Paid hosting – Setting up a “.com”

The first step to setting up a “.com” is to buy a “.com” name for yourself. Sometimes, this can be a very big problem. For common topics, it is very hard to find the “domain name” you are looking for.


(In case you don’t know, “domain name” is another way of saying website address.)

But before you make any choices about the domain name, it would be good if you take a look at these basic domain name selection guidelines. Sometimes a bad domain name can be very bad for your website.

Here are the basic guidelines:
Make it relevant to your company, product, or project so it's easier to remember.
Keep your name short and simple if possible-around 5 characters
Include keywords in the name
Remember the Internet is global in nature. Try to choose a name that people all over the world can understand.
Avoid tying your name to a calendar year, unless its for a product launch.
Avoid Trademarked Names. Like coca-cola.
If your company has a strong brand or is trying to get a strong brand then forget all about keywords, make you domain name your brand name.
These are just general guidelines. Keep them in mind when selecting a domain name. But if something makes more sense, or the name that you were going for is already taken then you might have to improvise and compromise.

Also, there are many possible domain names other than “.com” There are “.org”, “.tv”, “.biz” and all sorts of other names. Choose these only if really required. For example suppose you want the domain name www.cake.com and unfortunately the name is taken, and you cannot go for any other name then and then only go in for something like www.cake.org


Generally try to buy a “.com” name only. People know about “.coms” people don’t know about anything else.

So, using all the above given guidelines you have selected your domain name. Now what? How do you buy it?


How to buy a domain name?
This is pretty simple. There are thousands of people who are selling domain names. You could go to Rediff, Indiatimes, Net4India and a whole lot of other companies. I cannot suggest any one company in particular for buying a domain name. All the companies I have stated above are pretty big companies that are as good or as bad as each other, so whichever one you go for things will be fine!

All the companies have random prices. Some are high. Some are low. Some are in schemes and offers! (As if they are selling soaps!) They seem to be based on nothing in particular. Select which ever company from the above list you trust and is cheapest and go for it.

It is generally a good idea to buy the domain name from the same company, you want to host your website at. So if you buy the domain name from Net4India then host your website also at Net4India.

I have selected Net4India mainly because it has an office in Pune (where I am located) and I can go sit on their heads if these is any problem! Besides that, Net4India is pretty cheap also and it’s servers are located in Noida, Delhi.

This is good from the SEO point of view. If your website on servers located in India, the search engines think that the website is Indian and your website shows up in the “pages from India” results. Net4India does have a few minor problems from time to time though. In any case, you too might want to go for Net4India.)




Buying the domain name:
To buy the domain name you just have to go to the hosting site (Rediff, Net4India, Indiatimes etc.) check availability for the domain name and book it. As soon any you pay the money the domain name is yours. It’s not very hard to do.

However, it would be good to do this swiftly. Decide your domain name offline and then just go online and book it. If you check the availability of a domain name two or three times, before booking it, there is a possibility that it will be gone. There are people out there who make money from buying domain names people are interested in and selling it at a much higher price. So basically do the whole domain name buying process quickly.


Buying hosting space:
If would be a good idea to buy hosting place from the same people you bought the domain name from. Here also there are many people offer this service. The service is offered at a whole range of prices. We recommend that you go in for an offers like, book web space and get a domain name free. They will link the web space to domain name you select and everything will be fine. Try to get a good offer with one of the big companies stated above and take it.

The process of buying web space is also pretty simple. Just go to the hosting website, book the plan, pay the money and you are set. They will handle everything for you.

Finally you will have to put your website up on the Internet. You can do this using FTP or browser upload methods that were talked about previously. Once your website is uploaded, you are set. Congrats!