How To Buy A Domain Name

by Glenn Fisher

I was setting up a new blog for another little project...

Keeping it super simple, I signed up for a new Wordpress blog.

That part is pretty easy and I’ve discussed it before in the bulletin.

(You can visit www.wordpress.com and select ‘Sign Up Now’ - it’s free and simple to set up.)

But having set up the blog, I wanted to give it a unique web domain... it’s own www.something?

I realised I’ve not covered this before. But buying your own web domain is something I know a lot of Shortcut readers have asked about.

People tend to think that purchasing your own domain and linking it to a website or blog you’ve already set up is a complicated and expensive business.

It’s not.

And even better: it’s dead easy.

Kick off 2010 with your own domain

So, there are a lot of registration companies out there on the web.

But they’re all pretty similar.

Personally, I use www.123-reg.co.uk , which I find decent. It’s easy and it’s cheap.

On the site, you’ll see there’s a box for you to enter a possible domain name.

Just now, I searched for ‘ham-sandwich’.

Doing so, it brings up a list of possible domain names.

You might have ham-sandwich.com, ham-sandwich.co.uk or ham-sandwich.info.

One or more of these might be taken. You’ll see a red cross next to it if this is the case.

So, if the one you want is taken, you need to rethink the domain name and search again.

But where there’s a green tick and a price - that means the website name is available.

You’ll see that the prices, in the main, are pretty reasonable. Generally, you’re looking somewhere between five and ten pounds for a year or two. I don’t think that’s too bad.

Once you’ve selected a domain, it’s just a case of adding it to your basket and then you just pay for it like you were buying a book on Amazon.

That bit is simple. The next bit we’re interested in is redirecting your new domain name to your blog or website...

Don’t worry; it’s not complicated in the slightest.

How to redirect your new domain name

You’ll see that there’s an option to click on to your ‘control panel’. Do that and you’ll and you’ll be taken to a screen with a load of options.

You can explore the various tools anytime. But first, where it says ‘your domains’ at the top of the screen: click on ‘manage’.

You’ll see another list of options. Now click on ‘Web Forwarding’.

Here, you want to tick the ‘Non-web framed forwarding’ button and below that simply enter the website name you want to redirect your new domain name to e.g. your wordpress blog.

And there you have it.

Now when you enter your new web domain into your browser it will automatically go to your site.

Pretty easy, right?

Essentially, it’s just three steps...

1. Search for a domain name.

2. Purchase the domain name.

3. Redirect the domain name to your website.

Who said setting up a website was difficult? Certainly nothing to worry about here!

So, if you’ve been looking to get your own unique domain name, go for it.

In fact, having a short and snappy domain name makes a lot of other things a lot easier...

It makes it easier to print your website name on adverts, posters, business cards, etc.

It makes it easier to ask other people to link to your website.

And it gives your website a more professional feel. Rather than people having to enter some long length of weird code, they just pop in your snappy domain name.

Give it a go and let me know how you get on.

Best Wishes,

Glenn Fisher
Editor
Shortcut Bulletin

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How To Buy A Domain Name

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