Did you know it is possible to point a domain name (website address) to your LinkedIn profile? For example, my profile can be found at http://www.linkedin.com/in/joebailey? So what right? Well, if I owned the domain name joebailey.com, or hirejoebailey.com, I could point it to my LinkedIn profile. And it would only take about 10 minutes from start to end.
How does this help me? Well, if you need to direct someone to your linked in profile, you could just give them your website address (domain name). It would be a lot easier. Also, you could set up an email address for that domain name as well. So, if anyone ever wanted to get in touch with you, they’d know your email address as well.
Here’s how to do it.
- Go to JoesWebshack and purchase a domain name. It will be less than $10 a year, and it comes with an email address
- Once purchased, log into your account if you haven’t already.
- Now, click on the top or left navigation where it says “My Domain Names”
- Now, you will see a list of your domain names. Click on the hyperlink of your domain name.
- At the top of the page in the navigation, click on the “Forward”, then “Forward Domain” option
- In the box, type in your LinkedIn address and press OK, and you’re finished!
Deciding on a domain name (website address) is a big decision and it will stick with you for a long time. If you own a company, chances are you have a head start. But, for others, it can be a real challenge.
What is in a domain name?
A domain name consists of two parts separated by a period. The domain name is the first part and the second part is the extension. The domain name should describe you, your company, or your topic. The extension describes more about your domain name (com, org, net). There are even more extensions for countries also. For now, we’ll just stick to the two (domain name and extension).
Choose a .com extension
Before we even settle on a domain name, stick with the idea of creating a domain name address with the .com extension. Why? It’s just common practice now to call sites by their domain name and not even include the extension. For example, we don’t ask people if they’ve gone to Google.com, it’s always Google. And, if you’re telling someone your website address, they’ll assume it’s a .com even if you tell them differently. Unless you are a non-profit organization, stick with .com. If you are a non-profit organization, everyone will think it’s .org.
Create a short domain name
It’s probably difficult these days, but, if you’re a company, or you give out your email address or website address a lot, keep it short. People just don’t like typing a long domain name, and thee are a lot of misspellings. So, keep it as short as possible.
Use real words in your domain name
Cool made up names like Google are pretty cool if people remember them or have them on paper. But, in general, people tend to forget these names.
Your domain name should be your company name
If you have a company, synchronize the two. It may be hard to get your company name so try a variation. It’s too difficult to remember a domain name/website address if the company name is different. It’s like trying to remember 2 different companies.
Make your domain name search engine friendly, but not too generic
When someone searches for your company, you want it to come up in search engines. But, remember, the search engines are flooded with search engine friendly names. So, try not to be too generic. Keep your domain name to a minimum of 2 words, three if you can get a way with it. The chances on getting a common dictionary name website address are almost slim to none. So, be creative but specific.
Make your domain name search engine friendly
Yes, we’ve already said this, but make sure your domain name could be a search engine phrase. For example, we chose parttimewebmaster instead of webmasterparttime for a reason.
Should I put a hyphen in my domain name?
I think this answer really depends on your goals. If you are an affiliate marketer or marketing products and need your domain name to come up in search engines then go for it. But, don’t think people will remember a name with hyphens in it. They’ll go straight to the domain name without your hyphens. So, as a general rule, don’t use hyphens.
Avoid using “the” and “my” in the domain name
It’s hard to get a good domain name these days. If you can avoid using a the or my in front of your domain name do it. If you are going to use one, use “the”. It’s simpler and easier to remember.
If you’re ready to choose a domain name, here are a couple of places to register:
- 1and1
- www.GoDaddy.com
- Fast Domain
- We use JoesWebShack
Now, that you’ve read our first article, you should have an email address already. So, let’s determine if you need a website a little bit more.
Can I survive without a website? Yes. But, what if I have a company? Can I really survive without a website? Yes.
Ok, we’ll teach you how to survive without a website. As we do, we’re going to register your information on a lot of sites. But, we really need to make a decision before we start posting our information all over the internet. For now, forget about whether or not you need a website and ask yourself this question, “Do you want to have your own website address (domain name)? like parttimewebmaster.com?” Do you? Remember, we’re going to register you all over the internet and you don’t want to go back and change your email address everywhere. Does it seem like a big decision? What if I told you it’s probably going to cost you less than $10 a year? Does that make the decision easier? It probably does. As your making your decision, keep in mind that domain names come with free email addresses. If it were up to me, I’d say you’re better off having one than not, and it’s really not that much money. If you’re ready for a domain name (all companies should be) then read the article, “How to choose your domain name.”
