Guide to Getting a Domain Name and Hosting Account: For Beginners

If you are a beginner Internet Marketer, then you probably find all the terms in Internet language quite intimidating and maybe even scary (e.g. Domain Name, Hosting, etc.). Getting a Domain Name and Hosting Account? But this should not be the case as Internet terms are quite easy to understand once you get used to it. It may seem awkward at first; but with proper exposure to these terms, you’ll get familiar with them eventually.

Domain Name Explained

As an Internet Marketer, you need to have a website. But in order to have one, you’ll have to get a domain name first. A domain name is just that term after the WWW on a site’s address. So for example, in the case of Facebook, its domain name is www.Facebook.com. And for Twitter, it’s www.Twitter.com.

Now that you have an idea on what a domain name is, it’s time to come up with your own. But then, you should be careful about choosing a domain name like Facebook and Twitter as these are not typical domain names. The success of both websites can be linked to other factors, not just their domain names. So it is highly suggested that you stay away from such types of names if these are not related to your niche.

Also Read: Art of Domaining

Choose a Keyword-Rich Domain Name

More often than not, you would want to have a keyword-rich domain name. This will make it easier to rank on the search engines as people will be typing in keywords when looking for topics. Having the wrong type of keywords on your domain name can therefore mean low traffic. And if you are specifically targeting sales, then your potential customers will not be as high.

There’s a lot of talk about Exact Match Domains or EMD. Some favor it and some try to avoid it. This will depend on your approach as you can get penalized for an exact domain name if you use it improperly. If all your posts are just aimed at pleasing the search engines through keywords stuffing, then an exact domain match may work against you. But if you put in valuable contents to your site and update it regularly, then an EMD can work perfectly as it will be user-friendly and SEO-friendly as well.

Also Read: Secure Your Online Business Get that Domain Name!

Website Hosting

You can’t run a site without hosting, so you will need to get a hosting account too. You can compare prices from hosting sites like Hostgator, BlueHost, DreamHost, etc. If you think you’ll be in the Internet Marketing business for a long time, then a yearly renewal is more advisable than monthly renewal as you can save money this way. It is also more practical to get the unlimited hosting account so that you can add several domain names to your account at no additional cost.

With your domain name pointing to your hosting account, you can now set up your first website. And hopefully, this is just the first of the many sites that you will be building as your business starts to expand.