How to Register a Domain Name in 3 Easy Steps
If the thought of going through the process to purchase a domain is mind boggling to you, worry no more - I've simplified the process to register a domain name down to three simple steps.
1.
Choose your domain name.
Now this would seem obvious and easy, but in fact, this is the most crucial part of the whole process and you need to do quite a bit of research in this phase of the things.
If you already have an established business or brand, then you will, of course, try to obtain that domain name in the .
com version if at all possible.
If you are starting a new business, or perhaps setting up a site for a niche affiliate mini-site, then I suggest choosing a name based around a specific targeted keyword phrase.
Do some keyword research* and find a long-tail keyword phrase (3 or more words long is considered long-tail) and find a phrase that gets a decent amount of searches per day* and would lend itself well into a domain name for your new business and/or niche affiliate web site.
Once you have selected a domain name, you're ready to move on to step two.
*How do you do keyword research? I recommend using these two free keyword tools: 'Google AdWords Keyword Tool' and 'Keyword Tracker Keyword Suggestion Tool'.
Put those two phrases in Google to find them.
*What's a decent number of searches per day? You want enough to get some decent traffic, so at least 100-200 searches for that phrase per day or more, but if it's a keyword that's getting 1,000 or more - it could also have a lot of competition and be tough to rank well for.
So check that phrase in Google and see what sites come up.
Competition isn't necessarily bad - but the bigger and tougher the competition for that phrase, the longer it could take you to rank for the phrase.
2.
Choose a domain name registrar.
Do not necessarily look for the cheapest domain name registry you can find, because as they saying goes 'you get what you pay for', this holds true for domain name registration as well.
In my personal experience I have found GoDaddy to be reasonably priced and their service to be good (I only recommend them for domain name registration - nothing else); but another highly recommended domain registrar is Name Cheap.
So there's two that are both reasonably priced with good customer service records to help you on your way to choosing a registrar.
I'm sure there are many others, but you should expect to pay about $10 per year to register a domain name.
You can often find coupon codes to save a little, but $10 per year is about average cost for a .
com or .
net domain name.
Once you've selected your registrar, register an account with them.
This is usually a very simple, straight forward process of filing in the blanks on a web form with your name, address and so on.
3.
Register your chosen domain name.
Every domain registrar is slightly different, but somewhere on their home page should be a place for you to enter in your desired domain to check its availability, the resulting page will let you know if it is indeed available to register - if so, add it to the cart and complete the process to register the domain.
Again, this is usually a matter of filling out your name and personal information.
The only extra features I might recommend during a domain name registration is Privacy.
This allows for your personal information like your name, address and such to be kept private to keep spammers from gaining access to this information.
This feature does cost extra, but I do feel it's worth the extra free.
1.
Choose your domain name.
Now this would seem obvious and easy, but in fact, this is the most crucial part of the whole process and you need to do quite a bit of research in this phase of the things.
If you already have an established business or brand, then you will, of course, try to obtain that domain name in the .
com version if at all possible.
If you are starting a new business, or perhaps setting up a site for a niche affiliate mini-site, then I suggest choosing a name based around a specific targeted keyword phrase.
Do some keyword research* and find a long-tail keyword phrase (3 or more words long is considered long-tail) and find a phrase that gets a decent amount of searches per day* and would lend itself well into a domain name for your new business and/or niche affiliate web site.
Once you have selected a domain name, you're ready to move on to step two.
*How do you do keyword research? I recommend using these two free keyword tools: 'Google AdWords Keyword Tool' and 'Keyword Tracker Keyword Suggestion Tool'.
Put those two phrases in Google to find them.
*What's a decent number of searches per day? You want enough to get some decent traffic, so at least 100-200 searches for that phrase per day or more, but if it's a keyword that's getting 1,000 or more - it could also have a lot of competition and be tough to rank well for.
So check that phrase in Google and see what sites come up.
Competition isn't necessarily bad - but the bigger and tougher the competition for that phrase, the longer it could take you to rank for the phrase.
2.
Choose a domain name registrar.
Do not necessarily look for the cheapest domain name registry you can find, because as they saying goes 'you get what you pay for', this holds true for domain name registration as well.
In my personal experience I have found GoDaddy to be reasonably priced and their service to be good (I only recommend them for domain name registration - nothing else); but another highly recommended domain registrar is Name Cheap.
So there's two that are both reasonably priced with good customer service records to help you on your way to choosing a registrar.
I'm sure there are many others, but you should expect to pay about $10 per year to register a domain name.
You can often find coupon codes to save a little, but $10 per year is about average cost for a .
com or .
net domain name.
Once you've selected your registrar, register an account with them.
This is usually a very simple, straight forward process of filing in the blanks on a web form with your name, address and so on.
3.
Register your chosen domain name.
Every domain registrar is slightly different, but somewhere on their home page should be a place for you to enter in your desired domain to check its availability, the resulting page will let you know if it is indeed available to register - if so, add it to the cart and complete the process to register the domain.
Again, this is usually a matter of filling out your name and personal information.
The only extra features I might recommend during a domain name registration is Privacy.
This allows for your personal information like your name, address and such to be kept private to keep spammers from gaining access to this information.
This feature does cost extra, but I do feel it's worth the extra free.
Source...