A Guide on Domain Name Registration

Choosing a domain name for your website is both important and tricky. Domain name is the brand name of your website and must be selected carefully. Here is the listing on what you must do before registering the domain name.

As you know domain name is unique address of starting point (home page) of your website. Most of the visitors come to your website either by typing your domain name in web browser address bar or through search engine results.

There are several extensions available for domain names like .com, .org, .net, .info, .biz, .in, .us, .edu, .tv, etc. You should first try with .com, as this is the most popular extension of a domain name. If it is not available, you may like to rethink the name or go with other available extensions.

It is a good idea to include top keywords in your domain name but you should also try to keep it short and easy to remember. Including top keyword in your domain name helps your site appear with higher rank in search engine results with that keyword. It also gives a fair idea about the contents of your website to your potential visitors.

Your domain name ideally should:

1. contain your top keyword or phrase
2. be short(less than 4 words combination)
3. easy to remember
4. not include any special character (my recommendation)
5. have extension .com, .org or .net (where possible)
6. be creative
7. not have any spelling mistake
8. easily readable

I know its not going to be easy ensuring all the above points, but you need to do a proper balancing. You may like to look at the domain names used by your competitors for getting some nice idea.

Domain name registration

Now you have the idea on how you should choose your domain name, let’s know how to actually register it. There are several domain name registrars available who offer domain name availability search and registration. While choosing the right domain name registrar, you should compare the following:

1. The domain name registration prices
2. Their market reputation
3. The ease of setting up the domain name
4. Additional cost of keeping your domain name private
5. Domain name forwarding facility
6. Service promptness

Almost all domain name registrars offer the similar services today, so you should consider going for cheaper option. I personally recommend going for GoDaddy.com which is the world's No. 1 ICANN-accredited domain name registrar. Their registration prices are very reasonable and they have 24x7 support available with all these features. They also provide suggestions for good domain name.

While searching for domain names, you may feel that the domain names of your choice have already been registered. Be creative, there is no dearth of good domain names as thousands are getting registered every day! Once you have actually registered the domain name, it may take about 24 hours for getting it live on the internet. However, in many cases, it may happen within minutes. You will get a confirmation email from the registrar once the process is completed with the details to set up your domain.

Step by step guide for domain name registration with screenshots
This is the second step on how to build your website. I hope now you can choose a good domain name for your website.