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Where to Start
By admin | December 7, 2008
First, you will need your own domain name. Domain names cost about $20 per year to register and own, and have to be renewed before they expire or you risk losing it. Once you have a domain name and a website built, never let your domain registration expire. You can select to register your domain yearly, or even up to 10 years at once, whichever you prefer.
A domain name determines your web address, or your URL. The URL for the main page of this site is http://www.get-online-now.ca and the domain name is get-online-now.ca
Once you know which domain name you would like to have, you’ll have to search it online and see if it is available. Sometimes this can be quite frustrating because all the names you may want seem to be taken. You may find that your company name is already taken, and you’ll have to try different combinations of what you do want until you find something that is available.
It is best to search for a .com address as opposed to a .ca or .us address. A dot com address seems to be more recognized as being for business use and is the most recommended extension for sure. If you do find that every .com domain you want is gone already, you can try a .ca address as a second option, and you’ll find that there are alot more possibilities with that extension.
You don’t have to have someone else register a domain for you. This is a very simple process that anyone can do, and it will take only about five minutes. Finding an available domain that you want in the first place will probably be harder.
There are several places where you can search for available domains online, and some sites have useful features like domain suggestions where you can type in a keyword and it will list several possibilities. If you already know the name you want, go to http://www.look.ca and select the business section, and from there you can search for the name you want.
If you’re having trouble choosing a domain name and want the help of those online tools, go to http://www.whois.sc/members/. This site has alot of cool features that I’ve often used. You can see who owns any domain you search for, use the domain suggestion tools, create a list of those domain names that you want to watch, and they’ll even email you whenever any change happens… there’s all kinds of cool free features there if you want them.
For those people who want to eventually get their own website up but will not be doing it now for various reasons, I’d recommend that you at least start searching for the name you want now, and if you find it register it right away. This can be very handy to have for your business right now, even if you do not have a website yet. Once you own your own domain, with a small hosting plan you can create as many email addresses that you want to at yourdomain.com. We will cover this in more detail later.
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