While it’s easy to think of choosing a domain name and acquiring a web host as the last steps of building your site, they should really be among your first. That way, you’ll be able to completely define your site (Chapter 2) at the beginning of the development process and you’ll be able to upload and test your pages as you develop them (rather than discovering problems at the end of the process).
In this chapter, I’ll discuss the process of registering a domain name, which is basically the address where your website will live online (such as DWcourse.com). In my next post, Purchasing and Configuring Web Hosting (HostGator), I’ll cover the process of choosing a company to host your website and configuring your domain servers.
Domain Names
In the beginning of the Internet era, domain names were available through only one company (Network Solutions) and were relatively expensive to register ($70 for two years). These days, you can register domains with a variety of companies and, depending on the company, expect to pay about $10 to $15 per year.
Based upon my personal experience and the advice of several web professionals, I recommend registering your domains through GoDaddy
. They’re a reliable registrar, and are currently offering .com domains for less than $10 per year.
So, let's get started…
