Ninja Blog Setup » Domain Names http://www.ninjablogsetup.com Mon, 26 Jul 2010 02:32:26 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 en hourly 1 Blog Domain Name Guide http://www.ninjablogsetup.com/blog/blog-domain/ http://www.ninjablogsetup.com/blog/blog-domain/#comments Wed, 19 Sep 2007 17:37:19 +0000 Shawn http://www.ninjablogsetup.com/?p=40 This article is a guide to domain names as they relate to blogs. As I have mentioned before, I believe that blogging on a free weblog platform like blogger.com is a big mistake, primarily because you do not own the domain name and therefore are not building equity in your own blog brand.

In this article I have created three videos to guide you through the process of selecting, registering and configuring your blog domain name.

Before You Begin

Choosing a blog domain name is the second most important decision of your blogging career. The first is to choose your topic, so for this article we will assume that you know your subject and are ready to decide on the blog’s domain name and get it registered and pointed at your hosting account so you can begin to use WordPress.

Choosing A Blog Domain Name

In this video I log on to two of my favorite blog domain name brainstorming tools. They are both slightly different and they will speed up the process of finding a name and help you come up with word combinations and synonyms that you wouldn’t normally think of on your own. 1. Domains Bot and 2. Bust A Name.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Registering A Domain Name for Your Blog

Registering a blog name is a relatively simple process, that will be straight-forward for anyone that has done any e-commerce or online shopping. There are a couple tips that I cover in this video that are worth catching. These include how to save up to 15% on your blog domain name and a brief discussion on the privacy aspects of owning your own domain name, including a couple tips for protecting your privacy when buying a domain name.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Pointing Your Domain at Your Hosting Account

In the last video of the blog domain series, I show you how to log into your domain registrar account and update the blog domain name’s DNS (domain name server) setting so that they are pointing at your hosting account. You will need to have already signed up for blog hosting in order to complete this step as the DNS settings are supplied by and specific to the company where your blog will be hosted.

See the following video for a walk-through of the process of updating your blog’s domain to point to a WordPress hosting account.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Advantages of Having your Own Blog Domain

The primary advantage of using a blog domain name is to own and control your address online. Whether you are creating a business weblog, a private blog or a political blog having your own blog domain is recommended. The other key advantage of having your own domain name for your weblog is the weblog software. While blogger.com is fine, it doesn’t compare to the power and flexibility of the fully hosted version of WordPress.

The weblog tools available to users of WordPress are fantastic. Tools that allow you to embed planning spreadsheets (say you have a management blog) to moderation and filtering of blog comments, to archiving and using public domain photos or public domain films or videos from YouTube.

Certain plugins are available that will allow your blog posts to show up in blog search engines which will increase your blog readership. Please, if you are new to blogging and still deciding about your blog software, consider having blog software hosted on your own blog domain. The investment is relatively small and the payoff could be considerable over the course of your online blog publishing efforts.

© NinjaBlogSetup.com, 2007. | Permalink

wordpress installation service
]]> http://www.ninjablogsetup.com/blog/blog-domain/feed/ 0 How to Pick a Domain Name for Your Blog http://www.ninjablogsetup.com/blog/how-to-pick-a-domain-name-for-your-blog/ http://www.ninjablogsetup.com/blog/how-to-pick-a-domain-name-for-your-blog/#comments Mon, 30 Jul 2007 09:53:16 +0000 Shawn http://www.ninjablogsetup.com/?p=224
Picking a domain name for your blog is the second most important decision you’ll make when starting a blog (what to blog about is the most important). Most people who are buying a domain for the first time make the same mistakes, so I thought I would write up a crash course for buying a domain name.

Here are some brainstorming tools that I use frequently to find great available domain names:

They all work really well but are quite different so try them both to get two different points of view when thinking up domain name ideas for your blog.

Here are my guidelines for purchasing a domain name:

The Basics for Domains

  • get a .com if you can, .net only if you can’t find a good .com
  • no hyphens or dashes
  • no numbers
  • avoid having any of these words: my, the, your
  • as short as possible, ideally 3 words or less, four at a maximum

If you follow those guidelines you’ll avoid most of the common domain name mistakes.

Then you want to move to more advanced considerations like:

How easy is it to tell someone the name, in a conversation, like over the phone and have them find your site?

A great domain name works even when someone can’t read it. Watch out for expressions that are said out loud one way and written down in another.

For example:

Your name: South by Southwest
You register: SouthXSouthwest.com (most users will type in southbysouthwest.com instead)

This is the best reason not to use numbers in a domain name.

If you tell someone your site is:

2 by 4 dot com

Do they go to: twobyfour.com or 2by4.com

How does it look when it is written down?

Some site names look better when written down. This is a reason to keep it short.

TrialLawyerAssociationLLC.com

would be much better as:

TrialLawyers.com

Watch out for unintentional or hidden words in a domain name.

I recommend showing your potential name to a couple people before you purchase it. You may have a slang, or common swear word in your name without even realizing it.

Here’s an example from a top tech site on the web:

Experts Exchange.
http://www.expertsexchange.com/

Can you figure out why they should have chosen a different name? :)

The Last Thing to Remember

Unless you are really really trying to jump on a fast moving trend, the best tip I can offer when buying a domain name is not to rush.

You do risk having a name you love taken by someone else, while you sleep on it, but in my experience this risk is very low, especially when compared to the idea of naming your blog and then realizing 2 days later that the name just doesn’t fit and you aren’t comfortable with it.

Find a domain name that you love and you really feel gives your blog wings. It’s worth a little extra effort up front to set a great tone for you blog.

© NinjaBlogSetup.com, 2007. | Permalink

wordpress installation service
]]> http://www.ninjablogsetup.com/blog/how-to-pick-a-domain-name-for-your-blog/feed/ 2