7 simple tips for choosing your domain name.

1. Short and catchy, it's got to be memorable and easy to spell! If people struggle to say your name it's never going to work!
2. Try not to be too similar to another domain name. Create your own brand rather than copy another if you can.
3. Think of what people are typing into the search engines for rather than using your business name. Garythepainter.com will only attract people who know of his business whereas paisleypainterdecorator.co.uk may actually help Gary be found.
4. Dotcom? .com is the best know domain, but if you are trading in a specific country then there are great alternatives such as .co.uk and now even .uk or .scot.
5. Research it. Make sure you are not using a domain name which is trademarked or copyrighted by another business, you don't want to get into a legal mess. myowncocacola.com may be available, but not necessarily a wise choice!
6. Most single words are already taken on the .coms and many other extensions, so get creative. Try adding to words together like YouTube or messing with words like fiverr and flickr have done.
7. Try to avoid numbers. If you must have numbers in the name you should secure both the numeral 7-up.com and spelled out sevenup.com, although, we all know 7-up but you get my point (I hope!)

Tools to help you find your ideal domain name

LeanDomainSearch

Bust A Name

Domainr

namestation

DomainTyper

 

How to get your ideal domain name

Okay, so you have chosen your ideal domain name and found that it is available, now we need to buy it. There are many domain registrars out there who will be willing to sell you the name you want and it's all very easy. One of the registrars I use 123-reg.co.uk which is great if you are in the UK. Just click on the link, type in your domain name and follow the instructions and you will be guided through the payment process in a matter of minutes. It's all very easy and takes very little time to do.

Changing the Nameservers

Now that you have secured the domain name of choice you will have to change the nameservers with the registrar to point to your hosting account. This sounds a lot more complex than it really is. Just login to your cPanel via your hosting provider and find out what the nameservers are.

On HostGator they have them shown on the left hand side about half way down the page. There should be 2 nameservers listed which will look very similar with only the numbers which will be different.

Copy these to your notepad and login to your registrar account and go to manage domains, then to change nameservers. Simply paste in the nameservers from the hosting provider and save.

It may take up to 48 hours for the site to update although in my experience it's usually done very quickly and ready to go in a 1-3 hours.

After you have changed the nameservers you will want to be installing WordPress to your site which I have shown how to do here.

 

Good Luck!

David