.  I have a range of .com, .net, .eu and .co.uk domains, the latter two types because some of my sites are specific to a particular geophraphical market.

Should a .com not be available for the domain name that you want then you should opt for a .net – it also has a ‘global appeal’ to visitors and search engines, and can have increase saleability in the future – yes, you are only starting off now and not thinking about selling the blog, but you will probably want to move on and sell the blog in a few years – after all, most of us don’t stay in the first house or apartment that we rent/buy all of our lives now do we?  Moving on/up in the world is a process you will have to plan and look forward to as you look into the future – even if you only ever have the one blog at a time.  Oh, one final point, don’t buy a .info domain – yes they’re cheap and a quick way to get on the web for a little amount – but, a lot of .info domains are associated with spammers and you don’t want google and other visitors to be on the defensive when they see your site, or visit, now do you? 

 

Where can I go to purchase a domain?

There are a lot of different companies all across the web that can provide you with a whole range of different domain names.  Many hosting service providers do allow you to buy domain names from them – you’ll need to decide on what their prices are against the one that I’m going to recommend.  I have a couple of hosting accounts with different providers, mainly because of the diverse portfolio of websites that I’m wanting to build in 2008/2009 – but, I’m digressing into the next newbie blog step of choosing a host for your blog.  So, where to buy a domain name: 

Godaddy.com have really great offer codes for domain names which means that you can get a .com domain for just over $7 (£3.50), not bad as I have seen some registrars wanting to charge me over £15 in the UK (yes, around $30 for a .com domain!), understandably I laughed at it, but who didn’t and just bought one anyway? – shame on them (the companies I mean).  If you’re wanting a domain for just above $7, then use the code OYH3 when you’re checking out at godaddy and it will reduce the price of the domain.  Now, buying the domain at this stage won’t enable protection of your registration information (name, address etc), so your details will show up on the Whois register.  This means that anyone who looks at the Whois register (which is public) has access to the information you submitted when you purchased the domain.  If you don’t want your details to show up then you will need to purchase the private registration upgrade, if you’re not bothered then go ahead and purchase without the cover.

You’ll receive details of the order by email, so you don’t need to remember your login and password at this stage – I suggest you use a totally different login and password for this account and print the email when it comes through as it will have the relevant details on. 

 

 

What to do now

You’ll need to choose one of the niches that you should have prepared in blog step two, where you were asked to choose two niche ideas.  If you haven’t, then you will need to go back and catch up, if you have then you should visit godaddy.com, or blogger, or wordpress and purchase your domain name or sub-domain.  Don’t forget to choose a .com or .net and keyword rich domain name for your blog. 

Once you’ve completed this blog step of choosing and registering a domain name, we will be moving forward next week and will be looking at different hosts and how to setup a hosting account.  If you liked this post, then don’t forget to subscribe to the RSS feed for newbie bloggers. 

 

 

 

 

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