Do you want to start an internet business to make money online or are you intersted in sharing your ideas and thoughts with the world?  There are free websites out there that you can use to blog or share your opinion, but nothing is more professional than having your own domain name. 

For many people who want to buy a domain name, they wonder where to even start.  We see commercials all the time promoting domain servers, but which ones will work with your needs?  This page is dedicated in helping you know what services to look for when buying a domain.

Domain names are simply an address to your business. People who want to find you can get to you by typing in your domain name into their web browser. The way you name your domain name is very important. For example, if your company name is Burts Cabinets, try and find a domain that says burtscabinets.com. Try to stay away from .net or .org's as these are not as popular and most people automatically think a .com follows. Often the exact domain will be taken that you want, but you can modify it. For example, burtscabinetsdeals.com might be available is burtscabinets.com is taken. It is VERY important to have the name somewhere in the domain even if you have to add a word in front of or behind the main keyword or name.

The main reason for having your name in the domain name is that it makes it easier for a search engine to index and associate content with your website because it matches your domain name. Too many people make up weird domain names that have nothing to do with their business. This will hurt your chances of getting indexed and will kill any chance you will have of getting real traffic to your site.

There are several domain registering services out there. Godaddy, namecheap, yahoo, and many other providers out there specialize in registering domains.

COSTS

• .com are usually about $9 per year.
• .net is usually $4.99 per year
• .tv, .info, etc can be anywhere from $1.99 a year

But who should you use?  First of all know what you need.  What i mean by this is do you need a host to host your actual website or are you hosting your own website on your own server.  If you are hosting your own server what kind of internet connection do you have?  Are you using qwest, comcast, or satellite Internet?

These questions are important because often times if you need someone else to host the website for you they can usually offer you a package deal and help you save some money if you buy the domain with them and host with the same company. 

If you are planning on hosting your own website with your own server, you need to be very careful of who you pay to host your domain name.  The reason for this is that unless you have a static ip address, which most Internet providers to not give out without charging you extra, your IP address is dynamic and changes sometimes a couple times a day.  Namecheap has a dynamic DNS option which will automatically update your domain name with the ip of your sever so you can ensure up time.  If your ip address changes and your domain host is not notified your website will not be live.  Godaddy for example does NOT have a dynamic DNS setting.  Make sure if you are hosting your own website to use a company that offers a dynamic DNS setting.

 Make sure the host that you pay to host your domain and register is has an EASY to use control panel.  Namecheap and godaddy have very easy to use domain control panels which is great because often most people don't understand all the back end work of a domain and really don't ever want to know.  Pick a domain register service that is user friendly and that has good customer service to help you if you run into snags.

Here are the top two domain registry hosts that we would suggest that i have personally used for most of my domain names.