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When it comes to creating a website, there is research that needs to be done first when choosing a blog domain name. If you want your business name and domain name to be the same, make sure you look into this upon starting your business.
Beginner’s Guide to Choosing a Domain Name
If you can, it is best to choose a domain name that relates to your topic or niche. Finding your niche is important before starting your blog. What are you passionate and knowledgeable about? I always say, niche down as much as possible. If your niche is broad such as “healthy living”, be sure to categorize your blog into sub topics such as healthy recipes, healthy skin care, healthy baby products, etc., for example.
As mentioned above, if this is a website for your business, make sure some form of your business name can be included in the domain name. This might mean having a .net website instead of a .com, for example.
If you ever plan to change your niche or rebrand your website down the road, this is something to consider also. I always find a shorter and easy to read domain name looks better, but again, it is all up to you!
In researching your domain name, you might also want to check social media sites to see if anyone uses that name already. When possible, it is best to have the same name across all platforms.
Buying a Domain Name
To make it official, you need to buy your domain name. This is more or less the registration of your website. There are many ways you can go about buying your domain, but I have my favorites I am going to share:
Namecheap
Namecheap (This is an affiliate link, which means I make a small commission on sales generated through such links) is the best place to find affordable domain names at the best prices. They show you related domain names if the one you want is already taken. Namecheap offers WhoisGuard for free (forever) when you purchase a domain through Namecheap. This security service helps keep your domain safe, which is extremely important these days.
To keep your website up and running, you need it to be hosted on a monthly basis. Namecheap offers monthly hosting services for as low as $2.88/month. This is the most affordable option I have seen so far.
WordPress
WordPress (This is an affiliate link, which means I make a small commission on sales generated through such links) offers really nice all-in-one website services from beginning to end. From choosing a domain name for your blog to hosting your website online, WordPress makes it really easy to manage it all. Their monthly service plans start at $5/month. This is still really affordable and probably a better option for beginners.
With WordPress, you have everything all in one place and that is super convenient. They are SEO friendly too!
Once you have your domain name purchased, you will need to host your new website. Hosting is what keeps your website up and running on the internet. This is usually a monthly service such as bluehost (This is an affiliate link, which means I make a small commission on sales generated through such links). Once it is successfully hosted on the internet, now it is time to start creating content and learning how to use WordPress.