I figured I’d take this time to explain the steps to register a domain for those of you that still may not be familiar with the process. Before you actually complete a registration I’d recommend reading the post on Domain Name Registration Tips first.

How To Register A Domain Name

1. Find An Affordable Yet Reliable Domain Registrar – You can register .COM domains for $10.99 for the first year and $12.99 for every year thereafter with SiteToad.com. This is an annual charge, not a monthly charge.

2. Search For Availability – It’s likely that they “ideal” domain name that you’re looking for is already registered especially the .COM version. If not, great, you can move to the next step in the domain name registration process. If it’s already registered you’ll need to search for alternatives until you can find something that works for you.

3. Select Any Domain Name Add-Ons – As you continue through the registration process you’ll be asked certain questions like how long you’d like to register the domain for, whether you’d like “private” domain name registration and whether you’d like to select a web hosting or email package. Just keep in mind that all of this can be added later. If I would recommend any add-on, I’d select the “private” registration, this will keep your information private such as your name, address, email address, etc. All of this information is required for registering a domain name.

4. Complete The Payment – That’s it, there are no special forms, business registrations, etc that you’ll need for registering a domain name. Using SiteToad.com makes the domain registration process extremely simple. You’ll receive reminders once your domain is coming up for renewal and be notified if anything tries to do anythign suspicious with your domain name or your account with SiteToad.com.

Best regards,
David Lalumendre
www.WebsiteToad.com

Not Register A .COM

The reason that I think that this is a huge mistake is because people are accustomed to typing in a domain name with the .COM extension. If you register a .NET, .ORG, .US, etc you are just losing out on repeat traffic.

The reason is that people remember the domain name but often times don’t pay attention to the extension. When they attempt to go back to your site they type YourDomain.com which of course belongs to your competitor and thus you’ve lost out on return traffic.

Not Registering Every Extension

With domain prices being so affordable it just makes sense to register every extension during the domain name registration process. There’s no reason to let a competitor or domain squatter register the other extensions of your domain name and possibly put up a website of questionable content or even try to sell you the extension for many times more than you could have paid.

Using Too Many Dashes

I understand the importance of keywords in a domain name for search engine optimization purposes but if you want to brand your website for people to return to the last thing you want to do is register Your-Main-Website-Keywords.com.

It’s difficult to remember and I can’t think of anything that looks more unprofessional.

Not Registering A Domain Name For Multiple Years

The chance of losing a domain name due to it expiring isn’t great considering the number of reminders that are sent but I just don’t see how it’s worth chancing it. You may change your email address and not receive the notices or something like that.

It’s best to register your domains for multiple years so this doesn’t happen, plus you generally receive a discounted rate during domain name registration for registering for multiple years.

Well that’s about it. These are the main mistakes that I can think of during domain name registration. Again, feel free to chime in with anything that you can add or that you may disagree with.

Best regards,
David Lalumendre
www.WebsiteToad.com