This tutorial is simply showing you how you can get a website up and running hassle free. Without knowing why you want a website, or for what purpose, I wont be going into any advance strategies on building a website to achieve a specific goal. Not in this tutorial anyway, just so we’re clear.
So, you want to start the fun stuff and get you a slick looking website? Let’s get going then…
Step One: Getting your website domain name
You don’t technically need a domain name (www.yourdomainname.com) to get a website. You can chose a free hosting option without a domain name. But having your own website is better for branding and it makes your web address easier for people to remember.
Now often for me coming up with a good domain name that’s available is the hard part. Most .com domain names have been snatched up by now. But their are several places you can search for available domain names, but one cool place is http://nameboy.com. It will search for .com .net .org .info and more. Plus if the domain you want is taken it will make suggestions based on the words you enter.
When picking a domain name, think of who you want to find your website. What search would they enter into Google to find you? If your domain name has those search terms, known as keywords, then you stand a better chance of your website being found in the search engine results.
*Tip – Do you run a local business? If you want local people to find you online then you might consider choosing a local based domain name. Every country in the world has a two-letter domain allocated to it. In Australia it’s .com.au, the UK, it’s .uk.
These country code domains are very popular and for some businesses add an extra layer of credibility. In fact, for European and Asian countries, the country code domain is often more popular than generic domains such as .com.
If you want to find a .com.au Australian domain check out: netregistry.com.au. You will need an ABN or ACN number to register a .com.au domain though.
I actually recommend keeping your domain name provider and your hosting supplier separate. But in order to to keep this tutorial simple, we will register both with the same supplier and will stick with a .com address. Once you do it this way you can always follow much the same steps again with a country specific domain.
