SEO - Picking A Domain Name, Registration And Hosting

Picking a domain name is very important for your commercial website and you must do it very carefully as it contributes to your progress when your website grows. You must have some basic knowledge on branding and then choose a domain name which is highly brandable. Simply it means that it should give an impression about the product or service that you are going to market. It is better if you can have a short and memorable name if possible. Because it will be a successful approach if you plan to design a long running website. It is also a good approach if you can find a domain name which has your best key words. (I will explain you about key words in the coming posts). Always make sure that you have selected and reserved a domain name before you start on the development of the website and it is more convenient and time saving if you buy the domain name from your web hosting service as many services provide a free domain name if you buy a hosting package. Ex. Godaddy dot com, dreamhost dot com (where my website is hosted). This will also save time and money on domain transferring.

When registering your domain name, make sure that you register it with an ICANN certified registrar. Always try to buy a .com domain. If not possible try for a .net or .org domain. And there are many new domains like .biz, .tv, .asia available too. Non .com domain is better than a less memorable, less branding and longer .com domain. If you plan your business for a specific country like France, always try to reserve a domain name specific to that country like .com.fr or .fr .

After you choose a domain name and reserved it, Host it with a reliable web hosting company like dreamhost dot com or godaddy dot com. There are many hosting service providers for cheap prices but most of them are not reliable. You don't have to worry about the price as long as you plan to start a commercial and longer running website as the payment amount for your hosting will be very small compared to the profits you gain from the website if you market it correctly. And always remember that to launch your website when it is fully completed. I see many "under construction" launched sites. This will definitely not make a positive attitude with your future customers. And if you plan to make a dynamic website (which shows dynamic content specific to a customer after some processing), make sure that your web hosting service provides the technology support in your hosting package. For an example, if you are using PHP as the programming language for your dynamic website, your hosting service must provide PHP support in your hosting package. This is also same for the database if you are using them (ex. MySQL, Oracle).

I hope that you learned some important tips on how to select a domain name, reserve it and host it, from this post. In the next article, I will explain how to plan your website design and the areas that you must concern in developing your website.