How To Register A Website Under 20 Minutes

Anyone can own, run and maintain a website. There is no special equipment nor training needed. Any person with the small amount of funds required to register a website and to obtain website hosting can become a website owner.

The following is a simple, step-by-step guide on how to get a website up and running so that content be published to it.

1. Brainstorm a domain name that will accurately describe the content of the website in question.

Websites need a domain name that accurately reflects the intent and information of the website that they represent. Think of them as a brand name that readers can recognize at a glance. A proper domain name will accurately describe the content on a website. When a domain name does so, it should also help out with search engine optimization that most webmasters seek out in the later stages of their website's life.

There are two categories of domain names, and each is self-explanatory.

Brand domains specify purpose that is either company-specific or product-specific. They are also good choices for building an authority website.

Keyword-centric domains are the other type of website domains. These are mostly for informative websites that need the extra boost in search engines brought about by having their main keyword in the domain name.

2. Check if the domain name is available.

The next step is to see whether or not the domain name is available. Most domain registrars will allow this to be done free of charge. Some will even allow it to be done whilst checking all top-level domains and report a list of which domains are available for purchase.

If it turns out the first domain is taken, then go return to the previous step. Sometimes it can take multiple attempts to finally find an unregistered domain name that will work.

The only other alternative that is present when it comes to taken domain names is to try and purchase the usage of the domain from its current owner. Typically this is an expensive process and very few website owners will be willing to part with their domain name unless a very hefty fee is paid.

3. Register the domain name.

Once an available domain has been found, the next step is to register it. Registering a domain is a simple process and requires only that a top-level domain be chosen. The industry recommendation for website names says that they should typically be either ".com", ".net", ".org", or ".biz". With that being said, there are other options such as catchy domains that end with country-specific top-level domains such as ".me" and ".is".

The only recommended top-level domain to stay clear of is ".info". These domain names are usually cheap, which makes it understandable why first time domain buyers who are figuring out how to register a website purchase it. The problem with these domains is that they are cheap and the requirements for registration are relatively lax. This makes them a prime candidate for spammers. This means that a newly registered website may suffer from being recognized as spam purely from its chosen top-level domain.

Once a top-level domain has been settled on, a modest fee must be paid to the registrar for them to register it. This fee is dependent upon what type of top-level domain has been chosen, how long the registration is set for, and the amount of extra services chosen like a private registration.

4. Pointing the newly registered domain to a host.

Before a domain name will properly pull up a website's pages, the domain name records must be pointed to the host's name servers. This allows the domain to resolve to the correct website and serve the correct content.

This step does require that there already be a website host in question. If there is no such thing, most domain registrars will offer website hosting for an additional nominal fee.

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