What Is A Domain Name?

Most people don’t even know what a domain name is when they begin. The domain name is the name of your site which points to the actual location of the site. Such as bigphone.net or, love.com. The full directory name would include http://www. You want your domain name to be unique, something people can remember, and relevant to the content of your site.

Domain names can be registered for fairly cheaply and it depends on availability. Many times when you choose a domain name it may be already being used. But all is not lost. You can come up with a variation. For instance if you were trying to register www.mydomain.com and find that it is not available you could try www.domainnames.com or another variation. If at all possible avoid domain names with hyphens or underscores. This just makes it harder to find your site and makes it harder to remember the name.

Domain Names Are Affordable

As I said a domain name can be acquired for very cheap. Most times no more than $10 per year. If you can afford it you should register your domain in as many directories as you can. What I mean is, don’t just register www.domainname.com, but also www.domainname.net, www.domainname.org, etc.This helps to eliminate traffic loss when people are trying to find your site. Example. My sister call me one day very excited that she had bought a cell phone from my site. However I showed no record that she had. As it turns out she had gone to BigPhone.com instead of BigPhone.net Had I owned both names I would not have missed my sister trying to support me.

Where To Register Your Domain Name

There are many places to register your domain name. Many companies deal in only domain registration. Others can help you register a domain at the same time you purchase web hosting. There are a few sites listed on the Web Hosting Page of this site so you can get an idea of what to expect. My personal favorite site is lowestdomainrates.com They provide all the tools you need to manage your domain name on the site.

When Should You Register A Domain Name?

You may want to register domain names if you are thinking about a new web site. It is good to get the domain name ahead of time. That way you know that you will have the name you want when it is time to get your web hosting set up.  Many people register their domain name when they purchase web hosting so that everything is set up at the same time. But to wait until this point to find your domain name could cause you to miss out on the domain name you really want.

The name you choose usually depends on the type of business you are in or the type of content you will be engaged in. To choose your domain name simply go to the site where you intend to purchase your domain name and use the search tool provided. Simply type in the domain name you want and click search. The tool will do a search to determine whether the name you have entered is available. If you name isn’t available try a variation. Keep trying until you come up with a domain name you are satisfied with.

Searching and Purchasing

Once you have found a name(s) that is available simply add item to your shopping cart and purchase. You will usually have the option to register for a year, or, 2 years. At this point you are ready begin building your web site. If you don’t have a lot of experience you can check some web building options on this site.

Get Your Domain Name Today At BigPhone

HTML And web building software

When it comes to building  a web site most people think along the lines of having to know html, web site builder software that will do the html for you, or, hiring someone to build a site for them. Even if you have never built a web site before it is possible to accomplish this amazing feat yourself.

First, if you are computer savvy and like the idea of learning html code, then building a web site will be no problem for you. A great way to go is with a software program like Dreamweaver. Even if you can program  with html it’s just easier to use a good program that will write good code for you.

Web Hosting Site Builder

There are also web hosting options that offer online web building software using pre designed templates. All you have to do is choose your template, insert your content and any images  you need and your are well on your way to a professional looking web site. There are some great options for this particular choice. Take a look at WebBizBuilder.com or WebMaxStudio.com.

Blogging

I think having your site a s a blog is the best way to go. It allows you to easily add content to your site without having to know a anything about html or any other coding. It helps to know a little coding though if you want to add  linked images and other stuff to you site.

If you just want to blog and put your thoughts online you could just join a blogging community like Wordpress.com or Blogger.com and create a blog. Once you get your blog up and running you can choose a template you like and you’re done. Simply begin adding content. You can write your articles and upload them at your convenience. This is of course free.  So you may be limited in what you can do with your blog. Wordpress keeps a watch on sites that are using affiliate links. On a free blog on wordpress you will be limited in this area.

Another option with blogging is to use blogging software. For instance, if you have purchased web space with a web hosting company you can download a content management software like wordpress (wordpress.org). This will allow you to operate your site like a blog. Since it is on your own server with your own domain name you can put anything on the site you  want. So if you have and affiliate site where you need to place affiliate links this is a great option. You can quickly add content keeping your website focused and fresh with new content.

Also with this option you have access to more template for your wordpress driven site than you would if you have a free blog on wordpress or blogger. You have the option to purchase templates and there are a multitude of free templates you can download on the web.

Launch You New Web Site With Affordable Pro Web Hosing!

Want to build a Website?

Some people would like to build a web site but don’t know where to start. First you have to have a computer. You would have to have a web design software unless you are able to use html and build it from scratch. And maybe a graphics software to create graphics for the site. Dream Weaver and Front Page are two examples of web design software you might use. Also, you might use Adobe photo shop or Macromedia fireworks to create graphics.

Get a domain name

Once you have created your web site you will need a domain name. A domain name (what your site will be called) can be difficult to acquire. This is because there are millions of web sites on the internet and finding an available domain name can be tough. Someone with the same idea that you have may have already registered the domain name you want. To start the process of getting your domain go to a site like  www.lowestdomainrates.com. There you will be able to run a search to see your domain name is available. It is relatively cheap to get a domain name. In most cases around $10 per year.

You need web hosting

Once you have  built your site (at least gotten started) the next step is web hosting. You will need to upload the site to the internet, but, where do you upload to?  A web host or server is  a computer on the internet where your site will be stored. Web Hosting is relatively cheap. In most case you can get your site hosted for under $100 a year. There are several choices for web host. Most host are basically the same and offer several options. If you intend to build a dynamic site, such as blog, you need to make sure the host you choose support php and sql, or, the mod_rewrite Apache module.

Upload Your Site

When you find a web host that you are satisfied with and your account has been set up you can upload your site. Setting up the account will entail setting up your login information, setting your web writing software to login to the server and transfer your files. This is called file transfer protocol (FTP). If your web writing software doesn’t support FTP, or, you are not using a web writing program, you will need to acquire an ftp program to upload your files.  In some cases web host companies have an upload client to upload your files. All of this is usually explained on your server’s web site. They will usually email you instructions to help get everything set up.

These are the basic steps to achieving your very own website. Good luck.

Launch You New Web Site With Affordable Pro Web Hosing!

Web Hosting Needs

Web hosting is a necessity if you are going to have a web site. It’s kind of like renting a storage space for your stuff. You have built your web site and now you need a place to store it. Web host are exactly what it sounds like. The company will host your web site on their servers for a small cost. You can find a good host for under $100 a year.

Free Web Hosting and the Downsides

There is the option of free web hosting but there are downsides. The main downfall of free hosting is that you don’t have your own domain. Say you have space on geocities.com, which is a web community on Yahoo that offers you free space to build a site. You’d like to name your website “babyworld”. Well on geocities your site would be found at:  www.geocities.com/babyworld/.

If this is a site you’d like to use as a business site it will be harder for your customers to find you. Especially if they are using a search engines. However, if you are on a web host, you can have your own domain name. Then your customer could find you at www.babyworld.com instead of www.geocites.com/babyworld.

One of the other downfalls of free hosting is the advertisements. Number 1 this clutters your site with banners and links that you didn’t intend. Basically the free web host is designed to have people join, write content, and then the company that owns the site run advertisements based on the content you have written. So you are helping them make money by provide content to their site.

Why You Should Pay For Web Hosting

Ideally having your own web hosting gives you the ability to have your own domain and domain name. Also FTP file transfer allows you to connect to the server and upload your files quickly. With a Web Host you get more space for when your site increases. Hosting companies offer some extras such as plug-ins for form mail, scripts for java applets and more.

Launch Your New Web Site With Affordable Pro Web Hosting!