How to Get Your Own Domain Name - a Beginners Guide to Earning Money Online Part I

So you want to learn how to get your own domain name? It's not surprising as in this age of technology, everyone either has or wants to own their own website. In order to have your own website you first must have your own domain name and hosting account.

Please do not think it's something that you cannot accomplish, there are even young children who have learned and constructed their own websites and some even earn money from their sites. If a kid can do it, anyone can do it. It's not as hard as many may think. With my how to get your own domain name guide it will be a snap!

You can get your own domain name for a mere $15 or less a year depending on what company you register it through and hosting for a starter site cost about $5 per month. There is no need to pay more than $15/year for a domain name unless you are paying extra to have your personal information protected through their service.

There are a domain registration companies that will give you a free domain name IF you use them for your hosting. STOP! Most likely in their terms and conditions it will say they retain ownership of that domain and it is never actually yours. You do not want to work on a site building traffic and search engine rankings, only to find out when you want to move it because of poor service and/or too much downtime, that they are the actual owners of YOUR site. I highly recommend registering your own domain name.

Grab a piece of paper and a pen and get ready to take some notes.

How To Get Your Own Domain Name Step 1: Take some time and decide what you want your site topic to be about.

Do you want your site to just be a personal site with information about your likes and dislikes, where you're from and your interests and favorite links? If so, write down some variations of your name.

For instance if your name is John Smith, you could write down:

Johnsmith.com

JohnS.com

Johnssite.com

See where I am going with this? Now the names I am using as examples above are very popular names for people and you are not likely to find a domain name available for the name John Smith, called johnsmith.com. However you can include the initial of your middle name or something like JohnSmithsSite.com or JSmithsZone.com.

It is always best to have a .com domain rather than a .net or. info and to use two or three words as one long word like JohnSmith or JohnSmithsPlace before the .com extension. You do have the option of using hyphens in your domain name choice but I do not recommend it until you've racked your brains for at least a week and just cannot find any other domain names that are suitable for you. If that is the case you could try something like John-Smiths-Pad.com. There are specific reasons behind these strategies.

If your site starts to become popular with surfers, you can then start selling advertising space or promoting affiliate programs that pay you a percent of each sale made through a special link they give you to add to your site. Paying advertisers learn more towards sites that have an easy to remember domain name with the .com extension.

Do you have a love or passion for a certain subject like muscle cars or gardening?

If you want to build a site focused on a very tight subject, you will want your domain name to reflect this subject such as musclecarsflex.com or mydreamgarden.com.

Or do you want to build a huge portal of sites that link to a bunch of different topics on your domain name? If so you could do like me and pick a domain similar to my domain name like helpbyrhonda.com. So if your name was Joe you could have tipsfromjoe.com or tipsbyjoe.com. Or you may decide picking a more generic domain name is better for example: allaboutstuff.com or allyouranswers.com.

You may even want to start a site to sell a product, which you make yourself such as crafts or paintings. If this is the case something like SuziesCrafts.com or JohnsOils.com are good ideas to start with. By using your first name and an easy to remember word between it and the .com, your domain name and website will seem personal and friendly to potential customers and the second word describes exactly what your site is about. You can even get more creative and have your domain name spell your topic like CraftsBySuzie.com or OilPaintingsFromJohn.com.

How To Get Your Own Domain Name Step 2: Choosing a domain registration service

Avoid godaddy at all costs; they have way too many issues with their security and people stealing other people's domain names. I haven't had that issue myself because I never had a domain registered through godaddy, however not a week has gone by in years, that I do not see a post about their security issues.

I will not even recommend the domain registration service I use for the beginner because it cost $12/year and it's for resellers or people who want to have multiple domain names and manage them all from one control panel. The one I use is much more complex in nature than the others.

The domain registration service I see recommended all the time on message forums is namecheap.com. I cannot vouch for their service, as I have never used them. All you need to do is narrow down your list to 20 or so domain names that acceptable to you and suitable for the type of site you want to create, click on their Bulk Domain Search link and paste your list of domain ideas into it. Their site will then give you an answer on what is already taken and if any of your choices are available.

How To Get Your Own Domain Name Step 3: Registering Your Own Domain Name

If one of the domain names you desire is available just follow their instructions on how to complete your transaction and the domain name is yours.

Of course you can ask around for other domain registration services or visit message forums and see what service is most recommended, you do not have to use namecheap, it was just a suggestion to get you started. You can use their Bulk Name Search and you are not obligated to then register a domain through their company. So if you want to jump right into searching for that special domain name that just seems appropriate to you, use their search while you research other domain registration services.

I hope you found the answer to your questions on how to get your own domain name and watch for part II where I will show you how to obtain a hosting account.

I plan to make this a step-by-step guide from domain registration to setting up your site to learning how to earn money from your site for supplemental income and then on to quitting your job and working from home in your pajamas.

Yes it can be done and can potentially bring in a lot more income than your currently making.

And this process all starts by getting your own domain name!