1. Domain Name

The domain name is what comes after the “www.”  and is at the end of your email address (<your-name>@<domain-name>).  When beginning your presence on the internet, it’s best to register your domain name as soon as you decide on a hosting company before anyone else takes the name. 

The domain name is what comes after the “www.”  and is at the end of your email address (<your-name>@<domain-name>).  When beginning your presence on the internet, it’s best to register your domain name as soon as you decide on a hosting company before anyone else takes the name. 

While you can get your domain name from any registrar, one-stop shopping from your hosting company will make your life easier. 

If you already have your domain name, you can forward it to a your site at a different location or transfer it. 

In selecting the actual domain name, you might find that many of your ideas are either in use or “parked.”  Parking a domain name means someone reserves the name with the likely intention of selling it to someone who wants to actually use it for their site.  In this situation, you would pay the person to be able to get the domain name (and paying the registration charges for the name). 

In selecting the name, you might also want to check similar names.  For example, if your site is going to be www.industrywebhost.com, you may want to check what site is www.industrywebhost.com.  If someone mistypes your name, do you want them getting to the other site? 

TIP 1:  some companies register the name of their site, similar site names (in case someone mistypes), and the various extensions (com, net, biz, etc).  Recommendations differ.  Something to consider is if you receive an email address without one of the extensions, what do you assume it is?  Probably .com.

TIP 2:  when getting a domain name from a company, be sure you own it and can transfer it to someone else down the road.  Some hosting companies use this tactic to trap people into staying their customer.