Are you thinking about creating a website or blog but don’t know where to start ? First of all you need to get a domain name.

A domain name is like your post code, it is the location that people go to to view your website or blog. It can also be referred to as a URL (Uniform Resource Locator (world wide web address). For example, the domain name or URL for Profit Masters Ltd is https://profitmastersltd.com.

Once you have chosen your ‘ideal’ domain name, you need to find out if it is available.

Whilst there are numerous companies out there that offer a combined domain & hosting package, the ‘industry’ advice is to keep the 2 separate – in otherwords, register your domain with one company & host your website or blog with another (you just need to know how to point your ‘nameservers’ to the correct place).

Why? Whilst I have not come across it myself to date, I have heard that there are some unscrupulous webhosts out there. If you have a problem with them for some reason, some have almost ‘held their customers to ransom’ indicating that unless they retain the web hosting element with them, they will not release the domain (and if you want to move a domain, they have a part to play in the transfer).

There are 2 companies I mainly use, both of which offer good domain service & value for money:

.com / .net / .info – GoDaddy (Click To Visit)

.co.uk – 1and1.co.uk (Click To Visit)

I use 1and1.co.uk for UK domains because I am UK based & they are therefore a lot cheaper for me !