Lesson 7: Domains & Web Hosting

In the previous lessons, we've basically started preparing to get into the meat of running our business, which pretty much comes down to advertising. Let's face it, if people don't know that your web site is out there then you have no chance of making any kind of income. So in the next series of lessons will primarily deal with that aspect. Because there are so many types of advertising avenues on the Internet, these lessons will be broken down into sections with each section covering a different form of advertising.
But before we even get into advertising, we're going to have to first get into setting up your web site, which includes getting a domain and hosting.
Because this series has to be as generic as possible, we're going to try to shy away from specific business examples and concentrate on principals that will apply to most businesses. Obviously, there are going to be business models that may not fit in as nicely with this information as others, but we'll do our best to help everybody out there who wants to make a living on the Internet.
Okay, now that the disclaimers and all the preliminaries are out of the way, it's finally time to take our business idea and turn it into a reality. You've narrowed down your niche, you've figured out how much competition you have, how many monthly searches you have and you have a pretty good idea of what kind of traffic you can expect. The only thing left is to actually create your business.
We're going to have to take a few liberties with this series if we're going to have any chance of getting it off the ground. So, these lessons will be geared towards people who have decided to put up their own site and promote either their own products and services or promote other products and services as an affiliate.
Okay, let's begin.
The first thing you're going to need is to find a domain name for your business. This is where you're going to have to use a little imagination. Let's say you decided to sell CDs through Amazon and you decide to focus on the ones that are sold at a big discount, which is usually the older stuff. You might want to get a domain name like www.cheapcds.com, or something like that. You want the domain name to be as descriptive of what your business is as possible. If it's a band review site then maybe you might choose something like www.rockbandreviews.com or something like that. I seriously doubt either of those domains are available, but you get the picture.
To get your domain, simply go to Google and type in "Domains." You'll find about 95 million places to get domains. Lots of people use GoDaddy.com. You can even choose to get your domain through Site Build it an all in one package that may be the best option for many new people getting started online.
After you get your domain, the next thing you're going to need is hosting. Choosing a hosting company may be the most important decision you will make in getting started online. If you choose the right host chances are you will use the same host for several years. Believe me there is nothing worst then having to change hosts especially when you have a successful live site.
So how do you choose the right host? My best advice is check around on the internet marketing forums to see which hosts are recommended by others. My favorite web host and the host I use for this site is My site has never been down,. Also, as you will see in the next lesson an all in one package like may be the best and easiest option for people who are serious about building an online business.