So, you’ve decided upon your niche, but you still need an address on the Internet before you can go live. Picking a good domain name can be extremely tricky, as remember, you’ll be stuck with this for quite a chunk of time if you decide to take up the blogging route seriously. I have two serious tips when starting up a blog that you’re going to run for an extended period of time. 1) Pay for your domain. Do NOT get a wordpress.com or blogspot.com subdomain - it not just looks tacky, but also shows that your not serious about your business. If you are serious about your blog, you can afford to pay $7.15 per year for a domain. In fact, if you can gain access to a computer, you can afford that fee - and if not, do some small labour until you make that. By starting out on a free subdomain, you run the risk of losing everything when you move to a proper domain. Also, your blog is worthless on a subdomain, as essentially you do not own it. I will talk about hosting tomorrow, but for now, let the point be (hopefully!) drilled in - having your own domain is vital. 2) Get a .COM. You NEED a .COM domain. If the ones that you’re thinking of are all taken, you aren’t thinking hard enough. .COM domains only cost $7.15/year at GoDaddy with the coupon code OYH3 and although other extensions may be cheaper, the .COM works best. You see, once you start your website, it’s quite possible that others will remember the name of it, but not the extension. And we all know that the first thing we do when we forget the domain is type in the name of the website followed by the .COM… isn’t it? By choosing a domain extension where the .COM is already taken, you are letting other people have the traffic that you deserve. It’s not that hard to be innovative and come up with a domain no one has taken - if you can’t think, ask someone for help or try adding a “The” in front of the domain you want. When selecting a domain, you should look for two things - 1) that it is as short as possible and 2) that it is memorable. Sometimes the former may be ignored if you find an easy to remember long domain name, however those two are the things you should generally look for. Try to make sure that your domain passes the “phone test” - someone should be able to write it down without any errors after hearing it and never use slang, as it not just degrades your brand, but also makes it harder to remember. Before you make the purchase, make sure you run it through a friend or ten; I’ve many a time bought domains that I thought were brilliant only to find out that no one else felt the same way when asking for feedback. By asking for feedback before you make the purchase, you can save quite a lot of money… trust me, it adds up. Good luck with choosing your domain, and make sure you follow the above tips. There will be an article on hosting tomorrow.