This post shows students steps to create a website domain in order to create a website for themselves. When you want to run your own website online, there are things you will have to do to get that one. One of those is to register for your own domain name.
Choosing a domain for your website is one of the most important decisions you will have to make. That’s because all the good domains names are taken and being used by someone else.
So to come up with a domain name that is available and easy to remember will be one of your many challenges running a website online.
Before trying to come up with a domain name that sounds good and easy to remember, use these bullets to help you:
- Easy to say and spell. Successful websites have easy to remember domain names. If you can come up with something that’s easy to remember and short, and also available, then register it.
- Use .com, .org, or .net. domain extension. If you’re creating an online business, then you’ll probably want to go with .com extension. You want people to be able to remember it, after all. .org, .net also are good alternatives.
For the sake of time, we’re going to be using an example.com.
The example domain name is for testing purposes only and can’t be used or registered by anyone.
If you think you’ve come up with a perfect domain name, then head over to Google Domains to check if it’s available.
For this post, we’re going to be using Google Domains as our domain registrar. You’ll have to register a domain to make it your own. There are many domain registrar, but for the sake of time, let’s go with Google Domains.
Google Domains – Register Your Domain Name
On the Google Domain page, in the search box, type in your domain name and click Get it button. If the domain is available, Google will allow you to register it.
If a domain name is not available to register, Google will present you with a message that the domain is already registered and provides you optional domain extensions with same name.
You may be able to use .net, .org, etc. instead.
Sometimes, you just have to keep trying until you come up with the right name which is available, and then you can register.
With the domain available, you can add to the cart for purchase.
Head to the shopping cart and begin purchasing the domain by filling the checkout form. Domain names registered will Google typically cost $12 per year.
If Google Domains is going to be your domain registrar, then it just make sense to own a Gmail account. If you have one already, then simply login and complete the domain name payment.
After paying for the domain name, you’ll now be the owner of that domain name. Google is your domain registrar and you can manage it from the Google Domains website.
Google Domains – My domains
Once you login, you’ll see your domain name that you’ve registered. Click on the domain name to manage it.
On the domain overview page, you’ll find details of your domain, including the expiration date, privacy protection status, and others.
That’s it for now. You have registered a domain that you can use online.
However, because your domain isn’t pointing to any server or host computer, if you type it in your browser, it won’t show anything, except that it’s hosted on Google Domains.
Until you point your domain to your server, it does nothing.
In our next post, we will register for a Google Cloud server and point our domain to the our server IP address.
Until then, stay tuned.
Conclusion:
This post showed you how to create a website domain with Google Domains. If you find any error above or have something to see, please use the comment form below.
