How to Set-up A Website Address Tutorial - aka Buying a Domain Name

Are you ready to take your business online? I don't mean online to your Facebook page! For thoughts on Facebook pages, see this post, Facebook is Not Your Company's Website. If you are ready to set up your company email and your own www.yourcompanyname.com web address, here's a quick tutorial to get started.

1. Brainstorm a Domain Name - The first thing to do is come up with a domain name, or URL, that you want. There are many options to choose from. It's possible www.yourcompanyname.com is taken or that your company's name is very long. Try to come up with something that will be easy for people to remember and that ties into your company name or what it does. There are also different top-level domains, such as ".com", ".net", ".info", and so on. I live in Maine and it's common to see websites ending with ".me", which is our state abbreviation.


2. Search Available Domain Names - Once you have a couple of name ideas, head over to Google Domains or Dreamhost to check if your choice is available. One of the most popular sites for domain names is GoDaddy, but I'm not a fan and would highly recommend Google or Dreamhost first. Even as a seasoned web developer, I find GoDaddy's interface confusing and maddening to navigate.

3. Buy your Domain Name - When you find a domain you like, step through the purchasing process. If your business has been in existence a long time and you plan on being in it for the long haul, I would recommend a 5 or 10 year period. Buying a domain name for a year may seem cost effective, but it can be easy to overlook renewal and find yourself without your domain a year down the road. Having to buy a new domain can be a big headache as you have to update all marketing materials, customers, and contacts.

4. Set up your email and website! Sounds easy, right? It is and in the next few posts, we will go over how to set up email and a website using Google Domains.



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