Once you have determined the name for your blog, buy a domain! You can purchase a domain through many places: godaddy.com, fatcow.com, bluehost.com are just a few popular sites. I know several have been pleased with bluehost.com.

I would also encourage purchasing the .com, .net, and whatever other dots you think are applicable. Do a search and see if any come up. Search in google – never search on one of the domain sites because chances are if you do that domain will be GONE soon after! I think they have robots buying up searched domains or something (not sure if that’s true but did you notice I’m not a .com? I have since acquired the .com but just grab it in the beginning to avoid what I went through :)

Also, purchase any other name spelling variations. A blogger I know has an “S” on the end of her domain. Another person purchased the domain without the “S.” Whatever reason this happened is irrelevant. The other person surely received hits from people inadvertently leaving off the “S” in direct traffic or google searches for that domain name.

When you buy the domain, it’s easy to get it set up with transferring to your blogging platform. Your domain service will be able to walk you through the steps.

The series will resume on Monday with discussion of platforms, SEO and more!