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Everyone is blogging these days. You may not realize how easy it actually is to obtain a direct domain name for your blog. Some blog services such as Blogger are offering to "help you obtain a domain name", which you see when you are setting up your blog. Essentially this is something you can do this on your own and it's not very expensive either. On average you may pay between $8 and $15 per year to "own your own domain name." I should say you merely are renting it for a specified number of years... It's doesn't matter where you have started your blog, on WordPress, Blogger, Tumblr, etc. These are the places you are going to be "hosting" your site. The goal now is, to obtain a domain name. If you haven't actually started your blog yet, this may be a plus. This will give you time to find your domain name first, and make sure it is available. Your goal should be to find a domain name that is actually available to closely mirror your blog. Many people say one you have your domain name, it won't really matter, as you will redirect it to your blog, but it helps when "name branding." Here is how you would check availability. First, check availability with your blog service. For instance, if you are using Blogger services on Google, see if "PetSittingbyPete" is available. If it is, then check your domain name. Go to GoDaddy.com, which I recommend because it's cheap and easy to use. There are always coupon codes available on the web. You can check on the main page if the desired domain is available. If not, it will give you alternate ideas. If PetSittingbyPete.com is available, move on to the next paragraph. If not, perhaps PetSittingbyPete.biz or.net is available. I strongly suggest getting a.com extension as that is the most widely used, but if not there are other options. You could also try changing or playing with the names ie: reversing it to PetesPetSitting.com or the like until you have a winner with both the blog and the site. Start your blog (for free) and register it if you haven't already. Then go to Go Daddy and "buy" a domain name. You can do this from one to five years, and they accept coupon codes. A quick search in Google or the web will give you current coupon codes on GoDaddy, and you can sometimes save up to 35% off your domain purchase. If you find a good code, it will run you about $7.50 to $9 per year on a.com domain name-sometimes more the longer you register it for. This is very good! You don't have to pay hosting, because your blog is doing the hosting so make sure not to buy any unnecessary bells and whistles because you don't need them. All you need is the domain name.
Payment is easy, by PayPal, or credit card. Once you have the domain, you will be asked to fill out some legal information (registration) and ICann information. So now you have your domain. What do you do next? You would then make sure you are logged into your GoDaddy account and "manage" your domain. Your goal is to "forward" it to your blog. This way, whenever anyone types in PetSittingByPete.com they would be sent to your blog. In actuality, it's a redirection. You will see there may be several ways to do this, it will prompt you to forward it (recommended) or forward with masking. You can read up on these options elsewhere and how each may impact your page rank. Once you have done this, it will take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours for the GoDaddy servers to update, but your new domain should be up and running within hours of obtaining it. Congrats! You now have a domain name for your blog! TIPS: Be sure to always check for periodic ICann updates in your email box associated with your GoDaddy account. These will have to be filled out or you risk your domain being shut down. Make note of the renewal date with GoDaddy so you don't lose your domain name.
Ira Mency is a published book author, freelancer and artist. Read more at http://IraMency.blogspot.com. In addition she also runs a free blog dedicated to giving away free graphics at http://IraMencyDesigns.blogspot.com.
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