Once you’ve selected the right theme for your new site you’re going to need to pick a domain name and lock it down so no once else gets it before you do.

First step is picking the domain you want to write under. Lots of options to consider, so let’s go: 1) Make it relevant. 2) Keep it short. 3) Consider the .com/.net.

1) Making it relevant will help in search engine rankings especially if the word(s) you’re targeting is in the domain. If you’re writing about Flux Capacitors then consider working that into your url, like fluxcapacitorguru.com (which is actually available at the time of publishing if you so happen to be a master of time travel and want to write about it).

2) At the same time, be careful not to let your domain stretch on forever to make that happen. A site name of universalguidetoallthingsfluxcapacitor.com will be quickly forgotten. Keep it brief and easy to remember.

3) Way back when TLDs (top-level domains: .com, .net. etc) were intended to designate a commercial business (.com), a personal site (.net), an organization or group (.org), and so on. Well that all went out the window so when you’re considering your domain extension then you’ll also have to consider if you want to lock down its counterpart to prevent leeches. If you want to use the .net domain then consider also buying the .com and having that forward to your .net or vice versa.

So you’ve picked your domain name and evaluated your options. The only thing left to do is register it. Lots of options out there but I have to recommend using GoDaddy. With the right coupon code you can get all of your .com domain registrations for under $8/year. That’s dirt cheap and nearly impossible to beat. I now use GoDaddy exclusively.

Once you’ve done all that you’re all set and ready to move on to domain hosting, but that’s a topic for another post!

Read the next step, hosting your blog, in the 5 steps to getting started guide.

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