Domain Names for Texas Websites
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Texas Web HoustonHelping the Lone Star Shine Brightly Over Texas Business |
How do you choose an effective domain name?
Naming your website is almost as hard as naming your child. Maybe harder, because you can always call the kid Junior (or maybe Junioretta). Here's how to go about the process.
Three steps:
Make a list -- your business's name, the products or services you offer, and all the generic or alternative terms people might use to search for you and your products.
Decide which words the majority of potential customers will use to find your business or products. If you're an established business, customers may search for you by name. If you're a start-up, perhaps you should try to go with product or services related names. Often you will want to do both and cross-link the domains.
Then, go shopping for domain names (online, of course)!
There are many domain name sellers (called "registrars" out there in Internet Land), so it pays to shop around. Do a search for "domain name," "domain names," and "domain registrar," in any search engine and check out the ones that seem to offer good prices. Be wary of any that require you to buy a long-term or expensive hosting package to get that cheap domain name price.
Once you've found your domain name, buy it, that minute, even if you're not yet ready to build your website, because it might not be available later. If you think of a better name later on, buy it as well. We can build the website on one name and redirect the other name to location of your website files. If the name you want is available as .com and .net, buy both so you don't have a competitor using the same name.
But first a few words about what you're buying. You are not actually buying the name, you're buying a license to use that domain name on the world wide web for a specific period of time. Domain names are a little like car license tags -- pay yearly and you can keep driving. Forget to pay and somebody else will grab your special plates.
The cost of a domain name varies with different name providers. Current prices range from $6/year to $35/year. It pays to shop around, but be sure and double check your registrar's consumer history as well as the features they offer -- some only offer the low price if you pay for expensive hosting. Hosting is the last thing you need to buy -- after you've got your domain, after you've built your website files and know how big they are, and after your site has been tested and is ready for the open road.
Most web designers will provide the hosting while doing the designing and road test. We do that for the websites we build. We also provide hosting for the websites we design for the first few months or so at $5 to $10 per month just to see how much bandwidth space they will need. If they need more than we can provide, we have them get their own server account and ship around for the best prices.
For your Texas website needs, contact info@texaswebhouston.com. We will be happy to guide you through your domain name selection process.
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You're just read our "Domain Name" page. We recommend you read about "Hosting" next.