How to choose and register domain names

Domain names are those strings of words you enter when you want to view a website. For instance, to find this site, you enter http://www.website-building-4-newbies.com. That full string of characters and words is the website address.

The part without the "http://" or the "www." is website-building-4-newbies.com and that is the domain name for this site.

You'll be taking three steps:

• First, come up with some good name ideas;
• Next, check their availability until you find one that hasn't been snatched up yet;
• Last, Register it.

Choosing a good name can be tricky. Ideally, it should be short, while letting people know what your site is about. This isn't necessary, but it can be helpful.

After all that, you're likely to find your first choice is taken. So you should come up with a few options. Find out more here:

Tips on choosing domain names

Once you've got a few good choices, you'll check their availability. You need to be very careful when you do this, because of an unethical practice called "front running."

Learn more about safely checking a name's availability here.

A number of sites offer domain registration. You should consider a few points before you make that choice. So after you've read the first two articles, be sure to visit:

Choosing a domain registrar