Every great website starts with a great domain – so lets get you one!
The good news about starting a blog is that setting up a website is easier than ever.
The bad news is that since the internet has been around for 20+ years, a lot of the good domain names have been taken. That said – there are still plenty of good names out there.
To use an analogy, hosting is like a plot of land – it’s the physical space where you put files and build things on the internet.Domain names are the address – it’s how people find what you built.
You do have a few choices when it comes to domains:
If you can, get a .com domain – they’re the most valuable & respected domain names out there. Every major site out there you’re familiar with has a .com – google.com, yahoo.com, facebook.com, instagram.com, etc.
If you can’t get this, a .net domain works well (and is often used by older technology companies). In the past few years, the .co extension has gained quite a bit of popularity as well – specifically within in the startup community (see startups.co). If you have a specific use in mind for your blog, a .tv domain is popular for media sites (see startablog.com) and if you’re planning on using your blog for personal uses, you can consider a .me domain.
If you have a non-profit organization, you can consider using the .org domain, but this is traditionally just for non-profits.
Once you’re sure what your want your domain to be, follow these steps.
How To Buy A Domain Name: Step by Step
- Go to Uniregistry
2.Type in the domain name you want.
3.Uniregistry will show you the domains available.
Note: Uniregistry also sells lots of other TLDs (top level domains). These are alternatives to .com – so you’ll see things like .click, .link, .site and .xyz. If your domain is taken (think abc.com), it might b wise to use abc.site instead, but unless your domain is in high demand, it’s probably best to just use the .com. Paul Graham – a famous startup investor – says that if you don’t have the .com – you might as well change your entire name.
4. Add to cart
5. Checkout
Bonus: on the checkout page, you can choose their free privacy setting. This is a great option & can help with spammers scraping your contact information and throwing it around the web.
Once you’ve bought the domain, you can go ahead & set it up with Bluehost in our next video.
