Nowadays it is very easy to run a website and pretty much everybody can become a webmaster. If you think that running a website is a hard task or you should have specific education you are on the wrong direction. You can learn step by step and finally you can help other people to learn the same way as you did. The first thing you should do is to spend five minutes and get your first domain name.
The Best Place to Buy a Domain Name
You probably don`t know where to look for your domain. Well, don`t worry I was in the same situation in the beginning of 2013. When I bought my first domain name (dzhingarov.com) I knew only about GoDaddy. As you know you can simply search in Google with query “domain names“. According to Google, now GoDaddy is still the best place to buy one. They rank on the first position after en.wikipedia.org for this query. I also beleive that this is the right place to search for a domain and if you search the web you will also see that many people think so.
So you finally opened www.godaddy.com and you see their great design. Just add the name of the website you would like to own, as shown in the example. I will add mine now.
You should simply add the name without “www“ or “.com“. Then press Go and quickly you will receive:
As you see, you can`t buy “blogforweb” because I already own it. This is the result when you search for a name that has been taken already by someone else. Well, this is pretty understandable because, obviously, many names are taken in the past. You should be creative and search again or buy the one you searched for but with another extension. As you see on the image you can`t buy “.com“ but you can get “blogforweb.co“ or “blogforweb.net“. If this works for you, you should press ADD and then Continue to Checkout. If not, just go back and try with another name and then continue. Let`s say you decided to get “blogforweb.org“. Just press Add now then continue and after that you will see this:
As you see on the image, GoDaddy offers you other services like website builder, Hosting, Personal & Business Class E-mail. If you read this article this means that you are still learning how to get a domain name in 5 minutes and you really don`t care about those services believe me. Just press “No, thanks“. I will explain you later why this was the right decision right now.
This is the image you will see after pressing “No, thanks“. It obviously is what you are buying. Make sure to check the term before you proceed to Checkout. Their automatic term is for 2 years. Let me tell you something, this is your first domain name and you are still learning how to get a domain name in five minutes so just buy it for 1 year because right now you are not sure if running a website is for you. After the first year you can always renew it. If you decide you can protect your personal information but I don`t believe you have something to hide, right? Honestly, even if you buy this, there are some software that can see your personal details even if you have this protection. This is something you will decide on your own. I don`t have this feature for all of my domains. GoDaddy will offer you to buy the matching domains. If you think that your business will become a famous brand or you don`t want somebody else to own similar domain as yours in the future, just get them. I bought just one because at the moment I started, I didn’t want to spend more money.
Make sure you scroll the page to the bottom as shown in the image above. You will see “Have a Promo Code“ menu. This is option offered by GoDaddy to save money on your domain name. You can press it if you have specific promo code or Learn more about this at my Guide on how to find GoDaddy Promo Codes.
You can simply Proceed to Checkout now. And you will see the same thing on your screen as the one below:
Everything is fine so far, but you just need to register at GoDaddy so you can proceed with your payment. Seems like you are a new customer. Simply press Continue.
Now, just fill all fields and you are almost done. Then you will see another page with your order. Review it, make sure that the Billing Information is correct, check the payment method, then press continue again. After that you will see the last page “Review Your Order and Confirm Your Purchase“ so just reveiw again and click “place your order“.
You own it now. This was your first step to become a webmaster. Relax because the Virtual journey just began.