So you want to start a website? To start your website you will need an address for people to know where to find you. Each website must have a unique domain name registered with a authorized registrar.  When the web first started there was only one company called Internic that you could register your domain name with. Now that the web has been around for some time there are hundreds of companys you can use. Network Solutions maintains the main database for all of the domain names but there are expensive to use. Some domain registrars charge as little as $6.95 per year for your domain name while other registrars charge as much as $35 usd per year for the exact service.

So your next question is why pay 35.00 a year when I can pay 6.95? Network Solutions charges $35 a year because they keep track of the database and their resellers charge a fraction of that price. No one knows or cares as long as the company you register with is a repuatble company you are getting the same service! Some domain registrars give you free stuff with the purchase of your domain name, such as GoDaddy.com one of the biggest registrars give you lots of free extras with each registration and they have sales selling domains for as low as 1.99 per .com domain!

BE CAREFUL - be careful who you pick to host your website. A free domain name for a year isn't worth beans if your hosting company is crap and your website is down more than it's up. You can't make money if your site is unavailable. WestHost.com is a very reliable web hosting company with web hosting plans starting at $3.95 per/mo.

Domain names generally consists of two parts. In yourdomain.com, the .com is called the top level domain. Other top level domains are .com, .net, .edu, .org . 'Yourdomain' is the unique name or second level domain.
Depending what country you live in you may use your countries domain top level domain. Take Canada for instance .ca is Canada's top level domain, or for England you would use .co.uk, Italy is .it.

.Common Top Level Domains
com = commercial .net = network .edu = educational .org = organization

How do I choose a domain name?

The maximum allowed size of a domain name is 63 characters, but keep the name as short a possible. That's easier to type and remember. Very few of your customers will every remember a name that is really long. Do you really think that anyone would remember www.GreatAppliancesCheapSaleTodayToastersFridgesStovesWashersDryers.com? Forget fitting it on a business card.
Use Alou's free software " DOMAIN NAME ANALYZER ". Directly type in all the names you want to try in one go

A name you can remember! Names with special characters like hyphens and underbars are harder to describe to customers. Visitors aren't as used to them either and you may send customers to your competitors if they have similar names without special characters! The last thing you want to do. Use your company name or a description of your product. If the name you want is gone try adding prefixes or suffixes to the name.

Domain name registration is paid on a yearly basis. It's a totally separate charge from your web hosting charge.Choose the autorenewal option if it's available. Your domain name will not expire if you forget to renew it, the charge is automatically billed to you. If your domain name expires, it's free for anyone else to register so do not let it expire folks !

To view a record of your domain name, go to www.networksolutions.com and use their free WHOIS utility which is located in the bottom left corner. Simply enter your domain name and click Search. You'll see the complete record of your domain name, where it's registered and where your website is hosted.

When you register your shiny new domain name you'll have to the option of making it a private registration. I highly recommend paying the additional fee to make your information private. If you leave your registration public anyone can look up your domain information which includes your home or business address and your email address. Many spammers scan public domain registration records to find valid email addresses to spam.

Tip: www.GoDaddy.com has low cost private registration. Order 3 or more domains & get free right now.

The other thing you must do is always make sure your domain record remains locked. When you want to transfer your domain name to a different registrar you must unlock it. No one else can transfer or steal your domain name without you knowing about it.

Tip: Always keep your Whois domain information up-to-date. When you go to unlock your domain or do anything else important with it the email always goes to the email address listed in your whois. You can't get your notice to transfer if your email address is not vailid.

About the author:
Anne Laidlaw is the owner of Alou Web Design, that provides low cost web design, web site marketing solutions and eBay seller Tools.
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