Let’s get back on track. How do you survive without a website? Note, we can’t go over everything in this one page, so we’ll split it up. Follow along on these posts and we’ll review everything.
This first one is for company owners.
Not too long ago, we all referenced the yellow pages. If you’re like me, I don’t even want them in my house, I just put them in the recycling bin. So, how do you get to people like me? How do you find people or businesses? We search online. So, let’s get you registered in some online business directories.
Read the article “Business directory websites.”
This evening, I sat with family thinking about the blog. I wondered if I was going in the right direction. Who is this blog for anyway? Me, you. Is it for me to make money? Well, yes and no. Or, is it a site for me to express my thoughts, share my knowledge? Anyway, I figured I have gotten a little off track and figured I’d start all over again.
I’m a programmer by trade, when I first started consulting all of my clients were through large consulting companies. And, these clients all knew what they wanted. They wanted a website. So, that was our mission and we built a lot of them, still do. But, what if it’s just you, you’re not a big company with a lot of money, you’d like a website, what do you do, the little guy? Well, this post is for you. So, it doesn’t matter whether you’re a small or large company, or an individual, this next set of posts will help answer any question you may have.
First question, “Why do you want a website?” This is a big question. So, if you’re just starting out, or, you’re familiar with everything, let’s analyze why we want a website.
What is your goal? Here are a couple of questions to get started down the right path for your presence on the internet.
- Do you own a company?
- Do you sell products?
- Do you sell services?
- Do you have a full time job?
- Do you want to make money online?
- Do you want to keep in touch with family?
- How much money are you willing to spend?
- Do you have an idea to make millions?
- How much time are you willing to invest?
- Do you like to do everything yourself, or do you want someone to do it for you?
- Are you technical? Are you a programmer?
If you’ve put some thoughts into those, you probably have more questions. So, again, do you want a website? Or, do you think is something else online already that will suit your needs? For example, could MySpace or Facebook solve all of your problems? If you own a company it doesn’t matter, eventually, you will need a website, but, you don’t need one right away.
In either case, if you want to present yourself on the web, there are a few basic steps you’ll need to take. In this post, we’ll just start with the basics.
Step 1: Get an email address
I know it’s simple, but before you do anything on the internet these days, you will need an email address. You don’t need a special one yet with your company name. But, to register for website addresses (domain names) you’ll need one.
So, if you don’t have an email address yet, sign up for a free one on one of the most common search engines. Whatever you do, do not sign up with your internet provider and use that one as your main email address. Why? Well, what happens to those that choose an email address based on their cable provider? When they switch, they have to tell everyone the new email address. So, stick to the basic email providers so you can have the email address for years to come.
Here are a couple of the most popular:
- Google: Google by far is my favorite. To sign up for a Google email address, click here.
- Yahoo: Yahoo is pretty popular as well. To sign up for a Yahoo email address, click here.
- Microsoft (Hotmail) – Microsoft will be here for a while as well. Click here to get a Hotmail email address.
Now, that we have an email address, let’s go onto the next step. See the next blog titled “Can I survive without a website?”
Did you know that you could create a website and host it with Google? That’s right, we could have been hosting our website with Google.
What is Google website hosting?
If you have a Google account, you can set up your own site with Google. That’s right. You can even have your domain name point to the site.
So, what is it? Google provides a do it yourself system which allows you to create an unknown number of sites (I have 5 private sites). You can pick out some simple designs and templates, add logos, etc. One of the cooler things about it is that you can add Google Gadgets to it. So, you don’t have to program anything. Plus, there are hundreds of Google Gadgets to add to your site.
How do I create my Google website?
There are a couple of ways to get to it. If you’re starting out, just visit the link http://www.google.com/sites. Here, you can sign up to create your site. Once you’ve signed up, you can use iGoogle to get to it later. If you are already signed up with Google, go to your iGoogle page, http://www.igoogle.com. Look in the top navigation for the link called “Sites”. If you don’t see it immediately, click on the “More” drop-down to find the link “Sites”. If you still can’t find it, click on the “Even More” link to find it.
How do I point my domain name to my Google site?
- First, log into iGoogle and browse to your site using the sites link in the top navigation.
- Look in the top right hand side of your site for the More Actions button, click on it and choose “Manage site”
- In the left hand menu, click on “Web Address”
- Follow the instructions to add your website address, that’s it!
