HAVE YOU PURCHASED YOURNAME.COM YET?

Selecting your domain name is the most important step on the road to setting up a website.  For an author the best advice I can give is to use your own name.

EXAMPLE: yourname.com

Your name as an author is the name you will more than likely be branding. As your work becomes more and more noticed you can bet there will be someone out there to snatch up your name only to try and sell it to you later for a much higher price than what you can buy it for in the beginning. Purchasing domain names for your book titles are also a good idea.

There are plenty of registration companies on the web offering low cost domain registration.  Before you use one, make sure the company allows you to change the domain name servers or move the domain to another hosting company - some companies offer very cheap registration but make moving your domain name difficult and expensive. There is no need to pay a high price for the purchase of a domain name.  If you want to tie up the name for two years or more that option is also available.  If you purchase the name for one year most companies will send an email reminder in time to renew the name before it expires.

Garlic D'zign no longer sells domain names but we do recommend a very reliable company that I have worked with for many years and that is Domain Launcher, they make it real simple to manage all your domain names in one place.

If you discover your name is taken here are a few options you may think about when trying to decide what name to use.  If your first and last name has been snatched up by another buyer then try using your middle initial or use your first and middle initial and your last name.  For example: mjname.com.  Using hyphens in a domain name is allowed but not advised if it can be helped.  The reason, people looking for your name on the internet will not always think to include the separation between your name. 

Keep the name simple if not using your own name.  It doesn't need to be a lengthy name; people will not remember it.  Some places allow you to register a name with up to 62 characters; people will not think to type it into their browser.  Try to register the shortest name that your customers and visitors will associate with your Website.  The general rule of thumb is, try and keep it under seven characters.

Another tip is that domain names only use letters, numbers and dashes.  Spaces and symbols are not allowed and domain names are not case sensitive.    While the ".com" extension is the most popular as a defensive measure consider purchasing other extensions of your domain name.  It might be well worth it to secure the .net, if you plan on great things with your website.  if you are doing business internationally, think about securing other country extensions.